sunny

this lady totally made my morning the other day. it was dreary & rainy and here she was...a vision of sunshine on the subway. i was most impressed that she had matched the tones of yellow exactly.

a fellow commuter was chatting her up, so i eavesdropped. she's an artist (not surprisingly) and is currently an assistant working in the gallery/studio of a famous artist. she can never reveal who it is, for fear of losing her job...the world must think the famous artist produces his own work. wouldn't even give a hint.

it was such an interesting conversation that i stayed on one extra stop just to listen in!

must be nice

wow. when i was 22, i think i was making 0.02% of this. sigh.

question

what makes one take off their sneakers in the middle of first avenue in the rain? just curious.

curb your dog

took a walk at lunch time the other day and came across these gems. if you look closely, you'll see the rules: no dog sh*t.

stay classy, new york!

ten years on

in remembrance.

faces of ground zero

on friday night, i decided to walk home from work. i stopped and use the restroom at the time warner center and came across "faces of ground zero" exhibition there--a powerful display of life-sized polaroid portraits taken soon after september 11th.

i was fortunate to have seen the original display at grand central terminal, soon after the pictures were taken, in 2002. and later at rockefeller center. and on september 11th, i tend to take out the book and take a look at the portraits.

the camera is no longer usable, but the photographer was able to revisit & photograph some of his subjects 10 years on, which he partnered with the original photographs.

i am grateful to have serendipitously happen upon it again. you can see more here.

run, forrest, run

i've been using map my run recently - this being the year of fitness and all. i assure you, that i am not as jittery as this route would have me appear...

a-hole

i am very surprised that no one spray painted an "A" on there. c'mon, taggers, step it up.

sporty

this week, it appears my neighbors have started dealing in sports memorabilia.

that sounds about right

yep, it's true, earthquake in new york today. slight, but you could totally feel it 33 stories up!

blackout

the anniversary of the NYC blackout was just the other day (8/14) - hard to believe it was 8(!) years ago. here's a trailer for a cute children's book based on the experience:

(thanks to Yr. Fav. Librarian for passing along!)

nice shirt!

yikes!

surprisingly, the second avenue subway construction continues. i passed this monstrosity the other day. i actually looked at an apartment that faced second ave - thankfully, i passed!

ps - i'm pretty sure it's still not set to open until 2018. hopefully i'll be living in nashville or paris by then.

street sleeping?

hey cleaners. it's really nice of you to put a reclined futon out front.

year of...

although now gone, i was walking across the plaza across from, well The Plaza, not too long ago and came cross these menacing animal heads:

i thought to myself, "gosh, they are quite creepy. except for the dragon, he fits in with the sentiment of the piece." [note: that's art history major speak busting out right there for ya.]

it was only when i overheard someone say, "hey, which one are you again?" that i realized they are the chinese zodiac animals. and, interestingly enough, i am a dragon.

overheard

a woman in central park giving directions to someone on the other end of her cellphone:

"we're by that gate and the rock"

um, good luck with that...

own it

as many of you know, nyc recently introduced letter grading system (a la LA) for restaurants.

here, a rarely posted C grade (usually it's appealed with "grade pending"). way to own it, szechuan kitchen.

just in case...

...you are looking for a new job, IHOP is coming to nyc. be warned, however, that they do ask if you are awaiting trial for a criminal offense.

not so nice try

you know i love me some poster graffito. this has to be the most pathetic attempt i've seen in a while. really? that's all you could think to do - color in & cross out the Rs? not impressed.

good advice