nycmermaid (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nycmermaid) wrote2008-06-21 10:34 pm
nycmermaid) wrote2008-06-21 10:34 pm
My weekend so far
Yesterday, after work, I went to Trader Joe's and bought ingredients for Laura Bush's "Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies." Because, what better cookies to bake for the MoveOn.org bake sale fundraiser for Barack Obama? :) I made the cookies and they came out big and beautiful and fantastic, I must admit. I may not agree with her politics, but that Laura Bush sure does have a good cookie recipe. I gave most of them to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sarahsez00 to take to the bake sale and saved 5 or so for myself.
Then I went to see the Cure at MSG. This concert was originally scheduled for last September but rescheduled. First was an opener called Six Degrees of Static or something that sounded like that. They had no singer, but one of their songs randomly contained a quote from the movie Singles, and that almost made their set worthwhile. The Cure played for *3 hours*. That's like every Cure song I know and then a dozen. My seat was really good -- section 2 on the floor -- but sort of unnecessary as this was one band I was not seeing to actually *see*. That Robert Smith is one ugly mofo, but he writes some amazing music.
Today was a zoo day, and it went okay for having so few volunteers there and microphones broken for both the penguins and sea lions. One of my mentors, Joanne, was back for the first time since the training, and so I spent the day trailing her. She knows so much, it's rather intimidating, but I could learn a lot from her. She does the penguin chat like a pro. I also did my first storytime, reading a book about a little lost duckling to a few kids.
At about 3 I met up withcuphoenix, who was in town for the day. Poor guy went all the way up to the Bronx Zoo instead of the Central Park Zoo due to a mix-up, but luckily for express trains that all got sorted fairly quickly. I took him through the zoo (still no sloth sighting -- doh!) and then we had an early (like senior citizen early) dinner at Island Burgers and Shakes, which was delish. (Andy, I'm sorry I didn't have time to show you more of what's fun to do in NYC! Next time.) Then we parted ways as he went down to the Strand and I went back to Queens for a bit of paddling by Socrates Sculpture Park.
There was a Solstice festival going on there, very artsy-fartsy, but really nice. Lots of kids making crafts and getting faces painted, and families sitting around among the sculptures listening to a band sing songs that I can only imagine were written by someone with a pagan magnetic poetry kit (I swear one song was something along the lines of "form a circle, anoint each other, Aphrodite's genitals" or some such laughable but oddly pleasing nonsense). One of them was wearing a headdress made of two rolls of toilet paper. ANYHOO, there was kayaking in Hallets Cove, the beach next to the park, sponsored by the Long Island City Boathouse. I was disappointed at first to learn that only 2-seater kayaks were available (nothing highlights one's lone-ness quite so much) but they paired me up with this woman named Yuvgenia or something. She sat in front and steered, and I tried to keep up with her in back. She paddled fast. It was great practice and exercise though. There was a huge party going on in the projects next door and hip-hop music blasting, making the atmosphere noisy but pleasantly festive. The sun was setting and it just felt so good to be in a kayak. I really want to do one of the Friday-night paddles sometime.
It turns out there's a bus that goes direct from that part of Astoria to my part of Woodside. So I took that, even though I had to wait a half hour for one to come. :b This bus line also passes through lots of other places in Woodside and Astoria, even near my friend Emily's apartment. Good to know.
And I still managed to get home before sunset. I love these long days. Happy summer! Happy Solstice!
sarahsez00 to take to the bake sale and saved 5 or so for myself.Then I went to see the Cure at MSG. This concert was originally scheduled for last September but rescheduled. First was an opener called Six Degrees of Static or something that sounded like that. They had no singer, but one of their songs randomly contained a quote from the movie Singles, and that almost made their set worthwhile. The Cure played for *3 hours*. That's like every Cure song I know and then a dozen. My seat was really good -- section 2 on the floor -- but sort of unnecessary as this was one band I was not seeing to actually *see*. That Robert Smith is one ugly mofo, but he writes some amazing music.
Today was a zoo day, and it went okay for having so few volunteers there and microphones broken for both the penguins and sea lions. One of my mentors, Joanne, was back for the first time since the training, and so I spent the day trailing her. She knows so much, it's rather intimidating, but I could learn a lot from her. She does the penguin chat like a pro. I also did my first storytime, reading a book about a little lost duckling to a few kids.
At about 3 I met up with
cuphoenix, who was in town for the day. Poor guy went all the way up to the Bronx Zoo instead of the Central Park Zoo due to a mix-up, but luckily for express trains that all got sorted fairly quickly. I took him through the zoo (still no sloth sighting -- doh!) and then we had an early (like senior citizen early) dinner at Island Burgers and Shakes, which was delish. (Andy, I'm sorry I didn't have time to show you more of what's fun to do in NYC! Next time.) Then we parted ways as he went down to the Strand and I went back to Queens for a bit of paddling by Socrates Sculpture Park. There was a Solstice festival going on there, very artsy-fartsy, but really nice. Lots of kids making crafts and getting faces painted, and families sitting around among the sculptures listening to a band sing songs that I can only imagine were written by someone with a pagan magnetic poetry kit (I swear one song was something along the lines of "form a circle, anoint each other, Aphrodite's genitals" or some such laughable but oddly pleasing nonsense). One of them was wearing a headdress made of two rolls of toilet paper. ANYHOO, there was kayaking in Hallets Cove, the beach next to the park, sponsored by the Long Island City Boathouse. I was disappointed at first to learn that only 2-seater kayaks were available (nothing highlights one's lone-ness quite so much) but they paired me up with this woman named Yuvgenia or something. She sat in front and steered, and I tried to keep up with her in back. She paddled fast. It was great practice and exercise though. There was a huge party going on in the projects next door and hip-hop music blasting, making the atmosphere noisy but pleasantly festive. The sun was setting and it just felt so good to be in a kayak. I really want to do one of the Friday-night paddles sometime.
It turns out there's a bus that goes direct from that part of Astoria to my part of Woodside. So I took that, even though I had to wait a half hour for one to come. :b This bus line also passes through lots of other places in Woodside and Astoria, even near my friend Emily's apartment. Good to know.
And I still managed to get home before sunset. I love these long days. Happy summer! Happy Solstice!