Keeping track

Update on my NYC to-do list.

7) See a show in every broadway theater (17/40):
-God of Carnage at the Bernard B. Jacobs, Spring 2010
-Hamlet at the Broadhurst, Fall 2009
-Lombardi at Circle in the Square, Spring 2011
-Race at the Ethel Barrymore, Spring 2010
-Book of Mormon at the Eugene O’Neill, Spring 2012
-Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark at the Foxwoods, Spring 2011
-39 Steps at the Helen Hayes, Fall 2009
-Driving Miss Daisy at the John Golden, Spring 2011
-La Cage aux Folles at the Longacre, Spring 2011
-Scottsboro Boys at the Lyceum, Fall 2010
-Follies at the Marquis, Fall 2011
-Lion King at the Minskoff, Spring 2009
-Jesus Christ Superstar at the Neil Simon, Spring 2012
-Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo at the Richard Rogers, Spring 2011
-Good People at the Samuel J. Friedman, Spring 2011
-Memphis at the Shubert, Spring 2011
-Finian’s Rainbow at the St. James, Fall 2009

Almost halfway there! These theatres remain (I’ve included what’s on right now):
Al Hirschfield – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Ambassador – Chicago
American Airlines -
August Wilson – Jersey Boys
Belasco -
Booth – Other Desert Cities
The Broadway – Sister Act*
Brooks Atkinson – Peter and the Starcatchers*
Cort -
Gerald Schoenfeld -
Gershwin – Wicked
Imperial -
Lunt-Fontanne -
Majestic – The Phantom of the Opera
Music Box -
Nederlander – Newsies!*
New Amsterdam – Mary Poppins
Palace – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert*
Stephen Sondheim – Anything Goes*
Studio 54 -
Vivian Beaumont – War Horse*
Walter Kerr -
Winter Garden – Mamma Mia!

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March 17, 2012

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Meme

From the Jessica

Age: confidential
Bed Size: Full
Chore You Hate: Laundry
Dogs: All of them, but English Bulldogs are the cutest!
Essential start of your day: A shower
Favorite color: Green
Gold or silver: Silver? What kind of question is this?
Height: 5’6″
Instruments I play (or have played): my voice
Job title: Graduate Teaching Fellow
Kids: Gross
Live: New York City
Mom’s name: Jean
Nickname: SAJ, Jonesey
Overnight hospital stays: Nope, thank goodness
Pet peeve: Texting walkers, pole-hoggers
Quote from a movie: Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me.
Right or left handed: Right
Siblings: Two sisters & a brother
Time you wake up: Depends on what happened the night before
Underwear: Whatever’s clean
Vegetables you dislike: iceburg lettuce, beets
What makes you run late: Bad train timing
X-rays you’ve had done: leg, knee, ankle
Yummy food you make: Cheesecake and pesto, not together
Zoo animal: OTTERS

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July 26, 2011

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But I guess I am

I never thought I would be that person with the note on fb about needing your phone number. But I guess I am.

My view Friday morning:

You see, Friday was full of all sorts of slightly odd things. And while some of them were cool like me doing laundry or seeing Will Ferrell jogging on 11th Avenue, some of them were disturbing. Some of the disturbing things include seeing a surprisingly large number of fist fights for one Friday afternoon (3). (3!) Also, you know how my ancient phone habitually breaks into three lovely pieces when I throw it on the ground? Well it turns out that dropping my phone on top of a sewer grate still makes it break into three pieces, but one of the pieces becomes irretrievably lost.

Maybe someone will find it…

So, even though I said I would never do this, I have created this note because I need your phone number! Please send it to me on fb or email or wait 24 hours and text me.
Fortunately, I have recently been rewarded in my consumerism by receiving a fancy-ass free phone, and conveniently it arrived today. It will take me a few hours to activate, but my number remains the same.

If you don’t know me well enough to know my phone number, well, I probably don’t want yours anyway.

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May 15, 2011

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Ooooh!

I don’t know who put this idea into my head, but I realized I must follow through with it:

53) Visit 50 neat little parks (8/50)
-Bryant Park off of 42nd M (numerous times, including right before A Prairie Home Companion)
-Union Square off of 14th St L (numerous times, including right after I fell down the subway stairs, before Through the Night)
-Madison Square Park (statue hunting on the horizon with Nick and Jana)
-Fulton Park (I walk through this every morning on the way to the train, there are often dozens of men playing chess)
-Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick off the Knickerbocker Avenue M (that in was my first census area last summer, and I used to hang out and watch the kids play water tag)
-McKibben Playground in Bushwick off the Morgan Avenue L (Jared and I played all over the swing set one ridiculous afternoon last summer)
-Sternberg Park in Williamsburg off the Lorimer J (census again, and I got caught in a downpour there once)
-Empire-Fulton Ferry Park off York St F under the Manhattan Bridge (took pictures there before meeting Jessica for drinks one evening early)
-Washington Square Park off West 4th (before The Great Game: Afghanistan, with the guy with the tamed pigeon)

There are so many fascinating and tiny parks scattered all over the city. Each neighborhood has one or two. Some are entirely concrete, with nothing even remotely green. Some have old trees and grass to lay on. All of them are almost always packed. There are very few public spaces left for people to gather in this city; a few hours in a park can tell you so much about a neighborhood and the folks who live there.

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April 18, 2011

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Update – My New York To Do List

You might have noticed I made a few changes to the list. For the sake of posterity I’ll note them here:

-I saw Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (yes, with Robin Williams in his Broadway debut) which I thought was, for the most part, excellent.

-I’m tossing out number 42. Here’s why: a lot of things on Broadway are awful and expensive, and there is plenty of good theatre in this town that is neither of those things. Why waste my times seeing Mama Mia! and Rock of the Ages if I don’t have to? Plus, seeing an entire Broadway season would make goal number 7 redundant, and I like goal 7 better.

-I’m also tossing out number 4, because it’s literally impossible. While I might find someone to go halfsies with me for a few days in an apartment in Greenwich Village, you can’t share $400-$600/person plates at Per Se and I’ll never find a wealthy benefactor.

-I’m changing number 6, because I’ve already been to Motorino at least a dozen times. While Slice may occassionally rate it the best pizza in the city, I like Saraghina better, and there are other (in)famous places I deserve to check out.

-I added a few more cool things.

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March 30, 2011

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My New York To Do List

52 goals before I leave/get kicked out of NYC. Warning, some may contain adult content so if you didn’t want to know that about me you can just stop here.

1) Stay in one of these in Manhattan for at least two nights (for the whole, 24-hours experience): http://toshiapartments.com
2) See the (free) Shakespeare in Central Park A Winter’s Tale with Graham, July 2010
3) Go to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade To see Clare, Rachel, Pete, and Brent, June of 2011
4) New Year’s Eve in Times Square (because I’m a masochist)
5) See a film at The Film Forum Vision, with Emma, Fall 2010
6) Get a slice at Di Fara
7) See a show in every broadway theater (14/40):
-Lion King at the Minskoff, Spring 2009
-Finian’s Rainbow at the St. James, Fall 2009
-Hamlet at the Broadhurst, Fall 2009
-39 Steps at the Helen Hayes, Fall 2009
-God of Carnage at the Bernard B. Jacobs, Spring 2010
-Race at the Ethel Barrymore, Spring 2010
-Scottsboro Boys at the Lyceum, Fall 2010
-Spiderman: Turn Off the Darrk at the Foxwoods, Spring 2011
-Driving Miss Daisy at the John Golden, Spring 2011
-Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo at the Richard Rogers, Spring 2011
-Lombardi at Circle in the Square, Spring 2011
-Good People at the Samuel J. Friedman, Spring 2011
-La Cage aux Folles at the Longacre, Spring 2011
-Memphis at the Shubert, Spring 2011
8 ) See an opera at the Metropolitan Opera Nixon in China, with Christopher, Spring 2011, Die Walkurie with Donatella, Spring 2011
9) Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art Alexander McQueen exhibit with Dan and Emma and Jana, Summer 2011
10) Visit the Guggenheim
11) Visit the Museum of Modern Art
12) Take a boat to the Statue of Liberty, with Clare and Rachel, Fall 2010
13) See the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in person Fall 2009, with Rachel and Kristen
14) Eat the kind of sushi where it is still alive when it gets to the table (sorry, vegan/vegetarian friends)
15) See the Daily Show live
16) Visit the Whitney Art Museum, 4/1/11 with EMMA!
17) Walk all the bridges to and from Manhattan (1/32)
-Brooklyn Bridge march with Occupy Wall Street on 10/1/11
18) Buy something from Babeland
19) Attend an event and take a casual stroll on The High Line
20) Visit the Queens County Farm Museum Fall 2010, the Corn Maze with Vishnya, Mark, and Hillary
21) Go up the Empire State Building (you think this one would be easy)
22) Go up the Rockfeller Center at night
23) Put on a show
24) Host at least 3 professors
25) Picnic in central park
26) Ride the paddle boats in central park
27) Walk around one of the giant, creepy cemeteries between Brooklyn and Queens
28) Visit PS1
29) Visit the Tenement Museum
30) Have the pastrami at Katz’s Deli, with Sara, Spring 2010
31) Buy something green at the Union Square Greenmarket
32) Join a CSA
33) Feed the pigeons in a park with a statue
34) Study regularly at the 42nd Street Public Library
35) Explore Grand Central station and eat at the Oyster Bar
36) Get off and explore for 20 minutes at every stop on every train line.
-83/429, as of 6/6
37) See the old City Hall station at the end of the 6, on 4/17 with Nick and Jana
38) Walk all the streets of Manhattan (ufda!)
39) See something at Carnegie Hall courtesy of Sissi, Fall 2009, also with Christine, Spring 2011
40) Do a scavenger hunt in Manhattan
41) Have a one night stand with someone I pick up at a bar
42) See an entire season at one theater (probably The Public)
43) Have a beer on the Staten Island Ferry
44) Be quoted in the New York Times
45) Kayak on the Hudson River or the East River
46) Eat at ‘cesca with Emily
47) Drink at Williamsburg’s Barcade
48) Visit Macy’s for the flower show.
49) Visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for blooming cherry blossoms, flowers=good, OkC date=bad
50) Visit the Bronx Zoo
51) Visit the Earth Room, aka The Dirt Museum Ok, I already went with Nick and Jana once. But this should serve as a plug. It was great. You should go.
52) Shop at the Brooklyn Flea Market

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March 28, 2011

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Well hello!

I’m famous!

Well, not really. But look! I can bake!

Nibble, nibble, crunch!

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February 17, 2011

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A little moment of glass and yellow light

Yesterday a friend and I collectively waited in line for about 5 hours to get rush tickets to the Metropolitan Opera’s Nixon in China. I’m still in awe about the experience. The Met! In New York City! Full of INSANELY rich people who do this all the time just because. But also the quality of the production was the best I’ve ever seen live. Also: Real acting! Ballet! An entire chorus! What can I say, my expectations are simple at first. It’ll take me another day or so of awe before I’ll be able to critique the show beyond simply condemning it for white-washing. (Which I’m doing now. Most of the Chinese roles were given to white, Western singers. Boo.)

I had, however, one of those days that is interspersed with unbelievably lovely bits. First spending an afternoon on the cold floor of the Met’s basement talking through Bourdieu with one of the smarter people I know. Successfully striding through Lincoln Center Plaza with our hard-earned tickets, where the architecture and spatial arrangement and crowds nearby all combine to feel rich and austere and decadent all at once. Dinner and wine and clever conversation, with not just a charming friend but, more importantly, a peer, a partner. Someone with whom I am not engaged in a power struggle (ah, Bourdieu, there you are again). New York City’s Fashion Week is just getting started and it’s next door to the Met; the furs and tuxedos interspersed with a totally different crowd: fashion-as-art, high culture. Despite the cold, no midwestern city, this: the fountain burbles and is lit. But even brighter is the opera house, all glass and creamy yellow light, standing out so warm and welcoming against the bitter wind and the cold blue and pink of dusk. Less welcoming but certainly warm is the swarming, bestial mass of fur and silk and wool and expense, humming and chattering to itself as we approach, gently pulling tendrils in through the doors and up the maroon carpeted stairs. Towards their seats, where they will crow and preen, and perhaps, also, listen. Soon I’ll be in there, a bright blue spot of cheap wool and synthetic pashmina against their designer leather and silk. But for now it’s a flawless animal, a preponderance of privilege in its heaving ranks.

I realized that, no matter what it is doing to my future, no matter how it is wrecking my financial situation, or my hopes of success or lifestyle or partnership, for this brief moment, here I am. In this city, with all these amazing things, and with temporary and ignorant means to access some of it. I mean to make the most of it.

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February 16, 2011

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Eight

Well I’ve been tagged by the marvelous and creative Jessica. So, I must follow her excellent example and try to think of new things that y’all don’t know about me.

1. When I was in the first day of first grade, I fell off a swing set and broke the growth plate at the end of a leg bone. My parents didn’t believe me and I had to hobble back home on it. Or at least, that’s how I remember it happening, poor tortured soul that I was. But I am certain that my cast was neon pink.

2. The most recent book I’ve read is a short political philosophy book by Slavoj Zizek called First as Tragedy, Then as Farce. It has in it the only really interesting thing I’ve ever read written about Obama, politically.

3. On Monday, instead of teaching, I made my students present their ideas all day because I lost my voice watching the Packers take Superbowl XLV the night before.

4. Today I was given a beautiful bag of fresh dried rosemary from a very unexpected source. My entire office now smells like fresh rosemary. Incoming baking project.

5. One time, one of my best friends and I dared each other to go swimming in our regular street clothes in Lake Mendota in the middle of the day. It was sunny and hot, but only early June, so the water couldn’t have been warmer than 61 or 62 deg F. We started just wading in, but then each of us would bully the other to go in a few steps further. Eventually I (the shorter of the two) was up to my chin, so we both decided to just go for a swim. We paddled around the docks that were nearby, shivering and goading each other on, until I got a muscle cramp from the cold. We climbed up on one of the docks and spent the next few hours drying on the hot wood of the dock and the baking sun. This is one of my favorite memories, ever.

6. Ever since 1996′s Independence Day, I’ve harbored a major crush on Jeff Goldblum. Something about those awkwardly long limbs…Rawr.

7. I recently got a second nose ring. Did you know? Now you know.

8. Tug-boat is a really great name for a bulldog.

Thanks Jessi! This was fun. And I tag one sister, and two old friends.

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February 8, 2011

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Refreshingly Midwesty

Things I’m thinking about:

1.  The hours days (unfortunately) I’ve taken out of writing the paper for my incomplete last semester to play internet games…cringe

1.5 The hours I took out of writing the paper for my incomplete last semester to write this blog post.

2. The 48 minutes I took out of writing the paper for my incomplete last semester to memorize the all countries in Africa yesterday.*

3. My pending entrance to the round-to-30 club.

4. What am I going to do for the Superbowl this weekend?  I can’t not watch it.  At the very least I can go to some NYC Packer’s bar, but I’d love to watch the game with a Wisconsinite.

5. Right now, this guy’s words right here: “But just because life is so short, you know? And people are in it and then they’re gone, almost always too soon, and you want to shout, “Come back! Come back! We barely got started!” “

6. If I had a one word goal for the year it would have to be two words linked by a hyphen: follow-through.  Does that still count even though the whole point of the thing was sort of to only pick one word?

7. Goals for February: Memorize the names and locations of all the countries in the world. (>53/195: this list plus Kosovo, Western Sahara, and Taiwan)  Lift weights and do crunches every day. (0/28)  Start WASTED Diaspora: NYC. (0/1)  Make one new friend. (0/1) Go to at least one free museum a week. (0/4)

8.  Although all those mighty lists  are amazing, every time I start a life list, I realize that socioeconomic class is such a defining factor in one’s life.  I want to list all the countries I want to visit, all the incredible things I want to trym all the amazing things I want to do, but a passport is $125, and let’s face it, rent in New York City is almost-but-not-quite impossible for a low-income-midwest-transplant-faking-it girl like me.  Instead, fuck that, I’m writing a list of 101 Things in 1,001 days.  It’s loosely adapted from a list on the fridge of a friend (one of those fabulous home chefs at Forkful of News).

9. I wish I had a homemade, good-country-grandma-style quilt right now.  Ever since I was hosted in Chicago by the glorious Daniel and Merilee, I’ve been seriously hankering for a handmade quilt.  I moved away from the billowy winter quilts of my childhood, because I couldn’t find one the right temperature.  I like to sleep warm, but not scalded.  Those poofy, almost fake-down quilts, while they often have a pleasingly cool and plasticky surface, are too good at holding in heat.  Combine that with my own well-stoked-fire-like heat-production when I’m under REM, and you’ve gone and boiled my brain (and other important organs).  Right now I’m loving on this gorgeous but almost austere quilt I saw in a magazine at Kathy’s. This has the feel of a nice homemade quilt, with only that thin layer of (pretty good) insulation: warm enough to survive, but cool enough to layer.  Not to mention the nice my-neck-of-the-woods that this thin quilts are having now, although handmade would be better. Alas, Etsy only offers me expense, expense, expensive.  Now that I’m in America’s fashion capital, I’m finding a love for my identification with Midwestern aesthetics.  Which brings me to…

10. Ray LaMontagne, especially this one.

*Western Sahara, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’ Ivoire, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republics, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius, Sao Tome & Principe, and Cape Verde.  Can you name them, and place them on a map

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February 1, 2011

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