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The Giving Project
My latest little side project is aimed at making things better, because I think we could all use more of that. I’m going to write about and photograph the nice things I see every day (and also not report the not-nice things I see every day, or am I just not going to see not-nice things anymore? Hmm.) Anyway, I’m talking about the people who hold doors, the cashiers who smile as they pack up your groceries, the stories people exchange to comfort strangers, and the neighbors who bring in packages for each other.
I’m going to highlight the shining bits of empathy in the world, because I think those bits make everything a lot brighter. And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather look through some rose-colored glasses than the dingy yellow ones I’ve been using for a while.
So, for example, if you, like me, had been sitting in your office getting some good work done, enjoying the sunlight streaming in the windows and generally breathing in a kind of peace this afternoon… UNTIL some punk kids stormed by your house and hurled a frozen hunk of snow at your fragile little window, after which your nerves were understandably ruffled; you might benefit from this new effort. PEOPLE DO NOT ALWAYS SUCK.
Then again, sometimes retail therapy is the only way to go.
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Losing Weight in Seven Simple Steps
1. Decide it’s time to leave your current place, and begin your Apartment Search eight weeks prior to the end of your current lease.
2. Rush around the entire fucking city because you have a self-set deadline of just-before-Christmas, when you’re setting off for a Exhausting Big Fun Roadtrip.
3. Return home, exhausted from said trip, to find that the place you had your heart set on won’t actually work, due to the technicalities of an agreement and the practical difficulties of interacting with…… humans. Start your search all over again, only this time just four weeks before the end of your current lease (which most NYers call normal, but which I call insane).
4. See a bunch of crappy apartments, getting your hopes up with each one that the end of this fine torture may be imminent. Wander the streets in 5 degree weather, waiting out in the cold for always-late brokers to show you said crappy places.
5. Don’t eat anything after Step Two. Immediately expel anything that you do swallow. Rail thin yet? I thought so.
6. Break down after Day Nine of the search. Buy yourself an entire cake. Eat it.
7. Sorry, did I say Losing Weight? I meant Losing Weight And Then Putting On A Bunch More, bitches. Here we go.
More when we have a place to live again…
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Bad Boys
The “scary” guy sporting the black jeans, black t-shirt, black boots, and black moto jacket, toting the army green sling, with the ring of twenty keys jingling at his hip, wearing the scowl and the finely shaved hair and did I mention that grimace? Yeah, well, he’s skulking along on Union Square East… with a venti Starbucks in his clutch.
Tough guy fail.
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Snow
There is nothing better than waking up to find my city covered in snow.
(That was this morning.)
This one is back in December, the second snow of the year:
Cotton Candy-like flakes!
But of course they weren’t super sticky, and the ground wasn’t cold enough to make it last. So this:
…quickly became this:
Then we got some more a few days later.
And it was cold enough to make icicles for a while.
But then I took down our tree, and the season of winter seemed to end. What’s with all these 36 degree days?
Then finally a couple days ago the snow finally deigned to visit again, so Eric and I went to Central Park.
And found that Jesus had been there.
We also ogled the Zamboni.
But the snow still kind of sucked.
So Snow, quit being a fair-weather friend and give us one really pretty, snowball-friendly storm. Thx.
