I spent most of the day today waiting to do things, and a shockingly, but not displeasing, little amount of time actually doing them. In the early afternoon I went to the gym. I had a free guest pass, so I took the newly unemployed Jed with me. Did I mention that 3/4 of my apartment is now unemployed? We're thinking of throwing a party tomorrow at 1:00 PM. Anyway, back to the waiting theme, the gym was surprisingly active for 2 o'clock on a Wednesday. So we had to spend a goodly amount of time waiting for other people to get out of the way. After that, we wandered around the Union Square area for a while, looking at the missing persons signs, and pricing phones and other consumer electronics at the Wiz and Circuit City. Then I bought some cheese. Then we walked over to the Farmers Market in Union Square, where I bought three potatoes and a bunch of really big carrots. I'm making a stew. Anyway, here's a picture of Jed holding two of the largest carrots I've ever seen:
In an odd bit of irony, the picture on Jed's shirt is from the mid-90's Miller beer ad campaign featuring the character "Dick."
Moving along, I thought maybe I'd have dinner with Geoff later in the evening, so Jed went home and I wandered around. The first random stop was Barnes and Noble, where I went in just to pee. I'd forgotten how much that bathroom stinks. But it's old reliable as far as bathrooms in the Union Square area. If there's one thing I love about big, impersonal, corporate stores, it's that no one cares if you walk in, use the bathroom, and leave. The the little coffee shops and pizza places and whatever make you buzz in and have "bathroom for customers only" signs. Anyway, I was hoping to have dinner at this sushi place in the East Village, so I just started wandering over there. It was a bit of a hike, but I had absolutely no where to be, and it was a super day out, so I just hoofed it. Jen called shortly after I got out of Barnes and Noble, and we talked for a good 20 minutes, which covered my entire walk to Avenue A and 9th Street. The coffee shops were pretty full, so I just sat in Tompkins Square Park for a long while. I tried reading for a little bit, but I spent most of the time just staring. I have little problem just sitting around and staring blankly into space lately. With few or no thoughts going through my head. Except occasionally I think "Gosh, it's remarklably easy to sit here and stare and not have a single thought go through my head." Scenery has become a perfectly adequate diversion. I don't need to read or listen to music or even talk to anybody. I kind of feel like a car on the highway. Everything's just passing by, and I don't feel one way or another about it. I just feel like an inanimate object. Eventually I went over to the coffee shop, and sat there. And stared out the window. I tried reading the Voice, but it's just plain undreadable. Eventually, I spoke with Geoff, who it turned out would be unavailable for the evening meal. But then Johanna, who I knew from the magazine I worked at, called, and we met up at 7B for a drink. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so we traded the requiste disaster and disaster-aftermath stories. I had one beer, but made about 4 trips to the bathroom. Something must be wrong with my bladder. During the walk to the train, I had to pee yet again. I contemplated peeing in the 2nd Avenue subway stop. There's a section under the steps where you could probably get away with urinating. I wasn't seriously considering it, but I wandered back there to check it out anyway. And I have to say one could probably get away with it back there. How do I know? Well, when I stepped back there, I saw a fairly sizable mound of shit. Human shit, I'm guessing. It'd been there for a while, I'm guessing, because it was barely recognizable. The only hint was the score of flies piled on top of it. Anyway, that was really gross, and I figured if I tried to pee and was caught, I'd get this humongous shit pinned on me as well. So I just held it till I got home.
I've finished painting about 2/3 of my room now. The paint fumes are starting to get to me. I'm feeling sort of dizzy. Though that may just be fatigue. I've been staying up late for no real reason lately. Last week, I stayed up late watching the news all night. And now I can't get out of the pattern. There's a magazine job fair that I should probably be going to tomorrow. I just found out about it. So I had to do a little resume updating. Not the chore I thought it'd be. Anyway, I went to the fair last year with Caryn, and I did get a few calls about jobs. I foolishly turned them down. It's going to be a huge pain in the ass. I'm sure it'll be packed. I hate waiting in lines.
