Furlough, Day 2

I'm trying to plan my furlough days, so I keep myself as entertained as possible this week, while spending the least amount of money possible.



Yesterday, Lewis and I woke up and had brunch with his parents, followed by a walk around Highland Park. In the toy store, I was struck with the idea to go to IKEA to look at picture frames and root around the discount room so off we went. And in what I consider to be an attempt at circumventing a day of shopping, Lewis suggested we go to the next Turnpike exit and take the Path into NYC. So we did that.



It was starting to rain as we got out of the 23rd st. station, but it was nice and warm, so it didn't bother us. We walked to Fish's Eddy on Broadway and 19th, where I was overcome with joy at handling hundreds of glass and porcelain housewares. I walked outta there with a salt cellar in the shape of a duck, and a serving platter in the shape of a piece of green notebook paper, marked down to $6 from $24. See?



The little blue cow is a gift for Lewis's mother, because she likes blue glass.

After Fish's Eddy, we continued downtown and stumbled upon a Pinkberry, where we both indulged in cups of frozen goodness. I had mine with shaved white chocolate, which adds a snappy crunch. I love the texture of crispy food.

Today, I cleaned. I finally finished getting all of my stuff properly put away, wheareas a lot of it was just thrown in closets to get it out of the way. I finally set up my bookshelf, took all my shoes out of their boxes (and discovered a cute pair that I haven't worn in two years. Love when that happens.) vaccumed, put up a new shower curtain, scrubbed the kitchen, and threw out a ton of shit that should never had made it here in the first place. I have a rule-If I bring new things in here, some of the old things have to go. This may be boring to whoever is reading, but I love throwing things away. It's a small thrill to have that space back again so I can cram it full of newer, shinier things.

Tommorow, I go to Middletown for the day, and Wednesday, I am going to Costco with Rebecca (I think). Friday should entail another movie marathon at Casa de Gapin con Leela, because it's Friday the 13th!

So, if anyone wants to hang out this week, give a holla. I am around and looking for adventures.

There was a mollusk and a sea cucumber. None of them were walking and-

Vacation goes so fast. It's kind of unfair.

Today was my favorite kind of day off, and was spent doing menial errands that I don't have time for during the week, going to the gym and watching an America's Next Top Model marathon. Today was also free ice day at Rita's, which I am so glad I partook in. I got the birthday cake flavor, which tasted like the icing on cheap sheet cake. mmmm.


Yesterday we went into NYC and saw the butterfly room at the Natural History Museum, which was so neat and fun. Its kind of like a sealed pod that you go into, and its very warm and brightly lit and filled with plants and flowers and moss and a few hundred butterflies are everywhere, flying up to your face, landing on your shirt, standing on the ceiling, just everywhere. Some of them were the size of small birds, so big you could see their tongues curled under, and some were so teeny tiny I was afraid that they were going to fly into my mouth if I got too close. It was a really neat experience, and I took a lot of pictures on my phone, which I'm trying to figure out how to send to the computer so I can post them.

We also dicked around the rest of the museum, looking at the wall of different animal kingdoms and stuff on the third floor and I must've said "Gross" at least 10 times while Lewis explained the different types of invertebrates and worms and fungi to me. Then we went to Carnegie Deli and partook in salted meats and chicken fat and I was as happy as could be. If I could have changed anything though, it would not have been raining; we did a lot of walking and NYC in the rain sucks, no matter how you slice it.

On a more serious note, probably my best story to date was published this week, pertaining to a group of CBA students going to Asbury Park for a community outreach program. It was a cool assignment and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Check it out.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880319024

I am officially on vacation, and it is lovely. I laid around with my old man all day, catching up on sleep, ordering takeout and watching all of season one of the Venture Brothers, which I've never watched before this week and got sucked right into.

We went to NYC yesterday with his family and toured the uptown area before going allllll the way downtown and riding the Staten Island ferry, which I've never done before and probably wouldn't ever have, if it wasn't on the itinerary.
I was super exhausted from my weird work schedule from the days before plus the tired-ness of walking around NYC all day, so needless to say, the sole purpose of today was to nap.

This evening, I got to finish watching "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters", which is a documentary about mega-nerds going against each other to see who can get the highest score in arcade Donkey Kong. There were multiple parts that made me doubt whether or not it was a real documentary, but it is legit, and it's mildly entertaining, if you are a classic game enthusiast. It was really cool to see guys break a million points and have the screen reset itself, and to see the kill screens (in old arcade games, there was no end screen because the games didn't have enough memory. Once you started playing the last board, you just died. It's actually a more entertaining end than the end of a lot of old Nintendo games.)


So, to recap, I am out of work until the 24th. Give me a call if you want to go on any zany adventures.