open spaces

i brought my pair of roller skates with me to new york. they're black with blue wheels and i love them. for the record, i have roller blades but i feel silly and awkward in them. they're just not cool. anyway, on saturday morning i went on an adventure to find a small, quiet park, that a co-worker told me about. a place where i could skate.

that place was the carl schultz park near 86th and york. it had a path that ran alongside the water which was great but when i got there i found out that the path was tiled and bumpy. perfect for runners but a disaster for someone on skates. so i walked along the water and took some pictures. here's a tug boat.


on sunday, i woke up early with the intent of going to central park to skate. so i packed my sunglasses, a hat, water and my camera with the hopes of taking pictures while skating... instead, i found that it's easier to walk and sit by the ducks.


here's what i learned about skating in central park: when joggers and kids on tricylcles are passing you it's time to take your skates in to get the wheels adjusted so that you can go faster. i also learned that i really need to get a back pack. trying to balance my bag while watching out for cyclists on the road is not exactly relaxing. so after a while i went home and made plans to go to another park in the afternoon. this time to meet my friend cigarette and listen to music.

cigarette was running late so i waited for her at 59th and lex. i avoided getting a hot dog and going into h&m. phew! when she arrived we grabbed a slice of pizza and took the yellow line to the broadway exit. we walked 5 blocks in the wrong direction, then walked 15 blocks towards the water. we found a green field with a random assortment of art. this field was called socrates park.


the fiery furnaces were playing. we both wondered what the green reindeer with a ladder meant. i have to admit it's kind of festive.

i like this installation with the sign.



without knowing much about the piece it made me stop and remember what happened to the people of new orleans. watching the father hold his son reminded me of the tragedy. it also made me grateful for my own family who i miss terribly but who i'll get to see very soon.

that's all for now.

just like noah

since the weather called for severe thunderstorms we all headed out to central park summerstage last friday to see paul van dyk. this is the vip section, courtesy of t*star, who will forever be known as the p.i.m.p.


between the flooding, dancing and continuous supply of free beer and wine, picture taking was nearly impossible, but we loved every moment. here's a picture at the edge of the vip section looking out at the crowd. the harder that it rained the more that they screamed with glee.

i tried to get a picture of paul here but he was just out of sight from this angle so here's a picture of red-rain-parka guy.

here's the obligatory shoe shot, clockwise from top left: antonio's yellow suede pumas that were obliterated by the rain; tb's cons looking bright and new; my new, black flat boots that kept my feet nice and dry; emmanuelle's bare foot (because she wore a cute pair or pointy toe pumps that were not meant for rainy day dancing); and margueritte's wellies (so chic!).


look! the back of paul!


by the time night fell it was pure chaos, silliness with friends and great music. pvd's set made me feel all spine-tingly. he's an amazing dj. it was great to hear him live again. thanks t*star!

nice dream

images of people sleeping on the train
by emmanuelle
(who borrowed my camera
after the daft punk show)

he triggered the whole thing
looking so damn sweet

she bought a t-shirt
i like the pink against black

a whole bunch of sleepy heads

this is my favorite shot

zebra headband: the beginning or the middle of a trend?

busted! the guy in stripes wakes up
is that a shoulder pad sewn into the black t-shirt?

i love how she's holding her blackberry
at any moment she's ready to text

they were too cute
he smiled the whole time emmanuelle took photos

hmm... these 2 look familiar

the end

intergalactic

last week i wondered if my gravitational pull was off.

at 9:18 a.m. on an empty sidewalk, a random person would appear and bump into me. on the subway i was knocked by briefcases. walking briskly through subway platforms hands with heavy watches snapped my wrist as i walked past. this happens sometimes.

my gravitational force brings good stuff too. last week it brought vip tickets. i mentioned daft punk but then i needed to sleep the long weekend off to recover so i haven't written about the rest.

so since i've slept,
who would you pull into your gravitational force?

a. mike d
b. mca
c. ad-roc
d. mixmaster mike
e. ____________

you know where this is going, don't you?

central park summerstage.
the one,
and only,
BEASTIE BOYS!

(sigh)

last wednesday afternoon an IM appeared from emmanuelle. some of her music friends had an extra ticket. i was so happy i could have wept. i packed up at work and hopped on the 1 to meet her. we stopped at a deli, bought a mushroom quiche and a mozzarella, tomato, basil sandwich. then we walked over to summerstage.

summerstage is gorgeous when the sun starts to set.

i love going there to see shows. the people who work there are charming. emmanuelle's friends had a box so we were served wine all evening. it felt very bourgeois and spoiled. i loved every moment.

and i love the beastie boys. i've grown up listening to them. i could be having the worst day and one of their songs will come on the radio and the next thing you know i'm singing along.

everyone sang that night. everyone knew the lyrics. they have that affect on people.

so which beastie boy is your favorite?
for me it's simple: mike d.

robot power

i want a pyramid that lights up.

at one point in the show margueritte stopped dancing and said, "i want to be daft punk for halloween."

we met two girls on the subway. they offered emmanuelle and i glitter. asked us how many times we've seen the robots from france. people travel from all over to see them. now i'll be one of them. secretly building my own pyramid.

i heart nyc - part one

(in order of first appearance)

1. the boombox guy, near dekalb, brooklyn

are boomboxes anti-technology or a sign of good times? on friday morning, after seeing booka shade at studio b, the boombox guy came around. every time i'm in brooklyn he appears. i usually hear him first and then stop whatever i'm doing to stare. he makes me miss my roller skates. i almost picked the $1.50 egg, cheese and tomato sandwich on a roll with salt & pepper from the corner deli instead of boombox guy, but i have to hand it to a guy that loves music so much he shares it with everyone.

2. abc carpet and home, broadway and 19th


this store makes you wish you had a lot of money. hand-made chandeliers, 1200-count sheets, modern furniture, grandma couches from the 40s, cloth from tibet, whatever you're into it's probably here. six perfectly art directed floors of the most beautiful things.

3. soup dumplings, pell and broadway

don't they look squishy? the waiter showed us how to eat them. first scoop one up in your soup spoon. poke a tiny hole in the dumpling so that the broth drains out. suck up the juice and devour. joe's shanghai.

4. blonde redhead, mccarren park pool


if i were in a band i'd want to sound like blonde redhead. i hope someday to hear them in a small, enclosed place like the troubadour, so that i can feel the sound waves hit my skin without any escape. when kazu sat on her horse chair and played the keyboards i wished earthshine was with me. i stood close to the front of the stage and not a single person pushed or jostled me. is it brooklyn or mccarren park pool? either way that's cool.

5. bunny ears


it goes without saying that bunny ears are cool. who doesn't look cute with bunny ears? number 5 is dedicated to my nephew who at 2 months old already knows how to send me a card. on the cover was a self-portrait of him in his bunny ear hat. i can't wait until he's old enough for a boombox and a guitar.

geek love

i can officially say that i've been to the world's largest t.g.i. friday's. i went with some friends at work yesterday for lunch. we were actually looking for a thai place that promised to be shangri-la once you got past the tacky facade but we couldn't find it... so as we continued to push through the times square tourist hell it occurred to us that it might be amusing and silly to actually soak up the whole tourist thing and eat at tgif.

i have so say, that the waitress gave us a great table. my 2 friends were super cute too because they made me sit by the window since i was a tgif virgin. this was our view. taxi cabs and midwesterners.

comfortable in my geekiness i then ordered the top chef sandwich. remember the portobello one from the woman that fought all the time with the foam guy? CLASSIC.

they really need to add more mushroom to this sammy. poor, sad little portobello, lost in the bread.

after lunch we went to duane reade to buy a detergent stick. while we were standing in the check out line i spied one of those cheesy watch displays that spin around so i took a look and found the coolest watch EVER!

there it is, posing with my moofia milk, a genuine casio calculator watch! it multiplies, adds and divides. it has an alarm AND it's waterproof. it's so big that it takes up my whole wrist. oh, memories of eighth grade. the checkout clerk at duane reade had to unlock 3 bolts to take this watch out of the case... it's that special.

to continue with my tourist journey, after work i went to a yankees game with my friend the professor, who was in the big apple for work. the professor is like a giant human bear that pushes boundaries with the exuberance of a frat guy but is also syrupy sweet.

we had great seats. the yankees kicked butt so the crowd was relaxed and happy. we sat and watched home run after home run.


somewhere around the 7th inning he started talking about how we were on a date.... it was awkward. have you ever been on a date and not known it's a date? i'm not saying that i didn't know that the professor liked me but we've had a pact that revolves around friendship for quite a while now. anyway, i didn't take a picture of his shoes. they were regular running shoes. that's all for now.