do you see the beauty in dirt?

now smelling: egyptian musk

now playing: "i've seen it all"

bjork - what about china?  have you seen the great wall?

thom yorke - all the walls are great, if the roof doesn't fall!

-

earlier this year, during my crazy fantasy time in europe (that i now have difficulty believing wasn't a dream), i was fortunate enough to see The Winged Victory of Samothrace at the Louvre.

i don't know about you, but if i didn't have a head, i don't think i'd be too great.  even headless, La Victoire de Samothrace is so powerful and memorable.  i can't place myself in the moment directly before or after this photo, but recall distinctly my time standing beneath it.    and hey, apparently its striking enough to be noticed next to a garbage can during a milk run!  check out what we saved:

we'll probably paint it outrageous colors then put it in our living room :)

- 

i want to tell you about this point on lafayette street where someone has outlined in chalk all the sidewalk cracks in crazy colors.  i don't know what they were trying to do, if anything at all, but i love it.  the chalk is amplifying something that's supposed to be an imperfection and transforming it into this pleasing aesthetic image.  Suddenly, those vulnerable breaks on the surface have become the better part of the street. 

-

within the last hour, i've sampled lollypops that cost more than a meal, had my hands scrubbed with sea salt from israel, and saw old men practice ballroom dance.  just a few things that happened during my quick trip to get some frozen yogurt and back.  downtown is sensual paradise.

still no life.

i would consider myself acquainted with the subway guy.  it has gotten to the point were he had our favorite flavors, fresh baked and waiting for us:

"what if he hates us and spit in our cookies."

- - -

i love walking to school.  i hate crossing the intersection of cleveland place and kenmare.  it's a two-way, and those are always more difficult to jaywalk.  even while the bright white "walk" symbol's on, when an automobile wants to make a right turn, it's a showdown of pedestrian versus motor vehicle guts.  reality check: if you don't stop, your fearless guts could end up splattered across a city street.  lovely.  yesterday, i saw a man that had just been hit by and dragged under the tires of a delivery truck turning onto lafayette off kenmare.  oof.  when i approached the scene, he was being carefully lifted by six people to be put into an ambulance.  i cross that street several times a day, pretty carelessly.  when i looked over at this man - his blood spilt in a small pool underneath him, the injured body failing to show movement besides the slight rise and fall of his chest... i don't know, it was just such a weird experience.  i felt so oddly connected to him.  of course, i could picture myself as him.. a pedestrian crossing the street - but i could also imagine myself on the medical half of things, which is a new feeling.  i really hope he's okay.

- - -

on a much lighter note, i hear james franco is now attending nyu.

i heard through the grapevine he hangs out at think coffee.  you know where to find me!!

bitches ain't shit

do you live / have you ever lived  in suburbia?

if you answered yes to this question, it is very likely that your tongue has encountered the sweet, sugary flavors of a cheaply priced subway cookie.

what is so wonderful about nyc is that after being disappointed by the cookie cost to cookie size ratio at the famous bakery less than a block away we arrived at after entering our zip code and "cookies" into google, sarah and i pranced our collective two dollars and seventy five cents over to the familiar mediocrity across the street known as subway.

this journey didn't involve just cookies.  no nyc wandering is without unexpected action packed thrills nestled within it.  if you disagree, you weren't looking around.  for example, the other day i saw a man pushing a stroller... while riding a unicyle pretty skillfully.  man, i've seen a rastafarian thank a religious asian for his biblical spiel in the park.  but back to tonight.  there were some fancy looking people drinking wine on some couches i could never afford outside a furniture store.  so of course we stopped for a few to plant our classy boxer clad asses on one of those comfy thangs and look out at the san gennaro festival two streets over.  and the sky.  it must have been a full moon, but i'm too lazy to check, so i can only guarantee it was something close to one at least.  this moon tonight, it was illuminating the many many clouds surrounding it - and this whole lovely scene was tucked neatly between some high rise buildings.  life is great.

several stares from hip passer-bys later, the cookie calling came back.  we enter aforementioned sandwich establishment to find that only old cookies remain.  you know, the sad cookies left after a long day.  the flavors no one wanted.  we asked if they were currently baking more cookies cause we're optimistic like that.  the guy is all, "yes!"  and then he's all, "actually, not really."  and then he said, "if you wait thirty minutes, we can make them."  so since we live two minutes away, we tell him we'll be back.  he, obviously taken aback by our lack of a life, then admits he can do no such thing.  we settle for freshly nuked cookies and the feeling of an adventure. 

why did i write this?  because i never want to forget it.  but more so because i'm on a sugar high and have no life.  none whatsoever.

all bodies rise

 Yoga to the People:

the best part is when they ring the gong at the end.  the soothing reverberations feel as though they belong to your body.

flexibility will come to me.  toes will be reached.  with patience.

girl sailor

you really have to use the word "waterfall" carefully because people like me will go and instinctively picture niagra falls, or at least something beautiful.

not this:

i don't like your $15 million dollar installation art, olafur eliasson.  i get they're supposed to be kinda industrial looking and there are some bigger ideas at work, but in general, i don't think the whole nature/city clash is very original for such a big project.  i don't know, i'm not really feelin the nyc waterfalls.

but what is cool is that i took that picture on Pioneer, a 185  year old schooner.  i even helped raise the sails (which gets pretty tough at a point)!  it was such a gorgeous day, and i always love seeing manhattan from afar.  its the only time i can even begin to try and grasp it fully.

in other news:

- coldstone has a new nutter butter flavored ice cream.

- my camry and i were entertained by the company of a tow truck driver for the third time in less than three months.  i think it might really be dead this time :'( .

- i saw rachel dratch walking down broadway, and i said hello.  debbie downer!

- gregg (yes, with two g's) at foot locker convinced me to buy sneakers that are worth 710 dumplings at my favorite dumpling place while he told me about his ambitions to be the guy that collects the evidence in a crime scene.  (ahhh i needed them for clinical)

- ben & jerry's has a new peanut butter cookie dough flavored ice cream.

100% natural

this is a puffin:

jamie and i saw some at the central park zoo last week!

this is peanut butter:

i eat it all the time!

this is peanut butter puffins:

if you didn't already know, its the best tasting and one of the most healthy cereals ever.  and if you did know, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!

yea i definitely just went into the kitchen to get the box to like have it next to me while i write this and sarah was there and she's all "you're going to write a blog about them aren't you" and i was kind of embarrassed and almost didn't BUT THEY'RE SO GOOD!!

ps - my suite is kickass.  we're situated in between little italy and soho, just north of chinatown and 15 minutes walking distance south of campus.  classes so far are overwhelming, but exciting.  today was my first clinical in my nyu purple scrubs and it was amazing.  i got up at like 6 something today to get there.  i'm watching myself and everyone around me turn into real people who do really real things!  scary i guess, but cool at the same time.

here's a picture of me in my bed, whilst moving in.  ha.

upreet took it, while she was helping me (aka lying on the next bed over and watching me).

i will post more pictures once we're all settled in, it's a great, huge place and even though it's the most dorm-like of everywhere i've lived, it is undoubtedly the homey-est :)