Midnight blues.

What should one do when one's eyes feel like they are on fire and about to fall out of one's head in the middle of the night? Well, first, calc homework. Then accounting homework. Then a few lines of a Virginia Woolf term paper. And then blog apparently.

And I can't even go to CVS for some meds at this crazy hour because of the homeless crazies (not to be mean, but the homeless people near Stuy Town are particularly crazy) that hang around 14th Street and 1st Ave at this hour. A few weeks ago about a dozen of them were duking it out in the middle of the road in broad daylight. I'm not going to chance it at 3 a.m.

Tomorrow's a full day - class from 9:30 to 9, so I'll be nice and tired. Great. Thanks, doctor, for telling me to stop taking allergy meds.

Things to do while waiting for the maintenance guy.

1. accounting homework
2. eat oatmeal
3. watch Wizard of Oz
4. remember how awful Wizard of Oz is
5. drink black tea
6. blog.

I'm up to #6. This week has been uneventful, yet oddly fun. I had a half-day on Tuesday because I was inadvertently terminated at work. Basically, my name was kicked out of the system and I could not log on or do anything, so I got a paid day off. I'll take it!

A colleague from London was in the office... it's been great to reminisce. It was great catching up with her and now I'm even more excited for my pending holiday to London. My manager asked me if I'm seeing anyone lately, to which I replied, "Nope. Real men live in London."

I'm now attending graduate lectures for my accounting class instead of undergrad. My prof, who is absolutely fantastic, teaches both and suggested I informally shift to the MBA class... great in theory, but I will probably be almost an hour late for each lecture since I'll be coming straight from work and my Thursday nights are shot. Oh well. It's such a different dynamic in the grad class... it's easier to learn when everyone around me is concentrating and genuinely trying to learn the material, rather than just waiting for class to end. Maybe I'll be taking this same grad class with the same prof in a few years!

This weekend is Kay's birthday so we are all going out tomorrow night. Then lunch with Aunt and Uncle J on Sunday. Should be a good time! But I positively cannot wait until Thanksgiving. Since last year's cranberry chutney did not work out ("it would be cruel to force someone to eat that" says Mom right before she emphatically dumps it in the trash), I'm going to try something a bit simpler... cookies. If I screw them up, I give up. Chinese take-out for life.

That's all for now. And also, I graduate in less than a month. Weird.

Tonight my pulse beats to the electric snake cleaning my shower drain (and also the adorable old man who won't stop talking to me about his 40-year career as Stuy Town handy-man).

A lark! A plunge!

For this first time in a long time (possibly forever), it has been cold for over 2 weeks and I am not sick of it yet. The crisp weather is still energizing me and giving me the sense that anything is possible. Unrealistic and whimsical, I know. But this autumn is magical. Up is down and black is white.

This past Halloween weekend was a bit atypical - drunk Katie Couric, seeing some drunk colleagues and thinking they were other drunk colleagues (oh, did I say Lisa? I meant Beth. So good to see you!) flapper and biker all in one weekend and pub crawl all the way from 74th to 12th. All in all, a great time. Possibly the most dream-like quality of my weekend was the cab ride from my apartment to 51st and park... all the way up 1st ave and over to park and not one single red light! $5 cab to midtown. I'm tellin ya, it's the weather.

To top it all off, yesterday I fixed a flat screen TV at work that no one else could fix (first and last time that will ever happen) and my boss put me in charge of a $400,000 model... which I actually did not break. Up is down and black is white.

Maybe that means I will do well on my accounting exam this morning.... or not. At least the Yankees will clinch the series tonight!

The week ends, the week begins.

Sitting here listening to Miles with my feet up on the coffee table (as usual), watching Cosby Show (always a treat) and trying desperately to finish my Calc homework (too many numbers for me)... so I'd rather blog instead. The only new feature to this scene is a slightly altered coffee table... Katie put her stiletto straight through the glass of the old one to see her outfit. Guess that's what you get for not having full length mirrors in the apartment.

I's cold outside but nice and warm in my apartment. The jazz is great. We have terrible lighting so I've turned the white Christmas lights on... they give off a dull yellow glow. Kaila and my roommates are here and we are all quiet and lost in thought. It's so nice to have company, even when words aren't being exchanged. I am content.

It's Sunday night and I have no idea how the entire weekend passed and I was so unproductive. Had a hectic week as usual, between work and school and trying to get back into distance running (14 miles and counting). I've basically decided to forego homework in favor of bars with friends. There just isn't time for it all! But it is my last semester. So who cares?

I was talking to a friend yesterday and was apparently running my mouth at a mile a minute. My friend jokingly said, "Are you on crack?!" And I had a sudden twinge of sadness just for a second as I thought, "No, my life is on crack."

I think I need to sit and do nothing like I am now. It's my way of grounding myself... of just taking a break from the craziness that is my life and the city. There is never a minute to rest, so when I can find that minute, I relish in it. It is so quiet and peaceful in here, but I know just twenty feet away, outside in the cold, the city is still running.

That's all for tonight. My pulse beats to Miles Davis - "Blue in Green"

On a side note, I'm going to be a biker for Halloween... black lace-up high heel boots, leather jacket, lots of big black and silver jewelery, probably some crazy hair. I think it's appropriate for the pub crawl.

My state of mind is completely dependent upon the season.

Autumn is so wonderful. It makes me want to abandon my reading, go for a two-hour run and sit on the couch with my feet on the coffee table and eat a turkey sandwich whilst watching the Cosby Show and reminiscing about how lovely my day outside in the crisp autumn weather has been (even if my ankle may or may not have developed its own incessant pulse).

And what a lovely weekend it was. Apartment "gathering" as Kaila calls it, Alice's tea cup (best pumpkin scones in the world), Soho shopping, buttnernut squash ravioli, Gatsby's Bar and Firefly, and, of course, a two-hour run down and up East / West side highways. Now that is my kind of weekend. Especially in great company, of course.

I really do need to get some of my reading done. But the coffee table with my book on it is so far away...

Becoming quite the subway blogger.

That's what happens when the 2,3 decides to run locally. Heading up to Central Park
For a run with a colleague. First Central Park jog of the season.

Yesterday I stocked my closet with coats, scarves and gloves. I am officially ready for the cold weather... Even looking forward to it (a little). Cold weather means lots of layers, funky scarves and hot chocolate. I was actually thinking earlier this morning about how cozy my apartment would be if it only had a fireplace. Probably not the best idea with 8 floors above us.

Tomorrow morning I'll be
up bright and early for some quality time with Mom. "kris, while dad bikes for MS I figured you and I could take a brisk walk. I'll pick you up at 6 am. Oh, and it will be pouring so bring an umbrella."

Perfect. And that is my life this weekend. Also, don't rent The Women. Terribly slow. Even Andy says so.


Blogged from my iPhone - so excuse the typos! - KLR

Whilst in transit

Waiting for the 2,3 uptown from Fulton Street and hoping to be on time for a meeting in Chelsea in 25 minutes. Might as well blog since my NYTimes app is a failure without Internet service. Will be in 4 offices in total today and running around like a chicken with no head - what else is new?! But then starts a relaxing weekend of dinner and drink plans, bonding with Mom (whilst Dad bikes for MS) and running with colleagues in Central Park. Finally, a regular weekend. What could be better?!

September is already gone and apparently it took warm weather with it. Today we've jumped straight into November weather. No fair! The leaves haven't even turned yet.

Hope train comes soon...


Blogged from my iPhone - so excuse the typos! - KLR