I finally made it to the Social Security office to replace the card that I lost in college. Now that I'm unemployed, I've got nothing but time. Nothing but time to spend waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to grind slowly. There were many people at the Social Security office, and an astonishing number of infants. I thought wistfully of the signs at the unemployment office that command "Please Control Your Children". Most public places could use such a sign. I wiated over an hour to speak to an agent for two minutes, to get a piece of paper stating that I will receive a new card in two weeks. I shall endeavor not to lose that one for fear of a return trip. I then trotted over to the unemployment office for the fourth time in seven days to drop off a copy of the temp card, necessary for the affadavit in process...That was mercifully quick.
Lewis and I holed up in the editing studio and watched the VMAs, under the influence of Pop Rocks. I hadn't thought about them in a million years, until they were featured on I Love the Seventies. I bought two packs and a bottle of coke. The VMAs were hit or miss. Excellent jokes were had at the expense of others. It was a lavish display, other than the disgusting kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears. Perhaps I'll write a critical essay on it, but for now I will say this: that performance was undoubtedly intended to be provocative and sexy, and succeeded only in being cheap and crass. How will this affect Brit's career? Granted, she's been moving towards a more adult image lately, but I'm not sure she wants to look like one of the Vivid girls.
Lewis and I stayed up all night in order to meet Wayne's red eye flight at the airport. There was almost no traffic in either direction on the Stevenson, and after collecting Wayne we all had breakfast at Clarke's. Six a.m. is probably the only time there's easy parking in Lakeview.
Wayne bought a big stack of DVDs in Las Vegas, including several rare ones. I hope to watch The Red Shoes with him soon. The remaster is supposed to be breathtaking. I'll never know the difference, since I've never managed to find a copy of the film before.
I found a couple of websites today that absolutely fascinated me. They both deal with forgotten urban elements in New York, such as abandoned subway stations and streets that no longer exist. The amount of urban archeology--and interest--possible in New York astonishes me. I'd heard that you can see the first subway station, the abandoned City Hall stop, on the 6 train if you stay aboard the train through the loop--which is not strictly legal--but never found myself on the 6 that far south. I'll have to attempt it on my next trip: the station is simply amazing. How sad that the powers that be are all too ready to dispose of such gems and "replace" them with hideous star trekky tile tubes.
After pouring over the New York pages, I looked for an equivalent in Chicago. There is a group of train enthusiasts that does a tour of CTA stations every year. It wasn't half as interesting, but neither is the L. The tour featured the one abandoned underground station in the system, which was as modern and uninteresting as the ugly 70s East Side stations in Manhattan. If we had any interesting, architecturally charming abandoned stations, they'd soon be converted to condos.
Here are the NY links:

abandoned stations
forgotten new york