______________________________________________________________________________________________

PROGRAMMING NOTE from the Author and Archivist


So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.

The last few years have been busy and … challenging:

- 2015 Happened.
- 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.)
- 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally.
- 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)

- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...

- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?


I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.


So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.


Stay safe everyone. Stay well.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Summer Scenes 2012: Commuting Views Part 2

Since trying to persuade my HR department to get me a treadmill desk is proving to be a futile effort, I've been forcing myself to skip the convenience of a subway commute home from work to the train terminal. I've been walking the approximately 2 miles instead. I've also been trying to find the least annoying crosstown streets to avoid the tourist traps of Central Park South (with it's connection to Columbus Circle and the Park and the Apple Store/FAO Schwartz cesspool of cacophony), 57th Street's busy Carnegie Hall connection, and anything in the Time Square Section with the theaters, hotels, and retail madness. Along the way I've used my iTouch not only to provide the musical accompaniment, but to try and capture some of the sights along the way.

Here are highlights some of the recent perambulations.

Some nights, I start out with a nice refreshing spray from the fountain at Lincoln Center. The other night it was festooned with mini-Fonteyns posing for pictures.

Even with the iTouch camera, it was good to catch some rays through the mists. Further down the street, the saints at Fordham sought guidance in a shady grove.

Further south, whispers say to "Look up! Look up. There's so much to see above your regular view."

Some days the walk is easier than others. It all depends on other commuters, tourists, air quality conditions, and traffic. If I get too tired one day, I could grab a "winged" chariot to get me on my way. If only I could leap over traffic (or slow tourist) as demonstrated by an art installation on Park Avenue.

Avenue 6 1/2 is not like Platform 9 3/4s. It does not lead to Hogwarts, or save me from more hunger distractions. Get thee behind me pizza signs. I'm walking for a reason!

On the other hand, I have to remember where this truck was. I seriously want a lobster roll now. I can't get to the shore for seafood, so what are the odds of getting food poisoning from seafood stored in, and served, from a hot food truck? [Alternatively, weight loss from food poisoning? Not worth the puking.]

Some days the weirdest things happen. Like impromptu pedicab races coming out of Central Park. It's neck and neck down the avenue. Flash photo finish, but whoops. More distractions. I don't know who won. (I want one of everything. Note to self, skip Central Park South. Too many ice cream trucks.)

There are flying rats everywhere in NYC. I don't know why this light pole caught my attention, aside from the fact that it shows that real estate is at a premium even for the avian population. On the right: Who needs Instagram filters when Mother Nature do the light shows so much better highlighting the City's Ivory Towers?

Reflecting on the next step of my journey and remembering to stop and read the signs. (Grammarian Girl in my head started playing with this. AKA Be Cool, right? or Be. Cool. Write. or Write. Be Cool.)

Ah, finally. My destination. Air Conditioning. Places to purchase water since I forgot mine. Again. Looking up from the escalators -- It's not just the zodiac ceiling in Grand Central that is truly grand.

Once on the train and out of the tunnels, I'm ever so grateful to not be in traffic heading into Queens, but heading over the river and through the 'hoods.

Work day over, leaving Manhattan -- miles closer to home.
Another day done.

Stay tuned for more. Just have to remember to take more on future commutes.

No comments: