A date with myself (or Harry Potter, depending on how you want to look at it)
First Stop: Pintaile's Pizza for dinner. (Whole wheat, thin crust, fresh mozzarella. Mmm.) Two slices and a can of Diet Pepsi for $5. I'm a pretty cheap date.
Second Stop: Cold Stone Creamery. It's pretty hopping in here. I splurge and get a medium and upgrade to add a mix-in. Why not? After all, this is a date.
Third Stop: The cinema. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I got a good seat, and the movie is fabulous. The best part? The man in the audience who looks like a mix between Hagrid and Iggy Pop. And he's wearing a fannie pack. Awesome.

Excerpt from an Irish rock song that is still making me laugh two days later or Oh, Irish people

Dancing in the disco, bumper to bumper
Wait a minute:
"Where's me jumper? Where's me jumper? Where's me jumper?
Where's me jumper? Where's me jumper?"
It's all right to say things can only get better
If you haven't just lost your brand new sweater
Pure new wool and perfect stitches
Not the type of jumper that makes you itch, oh no
Dancing in the disco, go go go
Dancing in the disco, oh no, oh no
And my mother will be so, so angry
And my brother will be so, so angry
And my girlfriend will be so, so angry
And my dog will be so, so angry

Walking in the City: Two Nights, Two Moods, Some Overheard Conversation
Night 1: Wednesday, northbound on 1st Ave. from 63rd to 83rd, post-dinner, roughly 10:30 p.m.

Between 73rd and 74th: Whoever was on this block at about 10:30 please stop wearing that cologne. It makes you smell like someone I don't want to be reminded of at the moment. And I think it would be easier for both of us if you just bought something new. Because, really, the other option is that you avoid the Upper East Side all together. I didn't see who you were, and we might run into each other again if you stick around the neighborhood. I realize it is a big city, but I think it would be a good precaution.

The corner of 75th: Dear Mr. Livery Cab Driver. You and the person you are driving are not that important. Certainly not important enough for you to drive like that and almost run over my feet even though I am still standing on the curb.

Between 81st and 82nd: Girl One to Girl Two. "See? What did I tell you New York smells like in the summer? Dog pee." Word.

Night 2: Friday, southbound on York Ave. from 83rd to 64th, pre-movie, roughly 8:15 p.m.

Between 79th and 78th: I pass a group of three Abercrombie-wearing teenage boys, possibly college freshman. As I approach them, I think to myself, "Ah, kids, they're starting to look so young. Have I really been out of school that long? They're probably on their way to try to sneak into some bar or similar. Kids." But as I pass them, I hear that they are having a passionate debate about the painting "The Last Supper." Middle Abercrombie Boy, "But John the Apostle is portrayed that way so often." Far Abercrombie Boy, "Yes, but that's what makes it so good." I find this a rather appropriate conversation to hear on my way to go see Saved!, and I have a good laugh to myself.

The Corner of 78th: A short Hispanic delivery guy chains up his bike and walks toward the building to make his delivery. As he crosses in front of me, he smiles at me. Not a creepy Hey-Baby smile, but a real, genuine smile. Huh. Then I realize that my cheeks feel funny. Like I'm smiling. Because I am. Where did that come from? And how long had it been there?

Found!
Remember the season of Sex and the City when Carrie is dating Burger? Remember how he collects playing cards he finds on the street and says you see them all of the city if you pay attention. Well, it's true! I found my first one tonight. An ace of spades. I kept it.

Things that have made me laugh in the past week
Ad I read in the subway on my evening commute: "You get a doggie bag for the cole slaw that came with your burger. Why? Because you paid for it. Nothing should come between a man and his uneaten cabbage." It went on to tell me to get Cingular roll-over, but that part wasn't funny.

Cover blurb on the June 4-6 USA Weekend my mom saved and brought to Florida to give me last weekend because Vin Diesel was on the cover. "Seriously, don't let the gravely voice and rippling muscles fool you. He's a chill dude: Have you ever heard him sing highlights from The Sound of Music?"

Florida And Such
-90 degree weather.
-Steak and Shake. Mmm.
-Orange groves
-Hotel swimming pool
-Cute outdoor wedding at a B&B
-I caught the stupid bouquet. The odds were against me, the only other single girls were the daughters of the bride (16 and 10), a toddler (with a mullet) and the divorced sister of the groom. Damn.
-A big bridge.
-A beach.
-9.5 hours in Tampa International Airport thanks to a big, noisy thunderstorm.

Apartments, boo.
Trying to find a roommate in just two weeks is no fun. Do any of my readers want to move to Manhattan in, say, September?

Tiring
Deleting labels out of all hundred-some fields in every one of the entries in our 1,409-entry database. My keyboard might need a new delete button by the end of this.

Confusing
The thirtysomething man I saw this afternoon who looked perfectly normal except for the goatee he had dyed electric blue.

Satisfying
Making a KU fan drink out of an MU Tigers shot glass.

Bizarre
On my way to meet a friend coming in on a bus from DC, I saw two of the weirdest things I've seen in New York ever.

1. A dead body. At least I'm pretty sure he was dead. I don't think it takes four cops to keep an eye on someone who's having a medical emergency and waiting for an ambulance. And if he was alive and having a medical emergency, the cops might be trying to help him. And he probably would have dropped that bottle if he was just unconscious. It was damn creepy. The only dead bodies I've ever seen before this were lying in caskets, not on sidewalk grates.
2. A women taking a shit against the side of Madison Square Garden. Maybe she just really doesn't like the Knicks.

Hooray for visitors
The weekend went much too fast.

A New York Story
On my lunch break today, I was walking down the street, and I passed one of those burly middle-aged guys who sits at a card table and collects change to feed the homeless. They tend to yell at people and try to make them feel bad so they'll give money. When I walked by, he stopped his rant, completely changed the tone of his voice and said, "Ooh, I like that purple blouse. Very pretty." And then went bad to yelling at people.

Another New York Story
About an hour ago, I saw a roach in the middle of my living room. It was the first roach I've ever seen in this apartment. I tried to smash it with a coaster. It got away and scurried under the entertainment center. I had to go to the grocery store to buy milk, and when I got back I told my roommate about the roach. Keep an eye out and try to kill it or we'll need to get a roach trap or something.

A few minutes later, my roommate knocked on my door. Um, the roach just went into your room. Ew! We found it behind my door, and after a few misses, my roommate killed it with one of my flip flops. Ha, take that, roach! But now there's roach guts on the bottom of my flip flop. Gross.

TGIF (almost)
Hooray for visitors!