Served! Again.

Over the last 3 years, I have served as a standby telephone juror 3-4 times, always during holiday weeks, and I also receive "eligibility for jury" questionnaires on what seems like a bi-monthly basis. So, on my last questionnaire, I decided to be a brat and write a comment expressing my irritation. I mostly wanted to know if there was some glitch in the system, because I thought that once you served, you had at least a year or 2 of peace before they bugged you again. That was about a month ago. Last night I got a jury duty summons in the mail. I should have known...

So even though St. Patrick's day isn't really a major holiday like the Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks that I usually spend dutifully calling the courts after 5pm every evening, it's still in line with King's County courts trying to put a damper on my holiday fun. I figure if I show up with a beer and slur some words about everyone being guilty, they'll let me off the hook pretty quickly.

Random

These signs on the subways and buses have been getting to me lately. Don't be stupid and go assaulting the MTA personnel. We all know that. I know the monthly pass fare is about to go up, but don't take your frustrations out on them. But, if you do, fear not. The maximum amount of time you will be in prison is 7 years. No longer than that. So if you can handle 7 years (maybe even less than that!) go right ahead??Same with the "no smoking" signs in elevators that assure you that your fine for doing so will NOT exceed $25.00. So, if you're in the elevator, and you really need that cigarette, just rest assured that you will not be charged more than $25. Phew.

Half Jews never lose (maybe)

Tomorrow is registration day for the Israel Birthright trip, so I have to start brushing up on my Jewish-ness. I look more Jewish when I part my hair in the middle (apparently) and when I wear it wavy, so get ready to start seeing my former 8th grade resemblance to Anne Frank.

I'm going to have dinner with my full Jewish friend and hopeful Israel travel companion soon, and she's going to quiz me on my general Jew-ledge for the phone interview. I'm not saying I have to trick them entirely, my mom technically was Jewish until I was about 15, and her whole side of the family still remains to be the chosen people. So, choose me, birthright!

Cape Blog

I feel like I should have more to say about what I did on (in?) Cape Cod this weekend, but it was really just a lot of long overdue, much needed relaxation. We went to Provincetown on Saturday and climbed the appropriately phallic Providence Tower or Pilgrim Tower or whatever it is called. I got a nice souvenir sticker saying I huffed and puffed my congested self all the way to the top.

The beaches were cold and empty, the Cape Cod potato chips were sparse and delicious, and the free cranberry Nantucket Nectars were sugary and satisfying.

I also finally had time to make some headway on the book I'm reading... "Fortress of Solitude" by Jonathan Lethem. This book has kind of peeved me from the start, but I hate quitting books, even when they're showing traces of suckage. Lethem's book is just interesting enough to keep me reading, but he has way too many themes going on (graffiti, Brooklyn geography, racial tension, art, film, coming of age, etc). I feel like he's mostly just showing off his knowledge of Brooklyn. "Look at me, I know where the Gowanus housing projects are!!" Although a few of my friends disagree about Paul Auster, he's still my favorite Brooklyn author so far. Oh yea and, despite my book quitting policy, I did quit reading "A Tale of Two Cities" about 10 pages in. Sorry Dickens fans. He was paid by the word anyway. Jerk.

You say Karats, I say Carrots

So the girl next to me at work is designing her engagement ring using some program I've never heard of. Also, I think she's crazy. Also, she isn't even dating anyone. But anyway, I decided I would jump on the bandwagon and design my own, using none other than MS Paint. Here it is. 4 Karats!!!

Plight of the Conchords

First things first, I'm upset that I was 2 hours and 14 minutes too late to buy Flight of the Conchords tickets because I didn't know that a) they were on tour and b) tickets were on sale today starting at 10am. Sigh. Ohio has tickets left but who the hell wants to go to Ohio? I was even willing to Chinatown bus it up to Boston, but their show is sold out as well. Whine whine whine.

Second, I know my eyesight is less than perfect, but Ticketmaster makes you do those security "word verification" things, and even though I am obviously not an automated system trying to purchase mass quantities of tickets, I still can hardly ever read the word correctly. Is that an L? A 1? A candy cane? A pickle with a dot on top? Wtf? So when I am denied tickets, I am left to wonder...did I type in the words correctly? Or are they really sold out? I might never know.

New Year's resolutions

Before I forget:

1. Get into grad school
2. Quit job
3. Enter more sweepstakes
4. Be able to touch my toes by the end of the year
5. Cook more (I'm making really good progress already)!
6. Drink less (a work in progress)

Do you have any good ones? Unforunately, I didn't bring my video camera to this year's New Year's Eve party.

I'll post back here in a year and see how I did.

Ice Kate

I was feeling too lethargic at work today to write this post, but I do want to write it before my irritation dwindles.

My boyfriend and I have tried 2 ice skating rinks in the last 2 months, Bryant Park Pond, and the other night, Wollman's rink. Excuse me, Trump's Wollman rink. Let's compare...

Bryant Park Pond had a long wait. This was probably because it's free. We waited on line for an hour, but it snowed the entire time, which was a nice touch. There is no entry fee, skate rentals are $12, and you can buy a lock to store your stuff in a decent-sized locker for $9. Mind you, you can bring your own lock, which brings the price of this adventure down to $12 if you're good at planning ahead. Plain and simple. It was a little crowded but fun overall. Even the 3 or 4 people who tried to take me down with them while falling didn't conquer my spirits. The staff were friendly, even when escorting the masses off the ice to clean the ice with a zamboni (I just learned this word). Totally worth the hour wait. $12 for a Friday night is OK with me. Here's a photo:

Now...Wollman's. No line!!! Awesome. The prices, not so great. $14 entry fee, $6 skates, $10 locker/lock fee with $6 of that being a deposit. The locker was so tiny, we had to get two. 10 more dollars. No wonder there was no line. We sucked it up though, and went anyway...we were already there. The staff was extremely unfriendly, they didn't even look up while taking our hard earned cash and just shuffled us past. How picturesque though, so I took out my camera. Faster than I could look up, two workers surrounded me and told me to put it away. Another one came and yelled at me While I was putting it away. Later, I decided to stick it to the man and take a picture anyway (no flash!) and they still caught me and threatened to kick me out if I took it out of my pocket one more time. Angrily. Some guy nearby even got on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend, and someone got in trouble for taking their picture. Jerks.

Bottom line is, next winter, choose Bryant Park Pond. Don't support Trump. He sucks and so does his precious Wollman rink. Sorry I can't be more eloquent than that. Here's my 1 illegal photo, and then a summary of our visit:

Thanks Google, now can I have some lunch money?

I just want everyone to know that I just successfully sewed my first button. And then sewed on 3 more. The buttons on my winter coat have been hanging precariously for a few weeks, and after one finally popped off, I decided it was time. I don't want to sound sexist by saying that this is something my mom should have taught me, but she didn't. I don't think she knows how either, so I googled "how to sew buttons" and got this website: http://www.ehow.com/how_4604_sew-button.html

It definitely taught me some useful tricks and all, but if you look at the left side of the page, there's a "more by this author" section and the third one down says "how to treat crabs." Who is this hussy that just taught me how to sew?