It's the little things
The following things brightened my day this week:
-having a woman I don't know at work (works in the next aisle of cubes) compliment my new skirt. She said it flows nicely when I walk.  It has lots of layers, and I had fun with them every time I walked to the printer for the rest of the day
-leftover cookies from the CEO's office in the kitchen. Pecan pie bars with chocolate chips are heaven.  Heaven.

Oh God, will it ever stop raining?
Friday, I got caught in an utter downpour walking between Grand Central Station and the Midtown Manhattan Branch of the public library.  I had an umbrella; I was still soaked to the waist.  Not cool.  So I checked out the first Harry Potter book and went home to dry out and eat take-out and read.  It was so pleasant it almost made the rain worth it.  Almost.

Last night it was so stormy when I left work at 6:30 that it looked like it was about 9:30.  Then at about 9:30 when the storm really broke, the first clap of thunder was so loud it set off several car alarms on my block.

Just when you thought New York didn't care
I was riding the subway home tonight, and I was having a bad night.  I was on the verge of tears.  Well, maybe I was closer to actually crying in a quiet little way in my corner of the subway.  I felt like it, and it's not like anyone would notice.  Then the cute boy standing next to me and listening to his iPod looks over and asks if I'm OK.  Yeah.  Are you sure?  Yeah.  He goes back to his iPod, and I feel even more like crying because someone in this city actually cared.

Hangin' Tough
For the second time tonight, I have heard an advertisement for a concert of Jordan Knight performing New Kids on the Block: The Remix Album.  It's a double album of him singing the New Kids' greatest hits.  A double album?  Really?

New York Justice
On Thursday, I was on the M60 bus, heading crosstown from 125th and Lexington to LaGuardia Airport.  It's 3:30 in the afternoon, and the bus is crowded.  At 2nd Avenue, this man who appears to be homeless or maybe just a bit off gets on the bus.  He's wearing an army coat with the hood pulled tightly around his head.  He's clutching a lumpy, dirty bag very closely.  He tries to use a number of Metrocards that are all empty.  He stays on the bus anyway. 

The bus driver flips out.  "Uh-uh.  I ain't driving this bus with you on it.  I KNOW you ain't got no money in there.  Hell no!"  The bus driver gets off the bus and got to stand by the barbershop and newsstand outside.  So this standing-room-only bus is idling in the middle of rush hour traffic on a busy street.

People are not happy.  A few start yelling at the guy who is still standing on the bus.  On tough-looking guy goes out to discuss things with the bus driver.  The heckling picks up.  "People have places to go."  "Get off the bus."  "Get off the damn bus."  "Get off the fucking bus, ya freak."  He tries to sneak farther back onto the bus, and there is a general outcry.  Those of us in the idea, do our best to block his way. 

Other people have been getting on the bus during all of this.  A woman who looked disturbingly similar to a certain cross cultural journalism professor (short hair, big t-shirt, Lycra capris, real sneakers though, not Keds) carrying a small juke box over her sholder on a piece of rawhide lets him have it.  "I will throw you off this bus.  Do you want me to pick you up and throw you off the bus?  I know you just took a hit, but if I have to hit you that hit will hit you harder." 

I'm pretty sure I'm about to see a rumble on a public bus.  (And I'm a little too close for comfort.)  But the yelling escalates, and the weirdo finally gets off the bus and walks a way in a huff.  Only then do I notice the bright red mini skirt.  The woman with the radio explained to us all that he/she was just a crackhead and didn't know better.

I leave, and people just start getting married and having babies
-I saw my married friends first home and pictures of her second
-I played the bongo drums in the lounge of Bahama Breeze
-Go to a baby shower and drink out of a baby bottle with other grown women (It was a race!)
-Go to a casino in Iowa.  Realize this is a bad idea when we have to drive home from Iowa at 1 am
-In the Sunday paper, read about the engagement of one of your mortal enemies from high school
-Get real backyard barbeque and corn on the cob
-Visit lots and lots

Overheard when passing a diner on the way to the subway
"Yo, the chicken pot pie there is off the hook."

Chicken pot pie is cooler than me.

Shout out to Chrissy and her countrymen
(Actual phone conversation I had today)
Them: "So where are you from?"
Me: "Our magazine is located in New York City."
Them: "No, where are you from originally. Are you from Canada?  You have a Canadian accent."
Me: "Um, I'm from Illinois."

What not to say when meeting a potential roommate
Her: I just moved from Israel a week ago.  I work for the Israeli government.
Me: Oh, what do you do?
Her:  I really can't say.  It's the military.  We have a building here.  I really can't say any more.
Me: (Um, next!)

Things that suck
-another (more senior) editor quitting.  At least she gave notice.

A Brief Recap
In the past week I have:
-hung out in Jersey
-baked brownies
-eaten sausage, corn on the cob, potato salad and watermelon and drank beer on my fire escape while my neighbors barbequed in the street
-watched the fireworks from Andrea's rooftop in Brooklyn
-shopped in Bergdorf Goodman's men's store (despite the disapproving looks of the sales people) and discovered a $135 white tank top
-watched Spiderman 2
-watched All the President's Men in Bryant Park
-eaten some Chinese food and plenty of pizza
-met the girl I will probably live with for the next year if everything works out
-made an appointment for an overpriced haircut (the next free cut isn't until late September)
-had a pint with friends
-packed for a trip to DC!

Best Thing I've Read All Day
"And she knew now that he was likely to become a lawyer. Well, that wasn't so bad, she felt; some day he might go to Congress and reform the whole nation into a pleasing likeness of Kansas."
-Elmer Gantry

Retail Therapy
I just spent my splurge budget for the entire month on a skirt. (Yes, I am anal enough to have a set amount of money in my budget for splurges. You would understand why if you saw the rest of my budget.) It is a fabulous skirt. Layers and funky hemlines and flowers. It was love at first sight. (And it was 50 percent off.) I love it so much that I'm wearing it right now. I might wear it the rest of the night, and I'm planning on staying in and baking brownies and watching a video. I just might never take it off again.

Proud to be a Croatian*
As published in this morning's AMNewYork:
"Croat farmers have staged a beauty contest for goats in a bid to publicize the fact that traditional goat farming is dying out. Dozens of farmers from across the country entered their prize goats in the event at the village of St. Vincenat in western Croatia. Ivan Perko, owner of Lucy who won the event and is from the western Croatian village of Most Rasa, said: 'I always knew she was the most beautiful goat in the world and now it's been proven.'"

*My family is from the island of Hvar.

Case of the Blahs
I've been in a bit of a funk lately, so I haven't had much to blog about. My life has just involved too much searching of all types lately. But I'm hoping a three-day weekend, some fireworks and a visitor from Boston will help snap me out of it. Then it will be back to my regularly scheduled blog randomness.

P.S. to the Universe
Please stop dropping and/or spilling things on me. The milk and the beans cleaned up relatively easily, but the blinds falling out of my bedroom window three times in 24 hours, I think that left some bruises. Thanks.