The Return of Softball Nina

I think I have allergies. I've never had allergies before so I'm not sure but I'm very congested and my nose is running and I'm sneezing. I took a couple of airbornes but it didn't help. What's confusing is that my symptoms started on a somewhat nice day but continued well into today which is rainy. I thought allergies had to do with pollen in the air and I just figured pollen can't hang in the air if it's moist. I guess not. It's annoying though because now my ears are a bit stopped up. Boo.

The sporadic nature of my blogs is no good for people who want to know how I'm doing. My mood pretty much changes by the hour. I guess I need to upgrade to live blogging. I also noticed that by the time I sit down to blog my fervent feelings have subsided and I no longer what to blog about it or as in the case of my previous entry, I was soooo keyed up, I probably shoulda taken a moment to work shit out (I think that's a song lyric).

Which is why I like to rely on pictures. They capture the moment quite literally and are, for the most part, objective. I need to be more diligent about my picture taking. For instance, I did not get a picture of:

-Clive Owen at Apple SoHo. Boy was he dashing! And trim! He was there as part of the Tribeca Film Festival and me and Ellen went to go gawk. He's a very good interviewee and I must watch more of his past movies.
-Me eating at Shake Shack. I went yesterday with Rachel because the Shake camera informed me that there was barely a line. I enjoyed it much more this time around, probably because I didn't have to wait 45 minutes.
-Me at the ballet. Anne got free dress rehearsal tickets so we got to see Verdi's The Four Seasons and West Side Story, ballet style. I enjoyed The Four Seasons a lot. It's nice to see something purley visual and auditory (there must be a better word for that).
-Me watching Mansfield Park and The Wire. I took a Facebook quiz to find out which Jane Austen heroine I am most like and it was Fanny Price of Mansfield Park. That's one of the few Austen interpretations I haven't seen so I immediately requested it from the library. It was great and I am sooooo like Fanny! And The Wire. Damn, it is intense. I actually have to take a few days break after watching an episode. Something disastrous just happened to Keema and. . . I can't talk about it. It's too soon.
-Me without Internet and cable from Sunday-Wednesday of last week. Add to that the fact that Kim was in Spain and I really felt like I was on a deserted island. Yeah, I'm exaggerating a little but it does feel weird not to be able to google something and have instant information gratification.
-Me reading The Wisdom of Donkeys. This is one of the books where my job as a reviewer of book reviews actually became useful. I read a review of this book and it sounded really great. Who wouldn't want to travel through the South of France on a sweet, placid little donkey? This guy has read everything that has ever been written about donkeys and there's a lot! I never gave donkeys much thought but they have been transporting humans for a long time. Like Jesus and Muhammed. Next Nina. I really wish I could try out one of these situations. The idea of living in a small village in a cottage somewhere in the English countryside with my chickens and donkeys sounds so great to me but I wonder how long I could really last.

Anyway.

Finally saw the Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit at the Gugg. I would've taken more pics but I didn't want to be kicked out.

My favorite was the one with the wolves running into a glass wall.

OH MY GOD. Artichoke pizza is the new Souplantation. I say that only because I have been here three weeks in a row.

Their specialty is the artichoke pizza which is only $3.50 a slice and is the size of my head. It's basically spinach artichoke dip on dough.

HAHAHAHHA. This was Mr Douche at softball. Who else would wear a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off except a douchebag? The UCLA alumni in NYC started their softball season and this was the first day, last Saturday. Gorgeous beautiful day for softball and me and Rachel had a really good time. I actually had three hits but failed to make it to first base each time. Douche turned out to be not so douchy afterall, just chatty as hell.

HAHAHAHA. This was game night at Sherilyn's in PARK SLOPE. That is in Brooklyn which is probably going to be my new home. This was us playing The New Yorker game. You make captions for New Yorker cartoons. Sorta like Balderdash.

More Brooklyn fun this time at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene. This was a little disappointing because it's not as cheap and as authentic as everyone keeps raving about.

Just a bunch of white people with money to burn.

I'll stop now because my fingers hurt and I've lost hearing in my right ear.

I Hate Politics

I'm very blue over Bittergate. If you don't know what I'm talking about, what rock have you been hiding under? SIGH. There are so many thoughts rolling around in my head that I hesitate to attempt to articulate any of them. I hate that SF is referred to as the "elitist epicenter". I've never thought of it like that but I guess elitist is just a less nicer way of saying yuppie which I have used in reference to SF before but always in a tongue-in-cheek sorta way. I feel that I should read "What's the Matter with Kansas?" or at least read the reviews on it. Bittergate actually comes at a very significant time for me because lately all I've been thinking about is why I am the way I am and Stuff White People Like has something to do with it and so does living in New York. Why is it that I must buy my food at Trader Joe's? Why do I think everyone should drive hybrids? Why do I love Apple products? And most importantly (ack), how do I feel about all this? Living in NY means living in a very super hyper realized state of everything. You're more aware of the disparity in everything and I feel guilty all the time about what I have and who I am and how I'm seen. New York, especially Manhattan, is nothing like the rest of the country and neither is LA or SF, three large American cities that I've all lived in. I have white people guilt and I'm not even white. I guess it's elitist guilt. And the scariest part is that I'm not sure I like who/what I am anymore or at least I'm beginning to question it all. Not having money is a big part of it. This is gonna sound trite but I've realized that I can get buy without having a lot. I don't buy new clothes anymore. I shop at the 99 cent store. I only buy what's necessary because that's all I can afford. The only thing I'll really shell money out for is food so I guess I'm a food elitist, a foodie... I don't know where any of this is going but I just felt the need to get it out there. BLAH.

So anyway, here's some of what I've been up to more or less.

This is a fried MacNCheese ball at the Chip Shop in Park Slope where Ellen is now settled in. High five for Ellen now being a New Yorker!!! Well in BK anyway. =)

The ball opened.

In the foreground, chicken strips and fries. In the background, fish and chips.

Anne's shepherd pie.

Fried twinkie.

I forget what this was called but it was a melange of berries.

Ah. The most exquisite, elitist bowl of $14 ramen in NY! At Ippudo. This was crazy delicious. It really was like liquid pig.

Cherry blossoms!

Mets vs. Brewers at Shea. We won.

Thai temple in Elmhurst Queens. Yes, we are even in Queens.

Trekked out for Thai New Year and free food.

Thais being Thai.

Anne and the reclining Buddha.

I got a haircut and paid an elitist (ok, I'll stop) amount for it. But it's cute no?

Will have to go back when it's less crowded.