24 Oct 2000
Stu said to me on Saturday: "It's our one-week anniversary! Don't you
feel nostalgic ... or sentimental?" (legal note: i am paraphrasing
Mr. Stu and should he read this, must realize I'm just trying to get the
sense of his statement across (note about quoting me: generally you must
quote the words exactly, as there is no meaning to convey (as in the
example: "If I said it now, it still wouldn't make any sense." me, mid
90s)))
I told him that one week wasn't long enough for me to be nostalgic. And
in any case, one counts the age of newborn babies in weeks. I'd rather
our marriage not be counted that way.
Let's see, random thoughts today:
New York City is just one big fad-factory, as far as I'm
concerned. Sometimes one gets useful things our of it -- like the current
messenger-bag fad. Much easier to deal with that the
across-the-body-strap of the earlier bag fad, and you get to have the bag
fall in front of you (why the hell do men =still= put their wallets in
their back pockets? =bump= against a person in the subway, and next thing
you know, wallet is gone. and you have no idea who took it.) and you
don't look like a dork as when people wore backpacks on their
fronts. Anyway, that's good fad.
Then there's neutral fads. Like various drinks. The wheatgrass juice one
has been hanging about for awhile, as well as generic fruit smoothies
(though I'm =so= not into the sorbet/yogurt/sugar-rush-from-hell
traditional smoothies... my smoothies are 100% fruit/fruit
juice/water. Sometimes (as with my 5-plum smoothie (made from 5 types of
plums, not 5 plums)) I don't even add fruit juice or water. mmm (oh yeah i
made some of my famous applesauce this morning, i really must bake a pie
sometime)) (am i totally popped out yet?) I'm =eh= on the pashmina shawl
fad. I'm not sure about the crocheted poncho fad. I'm kind of liking how
crochet and hand knitting is so popular right now, but it also pumps up
prices of some of the higher-end yarns. But then, there are higher priced
yarns available, and not just acrylic crap. I'm making this =huge= granny
square afghan right now (well, I'm not sure how huge it will turn
out) made from 100% wool yarn -- the standard in the 60s & 70s when my
Grandma Cook was knitting and/or crocheting (the yarn must be at least
that old... I really do think it's older than me). You might think it's
acrylic looking at it, because it's in the same style as our current
acrylic yarns and not our wool (wool is so damned expensive now!). But
it's wool, and boy is it warm. I also have these Icelandic wool rugs I
made. If you want to talk about warm, Icelandic wool is it!
BTW, black is not a fad in NYC. It's a way of life. Sure, you might
think we wear it so we look cool, but the truth is, black hides the dirt
better than anything else. And don't listen to the "grey is the new
black" or "heather is the new grey" remarks -- the colors are picked to
match the dirt in the air. You try wearing a pair of white jeans around
the city and see what they look like after an hour. Go ahead. I'm
waiting.
While that person is off testing the color tenacity of their outerwear,
let me get back to the fad thing. I've got to say the most common type of
fad in New York relates to bags or shoes. Because everyone here has to
walk at sometime or another, and we've all got stuff to carry. People in
New York are remarkably well-shod. 8th street around 5th avenue is full
of nothing but shoe shops, more or less. I would estimate about 75% (if
not more) of the stores on those 3 blocks have shoes for sale. And most
of the shoes are sturdy, leather, and black. (See dirt comment
above). You find out really quickly how well-made your shoes are in NYC.
However, I've got to say the platform shoe thingy is ridiculous. Now, I
don't mind the Sketchers 1-in sole flat across thing going on, but the
3-inchers are ridiculous. #1) They don't make =anybody= look any
taller. I see you in 3-inch platforms, I immediately think you must be
really short. #2) Those things are dangerous! Look, you're walking about
all day on sidewalks that are often uneven, have cracks, dog shit to avoid
(well, actually much less than Raleigh sidewalks, but I digress), and the
like. You have subway steps to go up & down. You need to maneuver
through crowds on Broadway going in an opposite direction to you. You
don't need something to handicap you! You need mobility! #3) There's no
way you're going to wear through that amount of sole before the next
fashion change in shoes. Really. And if you really do hit the streets
that much, you probably make enough dough to pay a shoe repair shop to
slap another 1-inch sole on that baby. Sha!
And don't get me started on those Razor scooters. At least it seems most
adults have gotten at this point how stupid they look on them, and how
likely uneven pavement is going to wreck havoc with their idiotic idea of
fun. I mean, I remember wanting a scooter like that when I was a kid, and
had someone come along with one while I was in my roller skate phase, I
would've lobbied Ma & Dad for one. But as it is, my ass is much higher
off the ground, it's more difficult for me to balance myself over a 3-inch
wide piece of metal, and I have a hard enough time walking around in
Birkenstocks, much less attached to two small, plastic wheels.
But that's enough jabbering for now.