Stayin alive

Well, it's not much better now than it was before the other assistant started. Not sure how long I can do it. I sleep all the time, if I am not eating delivery (too tired to light the stove) or working. I sleep in the subway, then I sleep on the sofa for hours, then sleep for hours more in bed, often amounting to 10+ hours on days off and then I get up feeling like I've just recovered from the flu, tired in my limbs, dizzy, and feeling drugged, and I simply cannot budge for hours after waking,

Apart from the hypoglycemia, you all know how much I love food. Whenever I go out to eat now, I'm almost obsessed with it because at work it's something I have to sneak in - a granola bar in one minute or a bit of pasta in five minutes. So before I'd go, "Mmmm, food!" but now I'm all, "Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This work, it's just relentless and not a place where you can walk off for 5 minutes unnoticed. There's no buffer of people or space. And as I have Friday off, work Saturday, and have Sunday off, there is no time buffer either. I can't do anything out of the ordinary because I don't have two consecutive days off. Whereas on weekends you spend a half day recovering if you need to, and then get on with things like having a life, now I simply have no time. So I can't stray from my routine. I can't stay with friends or go out of town or stay out late...

So now the question is, how do I find something that balances the repetitious boredom of a desk job with the repetitious variety of this job?

In other news, I had dinner with Captain America (remember him??) on Wednesday as he was in town this week for work. It was nice to catch up and he wanted to meet me a couple more times but I was usually too tired or the scheduling was wrong.

Because I'd been trying to meet up with Jo and Dave since Thursday, and we managed that on Saturday evening. You should have been there, Matt. It was so great to finally meet them! I had meant to last March when I was in Dallas but was prevented due to family crises. Jo is so chatty and amiable, and she can really tell a story.

We were in the East Village at a tiny wood panelled pub with religious murals on the wall (because it was called a Cathedral of Beer). There was an orderly line at the bar, wonder of wonders. What's more when the voices got too loud and shouty as they usually do at pubs, someone or two would Shhhhhhhhhh and the volume would go down for a while until the next shush was needed but nobody got angry or annoyed.

(I'm discovering that New Yorkers are good at following rules: I can't find any of the free commuter newspapers lying around anywhere! People actually read the public announcement ads in the subway: "your city, your litter". Not honking except in cases of emergency. Not eating on the subway. Not spitting where people will walk on it. Not cussing in public that much. Still haven't seen anyone get arrested, mugged or shot. Most of the sirens are fire department or ambulances. Lines at bus stops remain orderly even when the doors open, so you keep your place in line. And people have more patience.)

Anyway, back to meeting Jo and Dave.



Along with two of Dave's childhood friends who also happened to be in town, after the pub we went to a Mediterranean bar and restaurant which smelled so good I wanted everything on the menu. I had a French martini (had chambord in it) and two yummy starters:



tuna tartare with avocado, cilantro and fresh chili on thinly sliced fresh beet and cucumber, topped with toasted slivers of baguette and lambs lettuce



deep fried baby artichoke on a bed of romaine lettuce with shaved manchego cheese and spicy marinara sauce. Addictive!!!

I became so engrossed in enjoying these delicacies that every time Dave addressed me he had to call me more than once out of my little world and once Jo had to poke me! This has HONESTLY never happened to me before. Sorry, y'all!

On Friday the weather was very English, which was ironic as I was meeting someone from a London media co in SoHo. It was about 70 (which feels chilly after the hot summer) and the sky was letting out a substantial autumn rain, rather than the usual short storm burst.

However, over the weekend we were back up there and had the same temps as Houston (86F, about 30C) and it's humid.

Speaking of Houston, they were pounded by Hurrican Ike, but apart from downed trees, wind and lots of rain, they escaped most damage and everyone I know is fine. It's Galveston Island that suffered the most starting with storm surge flooding while Ike was still all of 500 miles away.

Anyway, on to lighter topics, my friend Vera came to spend Labor Day with me. She's having a stressful time right now with a photography exhibit in France which she is not present to oversee. So once she'd made her phone calls, she was thankful that we had a quiet and peaceful time just relaxing and being in each other's company.

We went for a walk by the water of course. I love taking photos of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge:


SAILBOATS


VISTA WITH TREE


NORWEGIAN CRUISE SHIP KNOCKS DOWN BRIDGE (just kidding, they build them purposely low enough to pass underneath)


CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP HAS SPACE TO SPARE


UNDERNEATH THE BRIDGE

---Which is your favorite?