We didn’t do much at all today. A and I slept pretty late and then went to Le Gamin for brunch, where I discovered I like goat chese (at least in crêpes). I was still kind of tired so we came back to the apartment; on the way we stopped in at a veterinarian because they had cats advertised on the front window. (C has said he doesn’t want another cat right away, but I’ve been finding possible places to adopt anyway for when he is ready.) The one advertised in the window was named Radar, and he was on the front counter with the receptionist. He let me pet him for a few minutes, and then swatted at me rudely - I guess he decided he’d had enough.

We took a nap at home and then went to see Bad Santa. It was okay, there were some funny bits, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the people sitting behind us. Unfortunately, they shared their delight by laughing obnoxiously loudly and commenting on the plot audibly. There was a sight gag in the movie that I didn’t pick up on immediately, but the person behind me said it right away so I didn’t get to figure it out for myself. I was pretty annoyed by that. Overall, though, it was vaguely amusing, but I didn’t like the ending. On the way back to C’s apartment we stopped in at Crema Lita and got some frozen yogurt. We’d planned to walk around Chelsea Market for a while, but we decided it was too cold and we just came home. A is baking cookies now, and C gets off work at 7:30. I don’t know what our plans are for tonight, but we sure didn’t do much today - just brunch and a movie!

The bus ride to New York was pleasantly uneventful. I had way overestimated how much time it would take to get to the bus terminal, so even after stopping at the Corner Bakery in Union Station for breakfast we got on a bus leaving 90 minutes earlier than the one I’d scheduled for. A slept pretty much the whole way, and I read Octavia Butler’s Adulthood Rites for a long time and then took a nap myself.

When we got here, we had to contend with the fact that C’s cat had died last night. She was very old, and he’d called us last night to let us know that she was dying. It made me sad because I had known her pretty well, and she was a sweet cat even if she was a pest sometimes (what cat isn’t?). C was planning to throw her away, but I asked him to save her until we got there so I could pay my last respects. When I finally did see her, I just petted her a little bit and didn’t look too closely; rigor mortis had already set in. C enlisted my help in putting her into a bag and included her favorite toy with her; A put in a gold dollar so she could pay the ferryman.

So we had a hurricane here. We don’t usually get hurricanes - we’re too far inland, we’re too far north - but we sure got smacked by Isabel. Fortunately, I went to New York for the weekend instead! I avoided the power outage, the phone outage, and the unclean drinking water.

On Sunday, I went to see the last Broadway performance of Big River, a co-production of Roundabout Theatre and Deaf West Theatre. (This is my second Broadway show - I saw Chicago in December.) I was hanging around outside the theater before the show, and I kept staring at a woman who looked really familiar. I was 70% sure she was Deanne Bray, a deaf actress who stars on the PaxTV show Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye. I couldn’t decide if I was right, though, so I just kept watching from afar. She was maybe seven rows in front of me in the orchestra, and I finally caught a facial expression that confirmed she was who I thought she was! She wasn’t made up the way she is on TV, and her hair was different, and she was dressed more casually, but it was Deanne Bray. My friends from my interpreting classes got there shortly before the show started.
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Yes, I went to New York City on the weekend of the blackout! I’d been planning to go and had already bought my bus ticket (Greyhound has a $20 DC-to-NYC fare if you buy three days in advance) when the blackout happened, and I figured I’d go anyway. The bus ride took longer than the 4h20min the schedule promised - that time could only be valid if there were no traffic jams, which never happens on I-95. (Plus we stopped at a rest stop, which was odd because it was supposed to be an express bus. I didn’t mind, though, because I got to pick up a Subway sandwich before heading to the Land of No Open Delis or Restaurants.) Traffic was dreadful once we got into NYC; when we came out of the Lincoln Tunnel I noticed the traffic lights were working. We finally drew up adjacent to the bus terminal but then stayed put for a while; the driver got out and wandered around a bit. When he came back I asked if I could get out there - we were at West 40th and 9th Avenue, and I needed to walk down 9th to get to C’s place anyway. The driver let me go, and I began my stroll.

I found that power was on all the way to 30th Street, and was on after 14th Street as well. C, unfortunately, lives between those two, and I had to telephone him so he could come down and open his building’s door - the buzzer, of course, relies on electricity. We wandered around the Meatpacking District and the West Village for a while, stopping in at the restaurants that were open. A few of them told us they were out of food, and we ended up at the Village Den even though it only had a limited menu because of the blackout. As we walked back to C’s apartment in Chelsea, we realized the power was back - his digital clock revealed it had been on for a little over an hour.

On Saturday we decided to go to Coney Island. :R: came over to join us, and I put on plenty of sunblock only to find that it was cloudy outside. The subway ride seemed to take forever, but I was excited when we finally got there. I was really excited about going on the Cyclone, so we did that first. It was $5 to ride, but we didn’t feel like waiting for the first car. C and I ended up in the middle of the train, and :R: was in the very last seat - he reported a lot of airtime, which I hadn’t noticed. I did find it a fun ride, though - it’s been there since 1927 and it’s pretty rickety, with a lot of jerking around. It was a lot more intense than I was expecting! I would have loved to go again, but I kind of got the sense that C and :R: weren’t really interested in coughing up another $4 each to re-ride. After getting something to eat, C and I went on the Wonder Wheel (:R: is a bit afraid of heights), and then the three of us played around in the arcade a bit. We wandered out after that and got back on the subway; I never did get any cotton candy but we didn’t see anywhere that was making it fresh anyway.

I made failed attempts to get together with Chris and Aleja, and I feel awful that I didn’t get to see either of them. I’m feeling pretty bad in general tonight; I could have stayed over into tomorrow morning and I really wish I had.

MSNBC has an article on the “creation” of the Harvey Milk High School. This kind of surprised me, because the school has in fact been around since 1984. Apparently it’s going public now, though, and fortunately it has the support of NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg. Also quoted in the article is the state conservative party chairman, Mike Long, who says “There’s no reason these children should be treated separately.” Obviously he’s never been a gay high school student. The Hetrick-Martin Institute, which runs the school, has statistics on queer youth from the 1980s that indicated the school’s creation was warranted then. There are more recent statistics from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network that show there is still a need for a safe environment for gay students so they have the same access to learning that all other children do.

I had a very nice weekend in NYC. I decided to go kind of on the spur of the moment. The absolute highlight was going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is currently showing weekly a few blocks from C’s apartment. We were sitting around his place Saturday night when we decided to go, even though it was already 11:51pm. (For those not aware, Rocky commonly shows at midnight.) The pre-show turned out to be really long, with a charity auction and then humiliation for the virgins in the form of a fake orgasm contest, which I know I could have won if I hadn’t seen the movie in theaters back when I was in college! The NYC cast was good, but some members of the audience - specifically the guy sitting directly in front of me - were really annoying.

Because we scrambled to get out of the house to see the movie, we hadn’t brought any rain gear. Naturally, it was pouring when we left, but about halfway home a guy appeared next to me and held his umbrella over my head. I expected him to leave when the light changed, but he stuck with me for a couple of blocks before handing the umbrella off to C and saying “here, you hold it for her” and turning up a side street. And they say NYC is full of assholes! (Actually, C’s theory is that only out-of-towners think New Yorkers are assholes, and that’s because the out-of-towners often engage in annoying behavior such as walking too slow and gawking at delis, etc.)

C was supposed to play kayak polo on Sunday, and I’d really wanted to watch him, but because of the weather it was canceled. He went to practice cartwheels instead, and I took pictures with my digital camera. (He can’t actually do cartwheels yet, but he did roll for me even though the water was very cold.

Ryan found an interesting article called What Lies Beneath - it compares and contrasts the underground rail transit systems of New York City and Washington DC. The author makes a lot of excellent points, and I agree with several of them. Being a DC-area native, of course I prefer America’s Subway. I’ve spent some time on the NYC subway too, though, and I enjoy that as well. I wish the DC Metro cost less, but the cleanliness alone makes the price a bit more tolerable. It’s unfortunate, though, that Metro doesn’t run later than midnight (2am on Friday and Saturday) - one thing I love about the New York City subway is that you can get pretty much anywhere at any time.

If this kind of thing interests you too (I’m a railfan), you’ve probably already seen NYCsubway.org - but you may not have seen Carguy’s awesome site about DC transit and its history.

The weekend was lovely, I had a good time in New York.

When C got home around 6pm, he changed into his kayaking clothes, I put my wetsuit in a bag, and we walked down to the pier. While I was in the bathroom struggling into the neoprene, somebody asked C if I could hear - I was wearing my Gallaudet t-shirt - and C said that I was “learning sign language.” When I heard about that, I sputtered a bit and then when I saw the guy I explained I’m an interpreter. Yes, I’m still learning, and yes, this field requires interpreters to maintain their certification through continuing education, but - I make money doing this! (I was good-natured and laughing about the whole thing, but I did want to get my point across.)

I was finding paddling especially difficult, and I finally figured out that my wetsuit wasn’t on properly. I hadn’t tugged it up far enough, so the shoulder material was actually at bicep level, which meant I was working against the fabric. The whole group stopped while two boats braced ours so I could adjust my outfit, but the wiggling I managed didn’t help much. Eventually I was so cold and cranky that C had to paddle for both of us (we were in a double by Prijon, I’m not sure what model), and the guy who founded MKC had to lend me a pair of pogies.

The trip was supposed to stop for dinner at the 79th Street Boat Basin, but the founder decided we would go across the river instead. So we all started to think we’d be eating in New Jersey, but then we ended up crossing back before stopping…and we just went right back to the dock! I was tired and cold, but I had a good time anyway.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful, more or less. I don’t remember what we did, but I had a good time. I know we watched the DVD of Pulp Fiction. C has the collector’s edition but didn’t want to watch the special features, so he let me borrow the whole thing to watch and play with. As usual I brought back a present for A, this time it was a cute little stuffed bear with the subway symbol for her initial. (Oooh, the Transit Museum Store lets you build a wishlist. I’ll have to do that to add to my wishlist collection.) I’m the one who’s interested in the subway, but A was very gracious and said she liked the gift anyway.

I’m in New York now, and the trip went very smoothly. I ended up getting to the train station way too early - I’d dropped off the car for repair and thought I’d be stuck there for a while - but I ended up seeing the guy from Gallaudet who’s going to be our housemate soon. It was really surprising to run into him like that, he and I have only met once before but I recognized him immediately. We talked a bit, and I explained the situation of how we have to get this other guy out first. To my relief, he understood, and said it was no problem.

The actual ride up here was just fine. I was alone until Baltimore, when a woman going to Hartford sat beside me; I was glad she didn’t want to have a conversation because I wasn’t especially in the mood. I wrote some, read some, and did some puzzles - I’d bought the latest issue of World of Puzzles at Barnes & Noble in Union Station - and we were here before I knew it. The walk to C’s building wasn’t nearly as long as I’d feared, and I was only cold for a few minutes before I got up enough energy to be warm on my own. I didn’t get to see his office, because he was just coming down to the lobby when I walked in. Damn! He told me how to get back to his place (I took the local 9 from 42nd to 18th) and gave me the keys. He also gave me a shopping list and $40 cash, so I got to go grocery shopping for him, whee. Potatoes, celery, Turkish apricots…no idea what he’s planning. He did say I could get food for myself too, so I made a salad and picked up a chocolate Slim-Fast shake. For some reason I’m not even hungry…which is strange, considering that all I’ve had today is a cereal bar, some Diet Coke, and (now) half a salad. Why aren’t I hungry?

When I got back to his apartment I logged onto the computer and found several good e-mails, including one from another former teacher. I also had one from a friend who lives in New Jersey and will be in the city this weekend; I programmed his numbers into my phone so maybe we’ll actually meet up. (We kept planning to and it never worked out, though we have met once before.) And I got a bcc’d copy of the letter of recommendation R sent to the mentorship program…obviously it’s a great big compliment, but I actually believe all the nice things he says. I’ll probably keep that one around as an ego booster. (Yes, I know he probably shouldn’t have sent it to me, but he did.)

It’s been a decent trip so far. Last night Llyrica met us for dinner in Union Square, where we went to (as usual, for me) Zen Palate. Today I went to the grocery store and picked up some fruit, cereal, and skim milk for myself. We went on a little kayaking tour on the Hudson; C is out there now playing kayak polo while N and I sit here and wait. I managed to get over to Demeter and exchange A’s perfume; I was quite relieved that the saleslady didn’t give me any problems with the transaction. I also picked up a present for A at a Tibetan shop, I’m sure it was priced more than it’s worth but I’m pretty sure she’ll like it.



How can it be 5:30 already? I’m tired. No idea what the plans are for tonight, either.