Notes

The first long weekend of the summer is coming up (insert air guitar here), and instead of traveling somewhere new (drool drool Adirondack State Park drool drool), we're going to make Memorial Day weekend '08 a gigantic "Explore New York" blowout. Plans are still sort of nebulous, but there will be a trip to at least one museum, a picnic in Central Park, and many hours of walking through various neighborhoods of New York. I'm excited for our weekend of discovery, but I'm also trying to keep in mind an important point: there will be frustration. We'll get on the subway going the wrong way at one point - just like we did last Sunday. We'll walk forever to get to some destination we think will be great, but it will end up being just okay. We'll stand in the street like fools, squinting at a map and pointing at things like obvious tourists do. Well, whatever. We are tourists. And being a tourist is fun! It means you're somewhere new.

I've started carrying a tiny notebook around with me when I'm out on the town, and I write down points of interest as I see things I want to remember. Bookstores, coffee shops, parks, neat-looking movie theaters... there's no end. And when I think about it, I realize that this is just the latest installment in what has become a little chain of new places. In an unexpected turn of events, I've lived in 5 different cities in the last 5 years. Each of them has been beautiful and alluring, and the result is several years in the constant attempt to absorb my surroundings. Okay, what street is this? Oh, and it connects with this street, which runs north and south... and it runs into this market/neighborhood. I'll have to remember that for the next time I come by here. Ooh, and here's a great little (insert business type here). I'll have to remember where this is, because I can totally see myself coming here and (insert appropriate activity here). Could I have cured cancer by now if I wasn't always so focused on where I was? Hm, maybe "curing cancer" is a bit of a stretch. Could I have, I don't know, knit the world's longest scarf? Learned a trade? Written a book? Guess I'll never know, which is actually a real shame. There are a lot of people who could benefit from a really long scarf.

To close with an unrelated point: the Statue of Liberty as seen from a park near our apartment. If you can squint enough to make out her features, you'll note that she has her back turned - even Lady Liberty says "eat it, Jersey!"