Thursday, August 02, 2007

Dear New York [Getting All City Girl On You]

[All the photos in this blog, except two, are Layla's. 'Cause this is her week. Her show's still on, and we'll be there -- World Culture Open Center, 19 West 26th Street, Fifth Floor -- Saturday night for the Closing Celebration. Be there. She's the visionary responsible for Haviland Stillwell Inc. and many of our best moments. Also she's photographed a lot of people more famous than us, e.g., Ani DiFranco, Gloria Steinem, etc.]

***



Dear New York City,

It's never so easy to love you. It requires the kind of blind faith and stubborn inertia typically associated with religion or destructive relationships. For example, I don't think you ever tell ME that you love ME more than once or twice a year, and even then it's fleeting; over before I've even realised you're talking to me, specifically.

I'm absolutely not the first person to tell you this, but you keep getting away with it, and you always will. This week it's been so hot [I have Reverse Seasonal Defective Disorder], it's like you're slathering me in cheap syrup and eating me alive. It happens sometimes in winter too, I don't know how I ever waded through you sans iPod. You require soundtrack. Music for the madness.

Miranda: Why do I think living in New York City is so fantastic?
Carrie: Because it is.
-Sex and the City

[Yeah, I just quoted Carrie Bradshaw. It's that kind of day, bitches.]

It's like you're always playing hard to get but we both know I'm not going anywhere. But what if I did?

Tuesday was the amazing incredible unbeatable consistently-awe-inspiring Layla Love's gallery opening. Whatever her eyes look at, I'd like to look too.

Wednesday, same time and same place for the same show but with another artist too. The art: so fucking beautiful. But Con-Ed, the Magical Mystery Tour that it is, backed out of its end of the deal and shut off the electricity at 7 P.M. last night. I'm sure Heather chewed them out, 'cause she's Magical Manager.

No air conditioning, no film screenings, no light. ["Without lamps, there would be no light." Name that movie.] On Tuesday, the electricity was on, but the AC was a little weak and it was still really warm. Which was fine, 'cause we all relocated to a hot rooftop cocktail party and got drunkity drunk drunk.

But last night! Con-Ed! Really Con-Ed, really? And what could we do? See New York, this is what I'm talking about.

*

Last night we were at Brite, which's next to Marquee, which is one of those things people talk about when they talk about you: I wanted Britney Spears [even bald!] to be there so we could make out.

But they didn't care for our wrist-bands and we didn't care for their line.

I put my head in my hands and said: "I am so OVER THIS CITY."

And Carly said: "It's so bizarre to hear that from YOU, of all people."

Like when Haviland asked me if I wanted to move to LA with her for a little while, I don't think she expected me to say "Okay!"

It is SO hot right now. No one should have to live in these conditions without a camel.

*

"Everything is faster here. There are too many people, jammed on to a tiny island where buildings and streets are crumbling and everyone is in a hurry. Often I hate it here. In the summer the city is sweltering, the air is stale and used up, recycled millions of times by others who have gotten to use it first. Only the poor or left in the city in the summer: anyone with money tries to escape. But in some ways the hard core of humanity who stay behind are the most interesting."

-Tama Janowitz, Area Code 212

*

This morning I woke up thinking it was 11:00 am and thought I'd wasted the whole balmy day in bed with a biting, unrelenting hangover, one hot mess. I had to put on sunglasses even to walk to the kitchen. It just hurt. (I thought it was 11:00am because I'd had a dream in which Tobias from Arrested Development was like "Get out of bed, sleepyhead! It's 11:12!")


9 A.M.
(photo by me, not by Layla)

I don't know why. I don't usually get hangovers, and we had maybe three drinks or something? Actually. That's not true. We had more than three. But it was spaced out and everything.

I just feel like crap today. Now, it's almost midnight: yup. Still feel like crap.

*

This is a photo I took of you at Rite Aid:
(this photo is not by Layla)


*

So sometimes I think I can't take it anymore 'cause everything takes forever: 20 minutes to buy a goddamn toothbrush, and it's the most expensive toothbrush ever and it makes my teeth bleed.

You drive people to drugs.

OK I just opened my fortune cookie and decided whatever it said was going to be The Truth:

"You will stumble into the path that will lead your life to happiness."

*

Re: your love ...

Sometimes it's implied, like on Tuesday night, en route to the show, when the 6 train came just as we did, and then the R, and we didn't have to wait long at all in that innermost circle of hell known as the subway station in August.

Actually, that's your best trick. When you show up, suddenly, on time. When you bring your A-Game.

There were moments not so long ago when you loved me, New York: temperate April, playing guitar on the street. And you get me on The Brooklyn Bridge. Every time! In Karen's BMW last May, speeding crazy, I sat on Haviland's lap and we screamed like intoxication itself, like our voices could break free of our bodies, I would like to step out of my heart and go driving beneath the enormous sky.

With Matty, bumping brilliant, with Lo in the backseat of ten thousand cabs, our eyes peeled like silly babies wanting everything ...

*

[New York, you loved me in April, when my Mom came to visit, that was a beautiful weekend.

It's amazing: the incredible power of being the one who chooses to leave. I always related to that line in "Closer": I'm the one who leaves. But this's hard too; to miss something and not want it back, either. There's nothing whatsoever to fix, nothing to do. You just wait to stop missing it. I chose to leave a relationship, I choose to leave a city, I choose to stay in a city.

But New York, you never give me any choices, you and your magazines. Your [redacted] magazine.]

After good work, a beautiful night, anything unexpected/promising, any Blister in the Sun type moment. When they play the song I want to hear. Laughter does it pretty good, too. Those are the moments that you kinda get me, and then I kinda forget all the other shit.

*

Moments when you hated me: forced to cry in public, the endless endless hours of summer, waiting for the train for two hours, when she ran crazy into Times Square to preach at strangers, got robbed ... the expensive pointless nights that give outsiders a reason to tell me they don't understand why I do it.

We love you anyway because everyone who lives in this city is a masocist. That's fine, everyone who lives in L.A. is a wimp.

(JK! Love you, both of you, all of you, all of you.)

*

Last night we were talking about expectation vs. reality and how that's everything. I mean: that's not exactly a revelation. We all know this.

My expectations for things are, in general, really low. [I mean, the only thing I still have high expectations for is The L Word, and clearly I'm in a serious state of denial about that. Like, up until the 41 minute mark when the episode announces it's unsatisfying end, I'm still totes convinced everyone could say something semi-intelligent and get naked. There's still 4 minutes! Someone could def. fuck in the next four minutes!]

Haviland was saying how the Miss Girl Nation contest at Nation was actually super fun, and then the consequential Miz Hot n' Fit robbery/contest at Bed was a letdown for everyone involved. Because we thought the thing at Nation was gonna be ... well ... Nation. And it was just: fun. So we loved it.

[Sidenote: J-Nads is currently IMing me photos of the mansion he's living in in L.A. I didn't think people lived in mansions except on 'Cribs.' I want to be sitting by his pool. "I will read your screenplay after a game of tennis, by the pool." Yeah, um, wait up. I wanna play tennis in West Hollywood with Dana, I wanna live in the mansion.]

And then I was thinking about the past few days, and I realised, actually: all the parts that had no expectation were actually the best parts.

The subway ride to the opening on Tuesday when Cesar almost made Carly and I both die of laughter. We almost lost him on the train. It's one of those stories I'd try to relate here that wouldn't be funny.

Walking from Brite to where Haviland was meeting up with a manager last night.

Sitting on the curb outside the bar with the two girls in that photo there, on the left, that photo's from my old apartment, obvs I was drunk, and that girl there closest to the window, Hebrew is her first language, I told her I used to speak it, we all talked about how great Hebrew is. Thinking in Hebrew or about Hebrew makes me happy. I wish I remembered it better.

It makes sense. The neat little roots. In Hebrew. Not many things make sense.

So even though I try to live sans expectation, even though I'm never ever the one to build something up, still, even for me: there are so many unexpected good things, which's why I'm still here, at least today.

When I say I'm sick of this city, it's the summertime: the transition between here and there always involves a big leap into the puddle of your unbearable heat.

But here's the thing about you, New York -- all at once, I am on my way. All at once-- one foot before the other, a ticket, a seat -- here, you help me, then I'll help you, this is how we go on -- as difficult as it is to get places, it is also so much easier because you can be passive about it. Today, for example, I went somewhere no one knew about [I keep doing this, different places, secrets, I think I need to, because I'm getting myself back], which's harder to pull off just about anywhere else on the planet. My car did not move because I do not have one.

Sometimes I am on my way somewhere on the train and I'm surprised I got there at all. I'm like "What's up. Here I am on my way."

We don't drive, we are only inertia. We board, we don't lead. In that way, you're like a monorail operated by voice or swipe -- we tell the cabbie: "Take me here," and he does. We swipe our cards, we board. We are lifted from one place and taken swiftly to another. We emerge from underground: the sun is shining, it's raining, it's danger, it's all bright lights, it's somewhere we shouldn't be or magically it is in fact exactly where I should be. It's home, we're lost, I can't imagine being anywhere else.

[But sometimes? I can.]

36 comments:

frank said...

because i like you, i'm going to tell you this now so you can delete the comment before your feminist friends see it -- you spelled gloria steinem's name wrong.

frank said...

hey, first comment! woo hoo! nyc is the most overrated city on the planet. i was so hoping you'd end this post with, "and that's why i'm setting my neighborhood on fire."

for every three good things, there are 10 bad things. and four of those bad things are the urine. yeah, it's so bad, you can't count it four times.

frank said...

can. not can't. god i'm dumb.

Anonymous said...

perhaps i just came on-line the very second you posted this?

Q:name that movie
A:breakfast club

a youtube that encompasses this blog (minus the brilliance of subtle nuance/any form of emotion): heat, transport, alcoholic beverages and camels... only an australian ad company could come up with this gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgX9tqgO1Eg

also, blog name: im it

riese said...

lozo: I actually did that once before, last summer, same person. And my friend Janet texted me and said "Um, you spelled Gloria Steinhem wrong, FYI." And I was like, Wow, I just got texted about a spelling error, awesome.

Dude, it is all I can do not to go back and change it in the blog entry to lighting my neighborhood on fire, but it's funnier in this context. There are so many bad things. I just can't think about them. I try really hard not to. Since I'm like, here.


*

kate: Right, of course! You win!

Dude, I AM an Australian ad company. Just ask Crystal. I will try to get camels involved.

Um, your blog name is PERFECT! Seriously, genius.

carlytron said...

At least there is a breeze and it's still nice at night, usually. Orlando is 95 and humid and raining all summer, so I am looking on the bright (so bright I do really need shades) side of things, or trying to. LA might be crappy too but I need to know that for myself.

You should watch this. This is the music video equivalent of the Tegan and Sara song that makes you feel so much that you have to just lie flat on your back on the kitchen floor to really enjoy it properly.

Also, the song that inspired that is "Heart" by the band Stars.

I have nothing better to say, I am sleepy. See how quick I am to comment when you're not yelling at me? : )

OH. P.S. That thing on the subway was fully one of the funniest things ever.

Mercury said...

That's how I feel about Anchorage, except Anchorage is the antithesis of NYC, I'm sure.

Imagine yourself here. It's cool in the short short summer, so reverse SAD would be like, An Asset. Also, re: being ghostish pale? you never sunburn in AK. also, the entire state is a secret. A forested secret where people are getting drunk, high, shooting things, beating their wives, committing serial murder, burying women in the tundra, whatevs.

the world is too small, the world is too big.

agreed about expectations. That's why I like to not think about things enough to develop expectations. Not thinking, is, I believe, the Way To Go. Unfortunately, I had to do a lot of thought to get to that conclusion. I'm screwed.

hllxprgd. I think it's a religious message. hell x pray god.

DH said...

It's friday afternoon and the only thought re: NY I can summon up right now is how good the bagels are. And how I find St Marks Place really funny, like LOL-worthy hilarity, and I have no idea why.

I wish I could say something a little more profound or astute, but no such luck. Oh, and you totally embody the Aussie advertising spirit. Mate.

I had no idea we had camels here, until now. Thank god for advertising. And Google.

Anonymous said...

I hate cities, they are over-populated, jarring, hectic and scary to a girl who has always lived in the English countryside.

But I love New York, I felt safe and loved and at home.

Has there ever been a word that you rarely hear, but suddenly it's everywhere.

A few months ago it was 'Albuquerque' which appears in KC&Elka, High School Musical, Little Miss Sunshine to name but a few.

At the moment it is the word 'camel', it's everywhere. So thank you for adding to the camel word count in your post.

The Brooklyn Boy said...

speeding crazy, I sat on Haviland's lap and we screamed like intoxication itself

Fan-friggin-tastic image. Also, your last line was better than getting to go home after Hall of Fame Weekend was over. Do not doubt the import of what I just wrote.

kate said...

you must being doing exceptionally well at the aussie vibe if no-ones noticed that you and crystal have tag-teamed it. perhaps you should escape the sweltering NY heat and come over to our chilly winter

and also kids: yep, i’m it

frank said...

sorry. didn't mean to get all "your blog has typos and the place you live sucks" on you. let me make it up to you by making out with you.

MLissa said...

I just got back from NYC, and I seriously kept my eyes open for you walking the street w/ your ipod or waiting in line at Rite Aid. :) That city is seriously my escape from my life here, and I have to escape like every other month at least.

Editing video in Texas with a halfway working air conditioner is my fate for today, however.

stef said...

los angeles is hot but it's a dry heat. pleasant. it can be 110 and it's still very doable. you never have to worry about a surprise thunderstorm or even a surprise cloud. it's amazing (short term; after a few weeks i was really weirded out by it). however if the lines at rite aid bug you, wait til you're in rush hour traffic on the 101.

new york spoils you. you build up this resistance and determination and weird badass mentality that no other city will really ask of you.. once you live here, you can't live anywhere else. i spent three years in philly, walking up and down the streets yelling "THIS IS IT?!?!?!?!" then i got mugged and murdered by a homeless crackhead dressed as ben franklin, LOLz.

i love la but i don't want to live there til i'm grown up enough to not get sucked into it. i think i am doing my twenties in new york, where i can live out all my retarded sex and the city fantasies, and then when i am thirty and centered and ready i will try a few years in los angeles.

i'm slightly bicoastal. cos it's trendy. obv.
but new york is really the only place worth living.
(but crystal is right, st marks is kinda hilarious)

riese said...

DJ C: I wonder if we should start assessing cities by easy access to air conditioning rather than overall temperature. Because of global warming and stuff. I mean, everything is gonna be hot. I just want quick escape.

downloading song.

[hands down totes lying on the floor good]

[Yes .. :)]

That video made me think of this Stephen Dunn poem ...

Happiness:

A state you dare not enter
with hopes of staying,
quicksand in the marshes, and all

the roads leading to a castle
that doesn't exist.
But there it is, as promised,

with its perfect bridge above
the crocodiles,
and its doors forever open.


*

noxious:

In the Michelle Shocked song, she goes: I took the time to write to my old friend, I walked across that burning bridge, I mailed my letter off to Dallas but her reply came from Anchorage, Alaska ... you know you're in the largest state in the Union when you're anchored down in Anchorage ... Hey girl whats it like to be in New York, New York city imagine that, Whats it like to be a skateboard punk rocker, Leroy says send a picture, leroy says hello, Leroy says keep on rocking girl, yeh keep on rocking

We're all screwed, so my theory is: let's have fun! 'Cause the world is too small, too big, and everything, obvs. the world is too much with us; late and soon ...

(I have none of my own words today. I just have the words of others over and over)

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Tiger: I think the St. Marks place humor has something to do with the faux [r]evolution being staged there. Or the shiny remnants of it.

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Lauraquerqe: I totally know what you mean about the words that are nowhere and then everywhere. And about New York. I guess I am still here, pushin' on.

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b2: Oh, I am not doubting it one little bit. [*thank you*]

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tagyoureit: I always enjoy any usage of the word "tag team." I've adapted completely to Aussie spelling. I've got roots there. Deep, deep roots.

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L3: It's OK, obvs no offense taken. Didn't I tell you like, four months ago, that I like it when you tell me about my little typos right away? Constructive criticism is my best friend.

Besides, you live in New Jersey.

(special note to Carly and "chase": There is nothing wrong with New Jersey, obvs, JK.)

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Mel-C: Dude, you should have looked for me in my apartment at the writers table! Sometimes i venture out of doors, the radiant nature of my hot pink iPod is nothing short of resplendent. Holla next time you are here. We go out a lot, I think, sometimes, and it can be fun. Occassionaly. I am glad you had fun. I've never been to Texas.

BUT AM GOING NEXT YEAR FOR SXSW HOLLA!


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Big E: Ohhh, i love me some dry heat. Like Meh-hi-Co! But I hate traffic. HATE IT. My parents lived there for a while in their twenties and told horror stories about the traffic, which I think is why I never considered living there.

And yeah, on my one trip to Philly I got it BAD. I mean, things did not go well for me in Philly. Phone stolen, etc. But still, that was a circumstantial circumstance that had nothing to do with the city itself and more to do with the situation that i did not control. I won't keep talking about this. Suffice to say: Philly was so lovely, looked so beautiful and kind. Everything else does seem a bit easy after NYC. I guess it breaks you in. to life (what am i talking about?!!)

I KNEW you were slightly bicoastal.

Anonymous said...

wow, this almost made me cry. i totally love new york, i couldnt live anywhere else, but i think its true that to live here, you have to be a masochist. just a little bit, in a good way.

so now im wondering what it is that is satisfied in me by living here. maybe its that since everything about living here is just a bit harder than it otherwise has to be, every little success and step forward through the day is an occasion for celebration. all the little daily chores that you should be able to take for granted are actually really accomplishments here. yay, i made it!

i think i also like knowing that at ANY GIVEN MOMENT i could go out and meet someone totally new and probably have an interesting conversation, even if it was only for a few hours. even though i dont often do that. im happy knowing that i could, even in the middle of the night, whenever i wanted to.

the heat is too much to deal with though this week. yesterday, i was waiting at the 2nd ave station and the heat felt like it was toasting my eyeballs.

Rebecca Foster said...

Usually when I hear people talk about heat I laugh, because I've spent the last five years in South Texas and those few seconds in August when you walk past a running car and the exhaust shoots the temp up to 120 and you feel like you've been thrown into an incinerator and wonder if you'll make it the two feet to the other side? Yeah, I felt like that reading this post. Your words FELT like heat, like how I feel when I come home to my apt. with no central air and the porcelain sink is still hot to the touch and I can't concentrate on anything because my blood is crashing against my skin, trying to escape the heat of my body. That kind of heat. Amazing.

For what it's worth, I grew up riding the metro and for this I blame my awful driving skills. It's unnatural to be in public in a weather- and music- controlled hive. I feel like I have as much right to drive a car as the space shuttle.

DH said...

I didn't know there was a faux [r]evolution at St Marks. Someone once told me it was the gothic capital of the world, and I think this's why I think it is a little awesome.

PS. I got up really early this morning to get the weekend newspaper - the [R]evolution has made its print debut. Super hot, like, 'apply now' hot.

frank said...

for the record, i was a little upset before i realized L3 was me. cute.

and i know you told me to tell you, but i still feel like mr. grammar pointing them out. like, if you needed me to give you insulin shots, i'd feel bad about sticking you with the needle.

and nj > ny. we can have a ny/nj-off if you'd like.

Anonymous said...

So weird when the song you are listening to speaks the words you are reading...

There's no more
Wind in my arrow
Breath in my lungs

I moved to New York City
They say it's uplifting
It never ends my longing

What is wrong with me

Bought a stamp for a dime
I could have sent myself back to
The bottom of the world

But what would they say when I landed...

Anika Moa
Everything's the Same

Rebecca Foster said...

btw, it should be 'I feel like I have as much right to drive a car as I do the space shuttle.' My stream of consciousness is somewhat illiterate.

riese said...

FYI, you all get nicknames now. From now until I run out. Find yourself. I know I will.

*

ship-lesbo ...

.thank you. I hope that almost making you cry is also just a little bit, in a good way.

That's interesting about the chores. I feel like that's the part that maddens me the most ... but also ...

THIS IS IT:
i think i also like knowing that at ANY GIVEN MOMENT i could go out and meet someone totally new and probably have an interesting conversation, even if it was only for a few hours. even though i dont often do that. im happy knowing that i could, even in the middle of the night, whenever i wanted to.

That is why I stay here. Nights like tonight, though, going anywhere would be like um, stepping into a violent rainforest, sans forest.

And also, with toasting the eyeballs, also perfect.

*

Becks:

The way you just described the heat in Texas was pretty effin vivid. I would have to say that at least my sink is not hot? Blood crashing against skin ... amazing.

Michigan was humid. Unbearable, humid, Michigan.

I think cars are a lot like space shuttles.

*

champ:

There is. It's called "selling studded clothing," and "scowling."

I got my tattoo there, on St. Mark's. They have that one really great store with the two names? I forget.

I lived a few blocks north of there one summer, and went there all the time. Once I went at 10am or something and all the clothing stores were closed. I didn't know anything could be closed while I was awake in the morning.

Don't miss this opportunity to develop ...

*

Satan:

I wouldn't feel bad sticking you with a needle. [JK]

Face-off, yeah? Sometimes you're clever w/o even knowing it.

*

abs:

that is eerie and perfect, thank you.

*

Anonymous said...

This is intended solely as a good-faith warning for all fellow sufferers of reverse SAD:

Last summer on a 103 degree day with no air conditioning, lying on my back on the hardwood floor waiting for the sun to go down with all of the lights off and the curtains drawn and a frozen dish towel draped over my head, I resolved to go on the hunt for the endless Autumn.

I am a year into the journey, and with occasional dips into winter (snow! oh devotion!) I've been pretty successful. Not to mention generally pleased with myself.

But while I intend to continue on my present course, I have to admit: I have begun to miss the sun. Following autumn means there is no such thing as 9 oclock in the afternoon, which I love more than many other things. Maybe the answer is in Anchorage or St Petersburg. White Nights! (white knights!) But I'm not sure I could handle the dark days.

Good luck on your journey away from The City. There are pieces of it all over the place, scattered about for you to find. The world is too small, the world is too big indeed.

And also, I loved your final image of New York, with the moving and the sorting and the sense of some City purpose, City rhyme beyond (in the absence of?) small human animi. It made me think of a giant, opaquely logical marble counting machine. Lots of colors and little wooden shunts and slides for the marbles to be variously distributed, all clicking and clacking and constantly moving.

Um, don't ask me why. Anyways, I like thinking of New York that way. So, hey, thanks.

Oh, and, you have flickrMail!

stef said...

the goth capital of the country is probably new orleans, followed by philly cos they have a great industrial scene. new york's goth scene has been crap for years. you're all riveted, i know. HA! rivet jokes. i'm commenting while kinda drunk, can you tell?

nj is my homeland and i will defend it to the death. don't hate.

as for philly, other than the aforementioned goth scene (a major tourist attraction obviously), the mutter museum (SIAMESE TWINS!) and rittenhouse square in autumn, there's not much going on there worth seeing more than once. i believe strongly that there are more crazy people per capita than there are here. i was regularly robbed, harassed and forced to live on a block that was encased in a huge cloud of crack smoke pretty much on a regular basis. after that, nothing scares me.

i tagged a bathroom with a 'the that's hots' logo tonight. a trendy greenpoint bathroom. i consider that step 1 in becoming a hype band.

word veri is gboektg, which is probably dutch or something and probably means air conditioning.

Anonymous said...

Well folks, there’s good news and there’s bad news:

The good news is that a brilliant group of scientists have fallen sympathetic to our cause. To hell with cancer research and global warming, they have employed some serious Darpa funding to develop a glove that actually keeps you cool. According to the horse’s mouth, the glove suctions the blood in your hand towards the surface of the skin and then cools it before it is sent back to your heart. The result is an ability to stave off the effects of extreme heat for hours on end. Like, why didn’t I think of that?

The bad news is that by some horrific fault in calculation, they have deemed this technology most pertinently necessary for the Iraqi front lines, which incidentally is not where I’m spending my summer. Also, I can’t say for sure since I am notoriously pitiful at The Price is Right, but this glove doesn’t sound like something at which you can throw your weekly allowance. So in the grand tradition of the Playstation 3 and the iPhone, another painfully necessary product is encased in overpricing and inaccessibility.

Despite all of that, however, and considering the forthcoming cooling boot (which hopefully comes in black to match my new belt), I am adding the glove to my Christmas list and crossing my fingers. Good luck daddy. Until then, there are always popsicles.

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful, Riese.

Obvs feeling it, too...and i LIKE the heat, unlike most NYers...but yes, having time to be on someone's roof, with a pool, would be fabulous right about now.

Tomorrow perhaps?

riese said...

lain:

Your journey sounds perfect. It sounds like the kind of thing I'd like to be doing. I thought the answer might lie in San Francisco, or maybe London, but when I say this to people they suggest I've got an unnatural affection for rain.

White rabbits (white rabbits!).

I think I might like the dark days, though I tend to like things that're bad for me.

I like this: And also, I loved your final image of New York, with the moving and the sorting and the sense of some City purpose, City rhyme beyond (in the absence of?) small human animi. It made me think of a giant, opaquely logical marble counting machine. Lots of colors and little wooden shunts and slides for the marbles to be variously distributed, all clicking and clacking and constantly moving. So, thanks.

I didn't know people sent flickrmail! I've had some piling up but I never checked it out. I should do that. I should like, look into that.


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stef:

Really? My brother lives there. I knew he had secrets. What about Vancouver? I feel like there were lots of goths there. I like it when you comment kinda drunk. I like writing kinda drunk, clearly. Your image of Philly is very validating to me.

I think step 2 is tagging my blog with "the that's hots." Because I'm all viralized by you already, seriously.

Speaking o' goth, my chipped black nail polish is making me miserable.

*

M:

That is absolutely genius. The idea of wearing a glove in this weather is a little frightening. But still. I wish I could hold one to my head right now. Also it would cover up my chipping nail polish.

You know what else it's good for? Those people who have to dress up as Tony the Tiger and everything. I did that once. One of the many gazillion amazing jobs once held by Riese. But the ones who do that in like, Disneyworld, where it's super hot? Those people are so hard core.


*

Havi-D:

Obvs, you liking (loving!) the heat is one of the absolute weirdest things about you. I love you despite all of this. And tomorrow, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

*

Anonymous said...

What, I don't get a nickname? Clearly I need to be more on the ball with the commenting.

The flickrmail is because of a photograph basically dedicated to you! Or at least inspired by. So by all means, check!

riese said...

I didn't give anyone a nickname this time 'round 'cause I was too sleepy/brainspace tired to think of new ones. But, originally, I had wanted to, and this is what i'd written for you:

lain:

(I can't give you a nickname because I love your name!!)

Anonymous said...

My gf thinks we're always gonna be broke and therefore will never get to travel to places where we actually have to pay for accommodation. I completely disagree of course & one of the trips I have in mind is a road trip from LA (good friends there)to NY. There are a couple of things I know we have to do on the way but the rest still needs filling in. She wants to chase Twisters (might not be too easy to arrange), or at least drive through the South. I want to go to Memphis (Young Elvis was my first love), & we have to go to New Orleans. Hopefully we can time it so that we get to see Ani in concert cos Vicky adores her. I guess I will have to find a blog about places to visit on road trips... I would love to go to Alaska before it all melts but that'll have to be a trip on it's own.

stef said...

vancouver yeah, i hear toronto also... and now i'm hearing tampa. what the fuck are goths doing in humid places like tampa and new orleans? they're really everywhere, especially FINLAND. i think the new orleans thing is cos of anne rice, vampires, etc. i got nothin.

riese said...

abby: I think the cross country road trip is a beautiful dream, I have one just like it. You should see Ani in concert only if it's in a small venue, I saw her at this huge place and it was disappointing. Also, I fully believe in the idea that I will be rich One Day, and I think you should too. Also, there're hostels, and the stars, and the car, and each other's arms. You should go to Dollywood.

*

stef: I know, right? why are goths places that are hot/humid? Because of all the black clothing, you think they'd wanna hang out somewhere cold to chill or whathaveyou. My brain is fried cuz I just tried to write that musical post, and I think you did a much much better job than I did. Oh my head hurts. I should go sit in the hot sun in all black. What am I talking about? nO clue.

Diana said...

I liked this so much I had to let it marinate in my mind for 3 days before I could comment. Ah, your posts about NY are always my faves. The first and last paragraphs of this: yea, just yea. You nailed it.

NY has this kind of tangible energy that feeds us. It’s generosity ebbs and flows: when it gives we are drunk with happiness and overindulged and gluttonously full. And when it doesn’t we are left so hungry and wanting, and waiting for the tide to swing again. But we tolerate it all because the highs are like Rocky-Mountain high, like "I-am-a-golden-God!!" high, even when they are so fleeting they last less time than it would take you to get ‘cross town on the L train at rush hour.

I think this comment made more sense in my head.

elec-tri-city said...

This entry was a cyclone of beauty to read, and I want to rephrase that sentence because I don't like ending sentences with infinitives, but it's staying.

Alternative: To read, this entry was a cyclone of beauty.

Pretty, but awkward. Like... everything.

riese said...

elec-tri-city ...

thank you. those are very kind and beautiful words to me regardless of grammatical structure.

MSG said...

from my ONION widget, headline reads:

"New York Tourist Acting Like She's Never Been Hit By Cab Before"

hahha..you ny-ers, so tough....