I can't believe I've never told this on here, but I couldn't find it just now, so I have to do it now. (FYI, if you compare this with my 21 November 2007 entry, you'll find an interesting similarity.) This story---wait, is this really a story? It's really more of a slice of life, a piece of Americana. Wait, no, it's not quite that, it's more like, yeah, you know what, I think it's really an anecdote. Anyway, if you've never heard The Anecdote before, you're missing a crucial part of knowing me, or at least me when I was in my early 20s at U of O. (God, I can't believe how long ago that was.) And for those of you who don't know this one, keep in mind that the exact phrasing on this has remained unchanged for seven or eight years.

So.......

Back when I was in college, my family decided to take a trip down to Ecuador. My mom specially planned it during my Finals Week so that I couldn't possibly go (then pleaded confusion, ignorance, and helplessness when I told her why I couldn't join the rest of the family), so it was just the three of them. They saw the Pan-American highway, the Andes Mountains, the Pacific Ocean *from* the Andes Mountains, and all sorts of cool stuff. Anyway, one day my da---I mean, my fathe---I mean, my friend, my friend, he had to use the bathroom. So he went into some hotel and took care of his business, and then he went over to the sink to wash his hands---because only monsters don't wash their hands when they use the bathroom. When he went to the sink, there were two taps: one was blank and the other one had "C" on it. He wanted cold water, so naturally he turned on the one that said C...but it came out hot! And it wasn't until later that he realized "C" is for "caliente," so it was *supposed* to be hot.

well everyone, it's been fun, but i'm pretty much done with public posts. if you want to be added to my friends list (you have to be an LJ member), make a comment on this post. this is mostly cos i don't want prospective employers to be able to google me and find out everything about my life, but also cos i'm going back to writing about the boring, everyday shit in my life, and the whole world doesn't need (or want) to know about all that.

if i go on another trip, i'll start posting publicly again, but that's not in the foreseeable future.

if you've been a regular reader, please keep in touch via email (or phone). i'm easy to get ahold of.

Thanks to abrandilyn for this link. I'm so proud of my country right now, and so happy with my city for understanding it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbEA5ue2Be4

Take just a moment to picture what would have happened if Hillary Clinton had won the nomination. Just think about it. For starters, McCain's awful campaign would have gone against Clinton's awful campaign, and with the help of the corporate, conservative media (which he had anyway), McCain would have won. We wouldn't have Palin as VP, but we would have someone equally special, if not as desperate. We would have had to endure much more bullshit than we did. We wouldn't have inspired so many voters to join our cause and increase our leads in the House and Senate. We wouldn't have shown what a fired-up electorate can do for fund-raising, especially via small donations.

Even amid the great victory, it's a bitter pill to see that the four remaining Senate races will probably all go the wrong way. Why "wrong" and not just "the way I disagree with"? Stevens in Alaska is a newly-convicted felon seven times over. He'll win and Palin will choose another awful guy to be his replacement. Gordon Smith has a few good points (most particularly his positive stance on mental health, which he began paying attention to after his son committed suicide), but he's far too conservative for Oregon. We deserve someone better than him. But the last two are the real horror shows. Norm Coleman ran against incumbent Paul Wellstone in Minnesota in 2002. Wellstone died in a plane crash shortly before the election, and Coleman used the funeral as a political football to get elected. Here's to Wellstone's friend Al Franken winning back the seat. But of course the sleaziest, most disgusting award goes to Saxby Chambliss, who defeated Max Cleland in Georgia 2002 when his campaign ads morphed Cleland's face into Saddam Hussein's and Osama bin Laden's (the assertion was that he was weak on terrorism). This is disgusting all by itself, but it's far worse when you learn that Cleland had an incredible military record; he lost three limbs in Vietnam. I was really hoping to see those last two fuckers get kicked out. The one consoling thought is that they're Republicans, so you can count on them to violate ethics laws and get kicked out before too long.


We need more Representatives like the ones in the Congressional Black Caucus. This isn't because of their skin color; it's because of how they talk about issues. Check them out the next time you have a chance. I've been amazed and impressed with every single member I've heard.

We won. We knew in advance that we'd win, but that doesn't matter because WE WON!

Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about it. I obviously feel really good about it, very happy, but there's a lot more going on than just that. I'm not sure how to describe it. I'm relieved but also not. We won...but what next? This doesn't mean that our problems are gone, and it doesn't mean that the people who caused them---aka Republicans---are out of the picture. I was hoping for a veto-proof majority in the Senate, but we didn't get it. (I knew it was an overly-lofty goal from the start.) Our "landslide" both is and isn't exactly that. We only won by 5% in the popular vote, but we're probably going to have an 80-seat margin in the House, and about a 15-seat margin in the Senate. So it's not all that close, really.

I guess I'm trying to figure out what's next. Obama certainly has the right ideas: hard work, determination, shared sacrifice. I expected no less from him. But this doesn't mean that the right-wing fuckers are going away. Every news/"news" show (e.g. ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN) is very likely going to continue slanting conservative with their guests and their stories; that's the way the corporate media operates. And the anti-American crowd on the right is still going to be doing their thing (bloviating). We still have to put up with the same assholes pushing us in the wrong direction.

My friend had this status update tonight (thank you, Izzy). "Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so our children can fly." That *is* why Obama ran, and why he won. He envisions an America where we are strong not because of our might but because of our hearts. That's exactly what he said in his speech tonight. It's weird, I realize that this is a huge victory for civil rights, but---being white and privileged (sorry for the redundancy)---that doesn't occur to me right away. He's the best candidate of our lifetimes not because of his skin color but because of his heart and his mind (although his experience of being black improves and enriches his being), and his heart and mind are what I think of first with him. The comparison with Jackie Robinson is rather obvious because they're both firsts, but also because of why they in particular were the firsts. Jackie got the shot because was exceptional at his job of baseball (hitting, running, fielding, etc.). Barack got his shot because he's an exceptional politician (deeply insightful, mellifluous, direct, inspiring, thoughtful, etc.). To talk about either man merely in terms of being The First is to ignore their prodigious skills in their chosen professions. (I'm not at all looking forward to the media's spin, which will be all about his being The First---and no, I don't mean like in Buffy, cos he's quite the opposite of that.) Of course, Obama is still largely potential---but look at what he's already done with his potential. He has evaluated, articulated, and addressed the legion difficulties of a brutally long campaign, and he's done it masterfully and gracefully. His brilliance in that task assures me (yet again) that he's up to the far more complex task of doing the same with the problems of and in our country.

I've bitched a lot about an overly-strong focus on Obama's race rather than his amazing character and political skills, but I must add this. I've thought for a long time that I would see a black president in my lifetime. Racism is incomprehensibly ridiculous, and today's young people aren't as afflicted by its impossibility as were past generations. So I figured we were moving in the right direction and that we'd eventually get there ("there" being a society where a black president is no longer anything special or unusual). But this was all abstract, distant, taking place in the unspecified future. To see it not only happen, but happen in my youth is....... It's safe to say this could never have happened without an exceptional person---and an exceptional supporting team---to make it happen.

I'm sorry for how rambly this is. At the moment I don't have any clear thoughts to organize into something better. But I've had this thought several times tonight. Back in July 2004, I watched and listened to Obama's speech at least a dozen times, and I talked with my liberal friends about it a lot. We all said the same things: "I can't believe how amazing he is." "He says everything I've ever wanted to hear in a candidate." "I wish *he* were running right now instead of Kerry." "I really hope he runs in the future." "God, I would love for Obama to be president some day." And now..."President-Elect Barack Obama." Savor it with me.

Remember this feeling, cos you're going to need it in the near future (especially the 77 days until we actually have a president again; the current "president" is gonna fuck things up in ways you've never even dreamed of). We're finally (finally!) on the right path for our country, and Yes, We Can...but don't forget that this is just step one.

three of my last four entries (not including this one) have been entered in at 11:40 am. this is a complete coincidence. WEIRD.

did you hear that palin allowed her town to charge rape victims for their own rape kits? her role in allowing it might have been passive, but the decision to ignore it was not. it's sort of like if you ignore someone getting mugged in front of you---you're not quite guilty, but any normal person would have something big weighing on his conscience.

i guess this was the thinking: "you've just undergone one of the most traumatizing experiences of your entire life (which will stay with you for years, if not forever). then you went to the ER where they poked and prodded you in the very part of your body that was just horribly violated. then you had to recount everything that happened in painful detail so we could get an accurate report for the doctors and the cops. but that's not enough, cos on top of everything else we're going to make you pay for the medical supplies." wow. and by the way, i used to work for a hospital---those supplies are *not* cheap. just think of the way that big corporations determine the price of everything else in your life and you'll get the picture.

i know i don't need to elaborate any more on how fucked up this demonstrates palin to be...but i wanted to make sure i told a few people.



ETA: someone who didn't have the courage to use his name posted that this story was "totally false." so i googled it and found videos (see the comments). turns out she's not officially on the record about it. so i guess we just have to rely on the details of the story and on common sense. there's no reasonable way she could have been unaware of the issue, and her silence on it is a tacit approval. i have adjusted the phrasing of the earlier version of the post, but i also ask this poster to explain how palin's ignoring the issue is any better ethically than actively promoting such an awful policy. oh, and i expect you'll need this.

You probably won't care about this wonderful New Yorker article about translating Russian, but I do. Of course it must discuss Constance Garnett, and it's rather wonderful to find out exactly why I've been warned against her. (Among other flaws, she apparently skipped over words and phrases that she didn't know rather than try to figure out what it said. For shame.) I'm not done yet, but it's fantastically interesting, and it's the New Yorker, so you know the writing is good. I found the article cos I was looking up Pevear and Volokhonsky on Wikipedia; I'm very likely going to tackle a major Russian work by the end of the year and word on the street is that they do the best work. Oh, and the article says they're referred to as "P/V." My life just got easier.

yeah, honestly, i don't know. i've had that question a lot, but i don't really have an answer yet. i need to find a job, figure out where i'm going to live, figure out what the rhythms of my life are going to be, get on something remotely resembling a regular sleep schedule, start eating (well), etc. that's sort of what i'm focusing on. i really wish i had a better answer for everyone, but i'm still not sure. i'll pass on any revelations or developments as they happen.

hi y'all, i just wanted to let you know that i'm back in Portland, nice and safe. i don't know what's next, other than a hike today (forest park, with chris and my parents' bitch, potterette) then dinner at burritos. i'm excited.

we found my computer after a search, and now i'm listening to my music on shuffle, and WITHOUT HEADPHONES. you have no idea how exciting this is. no really, you don't. but it's fantastic.

here we are, the last fully day of my trip. and it's actually quite late at night (don't look at the timestamp; it'll just scare you), so the day is long over. i fly back to portland tomorrow. i'm not sure what to make of it.

today i went to a site that i'm keeping mysterious cos i want to show chris the pictures first (he's gonna love this one). i'll try to remember to edit this with the details later. then i went to the natural history museum (dinosaurs, cool!), the national art gallery, and the nasa museum (er, the air & space museum). the last one was specifically to see the enola gay (if you don't know about my perverse sense of humor by now, you've got a long, long way to go before you'll understand me), but it turns out it hasn't been there for ten-plus years. i guess it was just there during the 50th anniversary of WW2...which means i was there for the 50th anniversary of WW2, back when i visited DC at age 15. i originally planned to see the national portrait gallery to close the day (it stays open until 7, and i was just trying to fill time until i met blooma and her boyfriend at 7 for dinner), but i scuttled that plan when i found ultimate players on the Mall. they said the game was open, so i joined in. i didn't play great, but better than i'd expected. i think i threw just one forehand, which is where i need the most work. but i had some other good throws, and one or two decent catches, and a few good defensive plays. it was really fun. the best part---and i can't even believe i'm saying this---is that i'm much more fit than i can remember being. i ran almost the whole time, but i barely got winded (only after a few sprints) and i felt great afterwards. i've never run that much and still felt good. maybe i used to do that ten years ago or something, but if so i can't remember it. i'm very pleasantly surprised (and impressed) with myself.

tonight i watched last night's Office online. i love that show. and they're evil bitches to have the teasers that they do. the more i think about it, the more impressed i am with the subtle development of dwight's character. rainn wilson is doing a really, really good job.

today is my 213th day on the road (and tomorrow exactly completes my seventh month). this beats my previous personal-best streak of 100 days (that wasn't travel, though, another activity), and is, funnily enough, the exact goal that i would have gone for if i'd decided to push past 100 for that other thing. but all things must pass, and i realize neither one could go on forever. (it's funny that i never though to compare the two streaks before. maybe i'll do that more in-depth later, but not now on the blog.) anyway, the point i wanted to make is that the length of this trip is obviously one that i can never forget, because of the 213 thing (er, 213+1, but it's better to ignore that). it's pretty damned cool that i managed to make it last exactly that long.

the best part of today was when i left the metro to meet blooma and paul. a girl was riding her bike through the tunnel, and we reached the stairs at the same time. i offered to carry her bike up for her (part of my installment plan to compensate for all the chauvinism), and we ended up chatting for a few minutes. turns out she went on an 18-month around-the-world trip that ended about a year ago. i asked her a few questions that i hope she hasn't gotten before, and she gave me some really good answers and advice about going back. it was really nice to know how she's dealt with some of the things i'm worried about, cos i honestly don't know how i'll handle a few things. i will, though, and i guess that's the real point. anyway, rachel gave me her email addy, so i hope we keep in touch.


i'm going hiking on sunday, don't know what time, probably in the gorge. i'd love for you to come with. email me or call me and we'll all figure out the details.

everyone go to www.thedailyshow.com and watch the 20 october episode. in the second segment they interview the current mayor of wasilla, alaska. it's.......just watch it. by the way, for those of you who are wondering (and i know you all are), wasilla has exactly one zip code: 99654. i remember this from when i worked for the post office. shit, i never talk about that, cos i like surprising alaskan folks with my esoteric knowledge.

changing the topic from people unqualified for a federal post to people who will or have occupied the white house, today i saw a statue dedicated to this american hero. (this is hard on the heels of seeing some pictures devoted to him last week.) being at wikipedia for a change (God, being back in the state is going to be terrible if i keep going there like i'm used to), i of course had to follow the link to this intriguing page, where i found out all sorts of other fantastic information.

for instance, did you know that FDR's first dog was named Flamer? (double-check me if you don't believe it. and yes, i'm assuming that the one at the bottom of the list came first, since i know Fala was last.) and that George Washington has not just "dogs" but "staghounds" and "black and tan coonhounds," the second of which combines not only the wonderfulness of a dog breed named after a beer but the separate wonderfulness of a very specific and hilarious type of not-a-"dog"-but-a-"hound." J. Q. Adams had some weird shit, and his dad really knew how to name his dogs (as did Washington, now that i re-examine his hound-naming prowess).

but easily the best one is Coolidge. he's got lions, bobcat, donkeys, a wallaby, a "birddog" named OK Computer, some fucking raccoons (for God's sake), and of course Billy---who you know *has to* have his own wiki page, because could it possibly be any other way?

i saw Fala when i was walking around the tidal basin again today. this time it was with Sonya, a nice girl from chicago that was going to arlington at the same time i was. we walked around the graveyard, saw the changing of the guard, then walked over to Lincoln, FDR, and Jefferson. she happened to be meeting someone on the red line (of the metro...er, the subway), which is the same line i was taking out to blooma's house. so we even rode the train together. this was cool cos i got to see her friend's rather brilliant trick to make sure they met up and also didn't have to wait for the next train. "go to the very last car in the train; i'll join you." brilliant.

well, we have finally reached the point of Enough. i am officially done with all text messaging, and first thing tomorrow i'm having my phone company turn off the ability to receive text messages on my phone. this is a long, long, long overdue decision, and one that i'm very happy to make.

why the sudden decisiveness on this? if you check the time of this entry, you'll notice that it's currently 4:30 am. i stayed up far too late watching The Office online (episode 5.1, which i hadn't seen yet), then with getting ready for bed and everything, it was 3:45 before i knew it. right as i was falling asleep, my phone chimed that i had a message. it was from my friend and it read, "You awake?" this, of course, is not the kind of question you ask someone at 4:00 am (or 3:00 am in her time zone) unless you really need to talk. so i got out of bed, found my shoes, went outside, crossed the street, and walked to the corner---because that's the nearest place that i can get reception at my friend's house here in DC (i've mentioned this very annoying reception issue before). i was pretty surprised when my friend didn't answer, but i left a message saying that if she needed to talk i was available. but i was really weirded out that she didn't answer. i'd gotten the text less than five minutes earlier, right? maybe i should double check that. okay, it's 4:14 am now, and the text was sent at...22:53 last night. nice.

first off, everyone who knows the vaguest thing about me knows that i'm awake at 11 pm and perfectly happy to talk to you. i'm also awake at midnight and happy to talk to you, and there's a 50-50 shot i'm awake at 1 am and happy to talk to you. so God knows why she didn't just call me if she wanted to talk. instead i find myself in a situation where i was trying to be a good friend, but i'm sure i just woke her up for no reason.

but that's done now, because i'm done texting. i haven't recently broken up with anyone, and i don't know anyone living overseas with extremely limited internet access (sorry beckyboo, i know you're in japan, but it's gonna be email from now on)---which means the *only* two valid reasons for ever using text messaging aren't applicable to me. i'm overjoyed to shut if off. if you want to talk to me, you should call me; i would love to talk with you. if it's not important enough to warrant a call, then it also isn't important enough to waste our time and $.10 (speaking of literally getting nickel-and-dimed for complete bullshit by bloated multi-national corporations that are already getting rich off of us) for both of us. if you're in a place where you can't call right now...well, i guess you'll have to decide if it's life-and-death or if i can wait five minutes to get the information. i'm deciding i can wait.

text messaging has bothered me since it began. do we really need to be *that* in touch with everyone we know (and everyone we don't know) *all the time*? really? we can't evaluate importance a little better? we can't plan things better? we can't go with the flow when things don't go exactly as planned? we can't live without the ever-present ability to do and say exactly what we want exactly when we want (which is always NOW)? well, i can do without all of those things, just like i can do without the stupid "on my way" and "almost there" and "how r u?" and "call me" and "hope u had awsm wknd" shit that i get all the time, even from people i love dearly. i know some of my friends love text messaging everyone all the time, and that's fine. but i hate getting annoyed with you any time you send me a text message (yes, i get annoyed every single time, especially when i've specifically and repeatedly told you that i hate text messages and you should never send them but you do anyway), and i love talking to you, so i think we should do that instead. in fact, i think this so strongly that i'm taking care of it on my own tomorrow morning.

i am done with text messaging. i feel so free.

today is exactly five years. i'll make (not faike) it though the day (without any help from any people or colors), but i'm still sad, sort of wistful. i hope his family is doing okay, and also everyone reading this who knows what i'm talking about.

if anyone knows how to get in touch with theresa rose rosetta, let me know. i'm definitely thinking about her today, too.

thank you very much to chris for finding this story on the making of the film "nailin' paylin." i'm on a friend's computer, so i don't want to follow the links right now, but there are links to pictures, video, and a script. i'm not saying this is super awesome, but---wait, that's exactly what i'm saying. this is fantastic.

for more on republicans involved in the porn industry, go here.

remember last year when the phillies got swept, and you figured they were a one-time fluke (especially considering how they barely scraped their way in)? and remember this spring when you saw the devil rays---the devil rays!---were in first place, and you *knew* that was a fluke?

i'm pretty stunned at this year's series. i don't really know who to root for. the rays are the better story, but i like ryan howard and jamie moyer. here's hoping it goes seven.


and speaking of ryan howard, who else thinks karen fillipelli probably has his old job already? that's gonna be interesting. and i'm still waiting for roy to find out. actually, i'm still waiting to see even a single episode from season five, but i'll catch up in about a week.

rays win! who ever thought i'd care? and who ever thought i'd be happy? but i am. weird.

Barack Obama is a "transformational figure" according to colin powell, who just endorsed him on Meet the Press. he's summarizing a lot of the salient points of the campaign extemely well. it's a damned shame he got duped so hardcore by the bcf, cos i lost all respect for him back then, and i'm only giving him a small bit of credit right now. but he's a smart guy who sees issues from a clear perspective; it sucks that he's been marginalized---and that he marginalized himself---to the point he did.

powell is also talking about his decision to go before the UN. he sounds really good, very reasonable. and i think he *is* a reasonable guy, but he made a huge mistake with that speech. it's just another example of what happens when you cherry-pick half the stuff and filter out the other half. even good, honest people can be duped. of course, we also had record protests for the history of humanity, and their arguments were just ignored. but that's just the modern conservatives' m.o.: decide on a conclusion in advance, pick out only the stuff that supports it (no matter how crazy), ignore the other stuff (no matter how reasonable), get 'er done.

powell just said: "i think we need a president who is a generational change, and that's why i'm supporting Barack Obama." it's hard not to have a tad more respect for him, cos he actually gets the real issue in the campaign: we need huge, deep change, not superficial or silly. i'm getting the east-coast feed, so it's probably not online yet (or i'd link it), but if you get a chance, watch today's Meet the Press online. it's really interesting.

damn it, i missed SNL last night. now i have to go find the tina fey stuff, and i can't do it here cos my hosts would not appreciate it. well, i hope i'll remember to check it in portland...which is less than a week away. that's so so weird. i guess i have to make it work.

by the way, Obama raised $150 million in september (and the dnc raised a bit more). people care, people are involved, people really want him to win. and that's good for them, because Obama is going to win. by a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_JGDO3X87g

how many ways is that weird? the singer, the song, the fact that it's a friggin' car commercial. so so so so weird. then again, so is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Vzrfkg-HY

some day this stuff will make sense. not today.

so i'm out of The City---and it is "the city" here, because i'm in upstate new york, where they sort of resent that New York City is what the rest of the country means when they say "new york." i'm staying with a college friend, Miller (aka "Greg"), and his family. they're super nice, very hospitable. they're showing me around their town (wappinger falls) with a very justified sense of pride. well, miller's parents are anyway; miller is thinking about moving back to oregon, so he's a little more neutral on the town.

turns out this is the old stomping grounds of one of our greatest presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. miller and i went to his home (and presidental library) earlier today, but we didn't pay $14 to go in. we did, however, drive up the road a few minutes to the Vanderbilt mansion. yes, this is the same guy as the school. apparently he was a big train baron (think carnegie or rockefeller) or something, and after the civil war---oops, i mean the War of Northern Aggression---he said the South needed to be able to rebuild, so he cut a check for the college. at least, i think that's what miller's dad told me; i probably screwed it up.

we're in the hudson river valley here, and it's beautiful. very different from oregon, but similar, too. i think i forgot to mention that i went apple-picking when i was in boston. my hosts and i went to a farm on a perfect autumn day. and you know how you've heard of the stunning new england trees, but you've never seen them? they're as good as you've heard, just amazing, especially when you can see a bunch of them in the middle distance. so today we saw the trees again. we went down by the hudson river and hung out. it was calm, quiet, beautiful. upstate new york is awesome. (caveat: i think everyone is really conservative here, which isn't my general viewpoint ((have you noticed that? i hide it pretty well here)), but they're also really nice, so it's okay...especially cos the cityfolk always overwhelm them for federal offices.)

on the way to our local sight-seeing today, we passed a bookstore called The Bookworm, which turns out to be pretty nice. i have never seen so many romance novels in one place; i didn't know that many existed. somehow i walked past them to the lit section. i picked up "the idylls of the king" (alfred, lord tennyson, of course) cos i haven't read it yet. i figured it'd be a few bucks, maybe five. it was 54 cents. yes, fifty-four cents. i was really happy. so i went back and found "runaway" by alice munro (cos the other one i read was so good) for eight dollars. all in all, a great haul. only now i have about ten books that i'm carting around. seriously, what's wrong with me? i have to be completely insane. i'm not even sure which of these i'm planning on reading right now, and which will go on the (eternal) back burner.

yesterday miller went to work and all that, and we went to The City in the late afternoon. we found a parking space in midtown (37th & 7th)---on the street...for free. miller was pretty impressed with us, even if it was just lucky to get there at 7 pm, right when it switched from "no parking" to "free parking all night." we rule. of course, we wouldn't have made it if we hadn't gone on an errand to brooklyn. i'm waffling on how mysterious i should be about this, but andy bernard black doesn't keep up with my blog (especially now that he's trying to buy a house), so he won't find this out. we went to the Pratt Institute, which is cool for two reasons: miller and i have a friend named Chris Pratt who thinks the institute is hilarious, and Pam Beasly is apparently going to school there this year. we got some funny stuff as presents.

after our amazing parking spot, we tried to go to the rangers game against the leafs. it was $220 for the cheapest available seats. how nuts is that? so we went to a vietnamese place instead. it was possibly the best asian food i've ever had. it was up on about W 90th, so we went to central park to find the guggenheim (on E 89th, which for those of you who've never been here means that we had to cross the Park). we ended up circling the Jackie-O reservoir. it's amazing how quickly it feels like you're not in the middle of the biggest, busiest city in america...but you can still see the sky-scraping apartments on every side. it's a weird place. miller thinks we saw the building that was in ghostbusters; i haven't seen it, so i don't know.

the gug is weird. it looks neeto and all, but also weird. we didn't go in cos it was 9 pm or so. they were projecting some poetry onto the side of the thing, really stupid, overly-artsy, pretentious stuff. i asked the projection guy who it was, and it was Wislawa Szymborska...a poet that i really like. i think her stuff must have been sliced up pretty badly, cos it's normally not nearly so choppy or pretentious. then we walked back to the car, found some pizza, and drove back to w-falls.

going through The City with someone else turns out to be so much more fun that going alone. there's a shitload of stuff to do here, more than you can imagine. but trying to see or do it by yourself...i mean, it's cool and the city is neat, but it's just better if someone else is along. i want to come back here, sure, but i want to have at least one friend with me next time.

i'm gonna go pay attention to the game now. go rays.

yeah, i'll go back and fix that subject line if i remember. then i'll take out this start...if i remember.

yesterday i did one of the things i was most excited to do in new york, something i've been anticipating for years. i finally went to Yankee Stadium. and...it sucked. fenway was closed, too, but at least they make it a little entertaining with their cool banners telling all the times they've won (third- or fourth-most ever, i believe. if you're curious yourself, go to www.baseball-reference.com, which i know was in your favorites anyway) and all the times they've almost won (AL champions), which of course includes the hilarious 1904 banner. you remember why they didn't win in 1904, right? it's pretty awesome, and you don't even have to be anti--red-sox to think so (yes, that was a poor man's n-dash just now). anyway, yankee stadium is concrete everywhere, no banners proclaiming their glory (they have an embarrassment of wealth; shouldn't they be ostentatious with it?), nothing but boring crap. you can't even get a good shot of the entrance because there's a parking lot in the way (the fences, i mean). and the guy i passed walking up told me that they'd canceled the 2 pm tour. stupid stupid. and you can't get to the new one yet, cos it's still a construction site. so i walked about three blocks away, partially cos several people have warned me that the bronx is rough and i need to watch out, especially cos i'm white. it looked like a sunny, pleasant neighborhood in a big city to me, but then i also stayed three blocks away from the subway stop, and it was 2 in the afternoon on a weekday.

so that was a bust. i niggled over the next stop for a while, then decided to hit up coney island and see the brooklyn cyclones' ballpark. being a minor league (triple A for the mets) park, it's smaller and cuter. you can see in from a few different angles, and there's stuff to take pictures of. out front there's a statue of Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. the base of the statue tells a story of how Pee Wee helped Jackie endure all the endless shit that he survived (basically he showed public support from day 1).

on the western (first base) wall outside they have plaques for all the cops and firefighters from the area who've died (i'm not sure if this is brooklyn or just coney island), and a special wall for the ones who died in 9/11. it's a little surreal to realize that shit happened right here. i haven't gone to ground zero, but i probably will.

but of course coney island is famous for its amusement park (astroland), not its ballpark. the thing is...everything was closed at coney island. i could not keep from smiling. (brooklyn will fill the beach eventually. everyone will go except me.) i walked around anyway. the coney island beach (rather, the pier) is the calmest, quietest spot i've found so far in new york city. it's on the ocean and there was no one there...well, relatively speaking, cos there were at least fifty people there, only you didn't notice cos the pier was so big. i guess your sense of "no one" changes when you're in new york.

i started taking pictures of the ferris wheel and the roller coaster (the famous Cyclone, from which the new baseball team got their name---and not to be a dick, but the folks naming brooklyn teams aren't very creative. you've got the Cyclones, the Trolley-Dodgers, and ((soon)) the Nets. it's like they just look at the stuff nearest them and say, "I do right there!"), and the local guy next to me told me this stuff was gonna be gone soon. apparently the various attractions of the park have been sold off and they're turning the thing into apartment buildings. i know that my only attachment to coney island is to the idea of it (and to the good book by mr. ferlinghetti), but i'm weirded out knowing that it's done for. i strongly believe that development should be done responsibly so that its melds with the stuff that's already there (there's that portland streak in me). while having yet more apartments on the beach (there are tons already) would definitely make money for some people, i think it takes away from some of the uniquenessitude of the area. but i've been there for an hour total in my life; what do i know about it. i walked around the actual park after that, and my pictures were mostly with an eye for showing how run-down and crappy everything is (very).

mermaid avenue is two streets up from the beach. germs's google-fu failed her (and me, and you, and the world), so i called chris, whose google-fu was running at its normal level (scaryhigh). he i found out that woody lives (er, let's make that past tense) at 3520 mermaid ave. i was at 16th and mermaid and my feet were already sore. sorry kids, no pictures other than the street sign.

i bought a week-long subway pass. the city is now my bitch. (it was $25, so i need to ride 12.5 times to make it worth the cash. i'm at 4 right now. i'll get there.)

on the ride back i stopped at washington cemetary (HUGE!) and prospect park. there was a high school frisbee team practicing. i've never seen so many good forehands in my life; it was really cool. then i went to the brooklyn bridge. everyone knows you're supposed to walk across it and see the incredible views of lower manhattan while you do. stuff like that gets built up a lot and never lives up to your expectations. but this one was pretty friggin' cool, especially cos its being a bridge means you have a million places to set down your camera and do longer exposures for good night shots. i got some awesome pictures. one thing about the bridge is that it's very cool (pretty, interesting, all that) from a personal walking perspective, and equally---but differently---cool from a photographic perspective. it was awesome to see the bridge and the views in two completely different, complimentary ways.

i wandered over to a park to rest, and i started chatting with a girl from brooklyn. we hung out for a few hours, and now i have a new facebook-friend. i'm up to 89 "friends" (some of whom are actually friends) on there, which seems like a lot to me. i think i've added about 75 people since i started the trip. then i looked at other people's "friends" total, and a lot of people have over 200. what the fuck? how does anyone know that many people? and how do they think they'll keep track of them all? i realize this is largely from people who are in (or just finished) school, but still.

after preksha and i parted ways, i found my host at a nearby bar (God bless cell phones). i had a good slice of pizza en route. we headed over to the subway to get back to his place, but first we stopped for pizza. that means i had 3.5 slices of pizza yesterday (including breakfast, which was leftovers from the night before), eight slices in the last two days, and i think two or three the day before. i just want to make sure you guys aren't worried about my getting enough of my favorite food. after the other day (4.5 pieces of pizza and five hot dogs), chris was concerned that i might not be getting enough sodium, so i also ate several (heaping) tablespoons of raw salt yesterday. don't worry, it was iodized---no goiters for me!

today i think i'm gonna go to shea stadium and maybe the staten island ferry. i'm tentatively supposed to hang out with carly (friend from high school), so i hope she gets in touch with me. you never ever know how that stuff will play out, though. i also need a place to stay tonight, cos i can't burden the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend for a fourth night. he's been a wonderful host, but it's time to move on. i'm hoping either carly or miller can hook me up, but i'm sure something will work out (...so what's that odd feeling my chest then? it doesn't feel like "sure")---because it always does.