Well, I'm keeping up my bi-monthly posting habit. Much has happened. My contract with the company was shortened, due to their financial problems. The company is land poor, which is a hard thing to swing. They underestimated their operating costs by more than a half million dollars a year. So, obviously, giving me the axe was the solution to that problem! Oh well. I was about ready to get out of there anyway.
So I went to New York for a few days.

Interesting things seen/heard in New York:

* A woman in her late fifties or early sixties walking down 8th Avenue in Chelsea wearing a pair of Lilly Pulitzer capris and black espadrilles---and a black tube top. The top was gravitating towards her waist, as was what she was trying to cover, and she was putting forth a valiant effort to pull it up.
* The woman at School Products arguing with someone in the back room in Russian, then sweetly asking me in English if I needed help or advice. They give good advice there, and have some excellent samples on display. I bought mercerized cotton there to make a chickami. Chicknits
* Watching white tourists in Chinatown. Yes, I know I'm white, and I was technically a tourist, but the throng of mosly southerners that I saw on the sidewalks of Canal Street were so damn stupid/naive. Like talking about the asian proprietor of a stall while standing next to him, as though he wasn't there or didn't speak English. Many cringeworthy conversations overheard.
* An Indian man with a blue MZ-N707 on the E train headed north from W. 4th Street. I so rarely see other MDers, so I was excited.
* A megamix of every hit Madonna's ever had played at H&M in Soho. It was hot, and made me nostalgic for simpler days. Like when I didn't decide to walk all over lower Manhattan in 90 degree heat.
* I discovered that Virgin Megastore (and it is mega) in Times Square cut its tiny minidisc section. Now I have no idea where one might purchase pre-recorded minidiscs. At the same time, I've never purchased a pre-recorded minidisc, so I suppose I can't really complain. I'm just disappointed.
*I bought a pair of orange kicks at Pearl River Mart. They're satin with beaded embroidery on the toes in the shape of a pair of frolicking dragonflies. My grandmother complimented me on them yesterday, which is the ultimate footwear approval in my family.
*I was riding one of the many buses in Manhattan, headed uptown to The Yarn Co., when I began to fuss with my minidisc player. This caused the spare battery that I'd crammed into the case with the player to fall out onto the floor and roll a short distance up the aisle of the bus before I snatched it back up. I casually threw it in my purse. Fifteen minutes later, while browsing yarn, I felt a great heat emanating from my purse, as though my lighter was playing a nasty joke. I thrust my had in quickly and realised that it was the battery! Apparently, its dramatic drop and roll on the bus had kick started a chemical reaction that was throwing off a lot of energy. I quickly got out of the store and threw the offending battery in the trash at street level.
* On Lewis's recommendation, I went to see CAMP at Landmark Sunshine Cinema. An excellent choice. I loved the movie, but I loved seeing it with a theatre literate audience even more. I wasn't ever the only person laughing at a joke. And there were some obscure references thrown in for all the theatre kids out there.

Upon leaving New York, or why am I such a shit magnet?

I got a voicemail from my friend who had given me a lift into the city on Sunday morning. He was visiting friends on Long Island, and it was sort of assumed that we would meet up in the city. I assumed that meant that he would also give me a ride back to the Berkshires. No, no. He decided to spend a few days with his step-sister in Connecticut instead. No apology or offer to help me make alternate plans.
So I decided to take the Metro-North back, and called an acquaintance to ask for a ride from the station. No problem, he said. Well, it was, because I had to wait at the station in Wassaic, the middle of nowhere, the end of the line, for four and half hours. The acquaintance never showed up. I used up my phone card trying to reach him. Of course, my cell phone didn't work there. His girlfriend finally told me that I should find another ride. Incredibly lame. Fortunately, a generous Australian was also waiting and gave me a fistfull of change to make calls. I called my roommate, who came and got me just before it got dark and started to rain.
The only lucky thing about this tale is that I decided to leave New York on Tuesday, instead of Thursday as originally planned. I drove back to Chicago on Wednesday, leaving the Berkshires around ten am and arriving here at about 3 am EST. It wouldn't have taken so long had I not been caught in horrendous construction traffic in Gary. They foolishly did not set up an alternate route or even open the shoulder to traffic, so 80/90 was down to a single lane. All that fuss so that they could work on a piece of pavement the size of my living room.