Children by the millions scream for Alex Chilton

E-word,

I wanted to share another New York moment with you, if I may. Last night after dinner, El and I took a walk from our apartment to the Barnes and Noble on 86th between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. It was a nice evening, made cooler and slightly humid by the day's rain. There were a lot of people out of all ages. I don't typically think of the UES as being a place where younger folks are, but not everyone can afford to live downtown, especially nowadays.

Anyway, on the way back to our studio, El wanted to get some frozen yogurt at Pinkberry, so we stopped there. While we were waiting in line, El spotted Larry David hanging with his kids inside. I had completely forgotten the name of the tv show he's on right now, and I only really recognized him because of the American Express ads that are always in the New Yorker lately. Those glasses of his are truly his distinguishing feature. I was pretty excited, being the fan that I am, but I tried to play it New York cool, not really staring at him too much, and I mean the dude was with his kids enjoying some frozen yogurt, I'm not going to mess his stuff up. This guy wrote Seinfeld! Rochelle, Rochelle, master of your domain, king of the castle, this show is about nothing, this is the guy! American Express ads in the New Yorker! I guess I could have made a joke and said, hey, you're the guy in the AmEx ads, aren't you? What are you famous for?

I was excited. What surprised me was how normal his kids seemed. He started doing embarrassing dad stuff by raising his voice and babbling about something or other, and his kids were saying 'Dad, stop it, be quiet!'

So there is New York moment 43.

Hope you're good. I'm still at work.

Toe

I got drunk and looked at the Empire State Building

E-word,

It's been a while. Life keeps whizzing by, I guess, and lately that's been a little daunting for me. These grad school days will hopefully come to an end this December, but the inevitable thing is that El and I will want to have children. Sometimes I'm okay with that, but sometimes I think what the hell, I am not okay with that! How is grad school and babies related, you ask. Well, grad school sucks up most of my extra time. Babies will do the same thing, I'm guessing, to a greater degree. I'm tired as it is. I don't have as much spare time as I would like. grad school equals babies.

Okay, this is a stupid way of connecting my thoughts, but that's what's going on right now.

Eh, I can't keep this up without sounding like a senile old baby.

I guess life has been good. I've been exercising regularly, work has been busy as hell, but I'm getting paid. My summer class isn't bad at all, but it still weighs on me. I have to write a paper by the end of this week to give to my professor, and I'm planning to spend all of July 4 working on it.

I've also been reading consistently, which has been really hard over the past couple of years. The train is really an ideal place for reading. The book I'm reading lately is 'Chromos', by Felipe Alfau. The setting of the story is post WWII New York City, and his perspective on New York is the same as almost everyone else who lives there now. He's fascinated by it, he loves exploring it, and it has a hold on him. I still love it, but I get the impression that we're enjoying a pale whiff of what it once was.

Anyway. Hope all is well.

T to the O to the E