Some photos of knitting!

Here is the scarf I made for John David. It is long! I don't understand why the scarf is always a first knitting project; so tedious during the last half.

And here is my next project. Cable knitting. Reminds me of when I did origami.


I will post more about reality next week. I have a busy weekend of packing, moving, and unpacking. I will post pictures of our new apartment soon.

Wow, so much to blog about: John David arrived on Thanksgiving day, we signed a lease on our new apartment on Saturday, and now we are spending the weekend together: walking, eating, drinking, sleeping in, watching movies, trying to catch up for the last few months of separation. I'll just dig in.

Thursday:
I went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. At first I went to Columbus Circle, which is the southwestern corner of Central Park. Huge mistake. I really cannot remember the last time I have been in the midst of such a crowd. I soon decided to move uptown, walking along the edge of Central Park glimpsing the balloons. Here is Ronald McDonald (please tilt head 90 degrees) looming through the trees over the crowd huddled along Central Park West Ave:

After the parade finished, I watched the crowd scatter through the streets and across the Great Lawn of the park. Then I read and waited for JD's flight to come in. I waited on some benches, watching artists draw the faces of tourists. Then I took the train and bus to the airport and waited in the airport.
Then he arrived!! yay
We took a taxi back to Brooklyn and collapsed on my air mattress for a long nap. At night we headed back to Manhattan to eat at Ellen's Stardust Cafe, the only place for singing waiters in Times Square. A little annoying and overpriced, but the novelty was a bit entertaining. We finished the night looking at the Christmas windows at Macy's and then walking around the Empire State building.

Friday:
We got up. Ate. Made the long trek across town to sign the lease on our apartment. Complicated and frustrating, but we've made another step and that feels good. Later that night we watched the movie Willow on youtube and ate Chinese food. We played this game on the internet: www.freerice.com. Go to it. Vocab and solving world hunger together at last.

Today:
Slept in very late. Hung about and finally made it outside. We took the subway to Coney Island. We walked along the boardwalk, looked at the closed rides and games, and crossed through Brighton Beach before heading home. Brighton Beach (aka "Little Odessa") is the Russian center of Brooklyn. All the signs are in Russian, you can order borsch if you can read cyrillic, and the pastries look wonderful. Sergey recommended I try the Napoleon cake, and I bought a brick of it from the cutest pastry shop I've seen in a while. John David reluctantly had a slice, describing it as bacterial sludge made from the chewed remains of something that once tasted good. Through my perspective: Layers of graham cracker crumbs are separated with a sweet cream cheese filling. It is a little mushy--true, John David--but I think it tastes good. We ate at the Mexican restaurant across the street, and now we are cruising the internet, chatting with friends, looking at Ikea goods, blogging, and posting photos.

These next few weeks will be difficult--I'm sure--but it is nice to have someone here. A pair of hands to help carry a heavy load. A reassuring hug. Soft sleep breathing at night. Company for the ride. I'm feeling a little better each time I think of the coming days.

HATS ARE SO EASY TO MAKE!

Things have taken a turn for the better here, though I don't wish to tempt fate and say that everything is working out. John David is spending his final weekend in Atlanta enjoying friends and getting ready for his big journey up here on Thanksgiving Day. I just hope that on Thursday the world is right and we have a nice time.

We have an apartment tentatively lined up. We sign the lease next weekend and hopefully all will go smoothly. It is a pretty little one-bedroom apartment, and if we are friends on flickr, you can see photos there.


Speaking of photos, look how my knitting project is coming along:

I have finished the second skein of yarn, and now I realize that I have to get a third if this is to be a true scarf. I also realize that I have until Thursday (yikes!) to finish it. We shall see.

Work is going well. Even though I haven't struck up any real friendships with my coworkers, I enjoy them all and usually have pretty good days.

I have finished classes for Kaplan, and I am almost certified to teach. Only a few more small requirements, and I will be set.

Today I cleaned my room a little bit and then knitted for hours. Nothing else. Tonight I have a small birthday dinner to go to for Betsy. Should be fun.

Last night I walked around Herald Square with some friends. We saw the Christmas menageries at Lord and Taylor, and we giggled with wide-eyed delight. Tomorrow Macy's will reveal their windows at 5:30 (we tried to peak in, but I couldn't only make out a few santa-related silhouettes (that is the first time that I have ever typed the word silhouette, strange).

Next time I see something filled with holiday spirit, I'll take a picture. I promise.

New York feels a lot like Rome to me. People often use, for example, the word "character" when discussing both cities. "The city's got character." "The character of the neighborhood makes in unique and fun." "The apartment has character." Everything, it seems, has character. What they really mean, though, is that each part of the city and each apartment is really dirty an a unique way. With several exceptions (Central Park for New York, Villa Borghese for Rome, SOHO in New York, Via Veneto in Rome), each time you walk upon a new street, you feel a little disgusted. A little unsafe, too. People litter; it is a way of life passed through the generations. People will pay thousands of dollars to live in a dump with a great location. It is crowded, flooded with tourists, and expensive. And in many ways poorly run and in disrepair.

I realized this parallel "character" while waiting for a subway at 1:30am in Brooklyn. It is dirty and stuffy, and I am waiting--along with a large crowd of people--for a subway to take us farther into Brooklyn. We wait forever. A train arrives to Manhattan. A train arrives to Brooklyn; it is out of service, of course. Then a trash train blocks the Brooklyn tracks. Then another Manhattan train passes by. Then a Brooklyn train stops along the Manhattan tracks; passengers, for some reason, are not let on, and the train drives away. Five minutes later the same train (I assume) emerges, and this time we are let on. All the while the crowd maintains control with resigned patience and gossipy speculation about the mystical train to Brooklyn.

A similar--though more extreme--thing happened to me in Rome. I was kicked out of my dorm around 10am, and my train to France wouldn't leave until 11pm. Sooooo, I spent the day relaxing in the park, eating chocolate, cheese, bread, and apples I bought from the supermarket built underneath the park, and reading. By the time I arrived at the train station around 10pm, I was tired, sunburned, and dehydrated. And my train wasn't listed on the computer systems or schedule board. Passengers around me whispered in English, Italian, and French trying to figure out what was going on. No train employees in sight. I slowly gleaned from other conversations that an unmarked train would arrive around 11:30 headed to France. Around the 11:30 rolls around, and nothing. Around 12:00 an unmarked train arrives; some people get on, some people get on and then off, arguments are breaking out, and the train conductors are yelling in Italian. I do not get on; it doesn't feel right. The train leaves (but not before closing upon some exiting passengers, cut off from their families already disembarked). More arguing in Italian. 30 minutes later another unmarked train arrives. Its cars are labeled out of order, but after 15 frantic minutes, I find my car, my cabin, and my seat.

New York could never surpass the freeing disorganization and dirty beauty of Rome, but it comes close.


A couple good things to keep in mind while I am awash in this new city:

I get a ton of free books. All the time. You see this photo? That is in my room. Multiply that by three, and that is at my cubicle at work. I've already sent a box of books home, and another one is being compiled. I can't wait to buy a bookshelf.


I am getting on with the knitting. I finished my first skein, and I have to buy two more to finish this scarf for JohnDavid.