sunday, sunday, sunday

maura @ 5:30 pm

A slow rainy Sunday here in mauraland. Weekends can be hard for us. We’re all sort of pooped out from the week, but we also get kind of rammy and crabby just sitting around the house all weekend. Gus will protest mightily that he doesn’t want to do anything, but then he doesn’t want to play by himself either so no one gets anything done.

Yesterday we did actually get out of the house, and it was a nice day, too, so I guess I shouldn’t feel bad about today. The boys met me in the city at Shake Shack for lunch (I have class on Saturday mornings), then we hit the very nice playground at Madison Square Park. On the way home we stopped by Payless and now Gus has two pairs of shoes that fit him that aren’t sandals, lucky boy!

But I still feel at odds with today. When we sit around the house like this I feel like I should be getting more done, crossing things off my list. Ah, the neverending list. Maybe I am just at the beginning of the holiday stress, I don’t know. I feel dull.

i’m a drop in the ocean

maura @ 9:16 pm

A few weeks ago we started getting the newspaper again. We haven’t gotten the physical paper in ages; I’d guess we’ve read it online for close to 10 yrs, if that’s even possible. But over the summer my Reference prof said that one of the things a librarian should do is read the paper every day (one national, one local; lucky us it’s the same paper for both), because people will come in to the library and ask about things they’ve read in the paper. So one day Jonathan just got a fire in his butt and ordered up that dang paper.

We’re getting it weekdays only, because everyone knows nothing happens on the weekends. Also we feel guilty enough about all the trees as it is. Ever since Civics class in 10th grade I’ve had a very strong phobia of newsprint — it is just too messy. Also the newspaper format is a pain to read because you need a huge big table or floor to spread it out on. I am too uncoordinated to be able to read it on a crowded subway, what with the folding and the obsessively trying to not get ink on my hands.

On the other hand, it’s good to be informed. And I do feel like I know more about what’s going on in the city and the world. Online it is very easy to just ignore the stuff you don’t care about. Here in real life I am even paging through the business section (though we do still toss the sports section unopened). Special bonus: as subscribers we now have access to Times Select, which is nice.

On the third hand, when I have a busy week the paper piles up. This week I got through Tuesday (the day with the science section, which I always have to read in toto because I am a nerd) and then crapped out. So I’m spending the weekend working my way backwards from Friday through Wednesday. Did you know that Rumsfeld resigned? Seriously!

spare parts express

maura @ 9:31 pm

We’re 33.3% through NaBloPoMo, only 66.7% to go! In honor of making it to the 1/3rd mark I thought I’d do today’s post photo essay style.

Today’s topic is:

The Most Bestest* Public Bathroom in Manhattan**

* Because for some reason after class this evening I described the burgers at Shake Shack to a fellow student as “the most bestest burgers you have ever eaten.” Ah, Fridays, when the rush of the week smacks you full in the brain.

** There might be nicer bathrooms in the other boroughs, I haven’t really had a chance to check.

If you are ever in need of a restroom and are within walking distance of Bryant Park, just head on over to the public toilets on the northeast corner of the park, tucked in next to the NYPL’s Humanities and Social Sciences Research Library.

The luxury of this bathroom is unbelievable, especially for those of us accustomed to the toilet-seat-(and-paper)-free, soap-less and stinky cabins that pass for public bathrooms at (some) playgrounds. So I’ve documented today’s excursion photographically for you. Prepare to be dazzled!

Here’s a shot of the exterior. Looks pretty standard, right? Note the lounging tourists.

Wait, are those fresh flowers?! Why yes, they are. A whole ginormous urnfull, in fact!

There was a gaggle of young gals availing themselves of the facilities, so while waiting in line I snapped this detail of the tilework.

Just look at this sink: more fresh flowers, marble counters, SOAP and automatic RUNNING WATER…my god, it’s like you’re at a hotel or something!

And the stalls, they are made of real laminated wood! Not dented metal with grafitti sharpied everywhere (“Mommy, what does s-k-a-n-k-y h-o spell?”)

But no, gentle readers, it gets better…

The toilet, it has a magical red button, which when pressed causes a fresh AND sanitary seat cover to be magically dispensed for you, like magic!

Last, but not least, the automatic hand dryers, which are made by a company called Xlerator (bonus points for spelling!). Indeed, they must be powered by rocket sauce, because the air blast is so mighty that it pushes the skin on your hand like some crazy astronaut g-force or something (and actually DRIES your hands, rather than just pushing the water around like those inferior, non-Xlerated dryers).

Tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled, un-illustrated blathering. But I leave you with this, a view of the urban splendor around Bryant Park on this beautiful day in the city (sunny, high around 60F):

you’ll freeze and catch a cold

maura @ 10:55 pm

Tired, tired, tired. Thursdays are long days. Take Gus to school. Come home. Try to cram as much (mostly school) work as possible into the next 5 hrs. Head back to pick him up. Often we’ll go to a playground near his old school, so he can run around like a screaming banshee and play the poop game* with the other kids. Then we rush home around 5pm so I can grab dinner (usually eaten while walking to the subway) and get to class by 6:30. Home by 9:30, then settle onto the sofa and watch Weeds.

* You know, the poop game, in which assorted 4-5 yr olds throw themselves in a big pile down a spiral slide, yelling “we’re flushing ourselves down the toilet!” Good times.

Except Weeds is over so tonight it’ll be Veronica Mars. Which is a longer show, so it’s a good thing I’m getting this post written on the visor on the subway now, isn’t it?

Today’s work went really well, actually. I was really attentive and efficient and not tired at all, and I got a crapload done. Wish I could bottle whatever it was (it wasn’t extra coffee, I swear!).

Whoops, now I’m home and at the computer, but Jonathan has too much work to do to watch VM tonight. Bummer, Pee Wee.

raised by wolves

maura @ 11:05 pm

And for tonight, because it is late and I am too afraid to think of the many school-related things I have to do, lest my head explode, here’s a random list of things:

1. [poking her head out of the hole of life where there’s no time for music] The kids are right: Voxtrot, they are indeed good. And I could have even seen them play last night or the night before! Oh, I am SO good at getting a clue one day late.

2. Man, I need to get me to an indiepop blog or start listening to WFMU online again or something. I miss music! And listening to (and singing along with) “Panic in Detroit” and “Cracked Actor” on my 20-year-old Aladdin Sane tape in the car on the way to get Gus from school is not cutting it.

3. Jonathan just said “You could bake a loaf of bread every single fucking day! You can scoff all you want, Maura, but you can’t have any of the bread!” I leave it to you to discover which story in today’s paper inspired those statements. (Oh, okay, I’ll give you the link.)

4. Really, why do I even try to think of things to write in this blog at all? I should just give the running record of what Jonathan says. This minute: “What happened to all of that pie at the Harvest Festival (Gus’ school fundraiser) last weekend?! The cleanup committee CLEANED UP, that’s what!”

5. My hair is really bugging me recently, making me once again wonder about buzzing it. I think I’m still too chicken, but I did decide that when I am old, I will have dreadlocks. Or shave my head. Or both! Dreads seemed like a good plan because I am forever twisting my hair and with dreads you actually NEED to do that. But then I looked on a how-to-make-dreads website and it seems like it’s actually a lot of work, which is kind of the opposite of what I want.

6. Will I look stupid in these sunglasses? Xmas is coming, and I do need some new sunglasses; those $2 ones I got at H&M years ago are getting wobbly on the foldy parts.

7. Aiieee, it’s late! Good night!

p.s.

maura @ 9:44 pm

Day 7 and so far this NaBloPoMo stuff is coming along okay. And just think how much easier it would be if I didn’t have homework to do, har.

way out

maura @ 9:42 pm

Of course I voted today, didn’t you? Though I must admit to a smidge of annoyance that we had to vote AGAIN this year, the third year in a row. But it’s probably mostly because I am still low-level sick (going on 10 days or so) and I have a bunch of schoolwork to do right now and thus could really have used a workday today rather than spending the day:

– Answering 1001 election-related questions from the peanut gallery, which I am ashamed to say tested my brainpower far more than they should have.

– Indulging 1002 requests for watching videos of jelly chus, looking at pictures of jelly chus, and killing jelly chus (wait, didn’t we FINISH that game recently? Yes, we did.).

– Enduring a screaming jumping fit when I would not buy him a smashy penny when we got to our local, tiny zoo RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, instead insisting that he wait til a little later.

The school where we vote always has a bake sale, and since I’m a suckah I promised Gus we could get something. This year’s was a little slim but we did score some delicious red velvet cake* that we all shared after dinner. It was clearly homemade and had the perfect cake-to-frosting ratio (I’m a light-on-the-frosting gal, myself). Mmmm, cake. Lately I’ve been really craving cake for some reason, so this hit the spot.

* Red velvet cake is totally the it cake here in Brooklyn right now. We had it in its cupcake variant from Baked over the summer (they do it with a cinnamon frosting rather than the traditional cream cheese), and the newest bestest bakery in our hood also does a fine version. I’ll say it again: mmmm, cake. Though I’d prefer a carrot or pumpkin or caramel cake, really.

This year the school also had a Scholastic book fair. All my guilt about sending Gus to an all-lottery school (more about this another time) flew right up to the surface so of course I let Gus pick one book to buy, too. He picked this one, sure to become a timeless classic on feces. We haven’t read it yet but I am not so sure it was a good idea. Will keep you posted.

tired + low

maura @ 9:18 pm

Sometimes it is just very hard to be a parent.

(I know, newsflash, alert the media! But it’s my pity party, I can wallow in the obvious if I want to.)

This afternoon was hard. I know there’s the whole kindergartener-in-a-big-school thing and the long-day-at-school thing, and even the whole birthday’s-coming-up thing*, but some days I have a really hard time dealing with the falling-apart-at-pickup thing with good humor. Of course I realize he’s little and I’m big and should have more resilience, more backbone, more rope. But my rope gets short quickly sometimes, like today. My expectations of happy reunions, calls of “Hi Mom!” and excited responses to “how’s your day?” are not met. Then I yell and feel like a big meanie and beat myself up all night long. Good times!

* I read something once that said that kids tend to have grumpy times around birthdays and half-birthdays, which has been mostly true for Gus.

I think I will try using the car for pickup for the foreseeable future. That should help with the tiredness, at least.

getting better…

maura @ 2:40 pm

…but not there yet. So another day of small posting and topic borrowing from other places.

1. Like Jessie did yesterday, I have lately been fantasizing about getting rid of lots of stuff (ooo, exciting!). There is a lot around here that we just don’t use anymore. And it’s so much easier to keep the house clean with less crap around! Probably this is just some pre-holiday angst, as we enter the season of stuff. But I can’t wait ’til our building’s giant stoop sale next spring. I’ve got the two weeks in January before classes start reserved for some serious purging, woo hoo!

2. Like Gabe, I think the time has come for us to jettison Lost from our TV lineup, even though it’s a little less crowded now with Weeds’ ending for the season. I dunno, it just seems more and more clear as time goes on that there is NO master plan for the show. I think the writers are more confused than we are! What took the cake with last week’s episode is the introduction of newbie #1 and newbie #2 and their stilted, painful lines. PLUS the one-eyed pirate man in another hatch, WTF??? Lost, we are so OVER you.

Tea time! You should have some now, too, especially if you’re feeling a bit under the weather.

bah, sick

maura @ 8:31 pm

And that’s what I get for my trouble: apparently I am now sick. I’ve actually been feeling sort of crummy for a week now, but last night the coughing and body aches kicked it up a notch. I spent most of the day on the sofa so hopefully tomorrow will be better.

So no long-winded post for today, faithful readers. Just a few random notes:

– I’m sick of politics. Hurry up Tuesday!

– While I was at class Thursday night Jonathan and Gus beat the three puppet Ganons and the final real Ganon, which means they finished Wind Waker. We are all, strangely, a little sad.

Hmm, I can’t really think of anything else right now. Tonight’s fun includes getting Gus to bed (any minute now) and then curling up on the couch to watch BSG. And perhaps some medicinal liquor to soothe the throat.