The only thing you have to be by the age of 23 is yourself.

Well, that's upsetting.

I told Eric today I've been honestly pretty lucky weather-wise this trip. I've had to delay arrivals and departures by a day or two, but considering that I decided that it would be awesome to take a 3 month road trip through the North East United States, I've done really good. But, OF COURSE the one time I have a set date to be somewhere, there's a giant freaking storm right in the path to Chicago.

Hot Water Music is playing two reunion shows in Chicago this weekend and I have tickets for both, one's on Friday, one's on Saturday. Mattlahoma's a crazy person, and he's driving through tomorrow. I however, drive a truck and trucks turn into slip n slides under those conditions. So, I might not make it to Fridays show, something that really makes me sad. But, at least I still get one. I shouldn't be greedy.


Instead, I'll probably get to hang out with Motley and Ozzie.

So, after Chicago, I'll be in Norman for a few days, then Tucumcari for a night or two, then home. Home, sweet emmer effing home. I'm excited about big, open skies and of course, green chile. Look for me on the 8th.

It makes me feel very hungry and sad.

I try, for the most part, to keep my political opinions to myself on the internet. Mostly because I really hate flammers. It's not because I don't have strong conviction in what I believe in, it's that I really don't feel like getting into any more typed wars with people halfway across the globe. So much drama for no reason. But, it's no secret that I'm a liberal, a proud product and supporter of social programs. I protested the war and believe me, I hate George W. Bush. A whole lot.

Today, I really was genuinely sad today when John Edwards backed out of the race. I liked his platform and I liked him. I was excited to vote for him. I honestly felt about as defeated as that tragic day back in November of 2004. I know he was running out of money and he wasn't gaining much national support. But I really was hoping that he would pull a Kerry and weed his way through the drama and the media coverage surrounding the other candidates.

I don't give a crap about race cards or gender cards, or who Oprah thinks I should vote for. It's all more of the same. I'm not saying that Edwards was some magical go-getter who was above it all. But I think his platform was strong, he had some good ideas. He really was a moderate in what has become a mess of the democratic presidential campaign. So, now it's back my drawing board, figuring out who I want to support now. I think I'll just focus on Tom Udall for a while.

It's a real world.

Why yes. Jimmy Eat World did film a music video inside the American Museum of Natural History.



Life is slow. Yawn.

No further questions.

Where I be resting.

Notice my freaking killer blur filter so you won't come try to play with my cousin Jackie's awesome dogs. There's just something odd about all of these perfect little houses, all lined up in their perfect little rows with their perfect yards and decks, all of them with two Fords in the driveway. It's like life in duplicate, but not. The outside is all the same, but the insides really couldn't be different. It all seems so safe.

And on the subject of movies, in case you haven't seen this...



In Step Brothers, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly will play coddled guys who live with their respective single parents. Their folks fall in love and marry, making the guys stepbrothers. The script was co-written by Adam McKay and Ferrell, directed by McKay, and produced by this one dude Angie really hates named Judd. This will also probably be the greatest movie ever made.

Stella Dora Breakfast Treats.

Other discussion about the An Arbor Folk Fest: I have this really vivid memory of Jason Simms calling me while I was on my way to Bert and Emily's after a Spank show at the Launchpad. The discussion went something like this:
Jason: Two things. Guess how many beers I can drink in a minute?
Cat: Uhh..
Jason: I can drink 4 (I think it was four, anyway). And the other thing. Guess who's washed up?
Cat: Uhh..
Jason: (An Albuquerque jam band whose name I can't quite remember and probably shouldn't type for the sake of good karma)'s washed up. I gotta go.
Cat: Uhh..

So, guess who's washed up? Toad the Wet Sprocket. I know, I know, I just crushed all your 1994 prom memories and you're shocked.

Today Jackie said, "You know, I think I like a lot of different music. But I don't think I like folk music." It was pretty great.

I've been waiting to get to a decent internet connection to upload these precious memories, the movies from New Years Eve mayhem in Times Square. Well finally, here they are.



One correction: We had been waiting for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. Also, that look on Maria's face at the end, when she's undoubtedly thinking about chicken wings, slays me every time I watch it.



The final countdown! This is the last minute before the clock struck midnight. On a funny side note, there was a building behind us that had a clock on top of it that was 4 minutes fast. People around us, without cell phone clocks, were getting pretty upset. "Why haven't they started it yet? What a freaking rip-off!"Jackie

Ben Folds is not pissed off.

There is a man with a piano on that stage.

And how was Mr. Ben Folds? Well, he was pretty awesome. As a preformer, he managed to get probably the most diverse crowd I've ever seen totally in sync. Not easy.I thought his set was going to be a lot of older material since he wasn't touring to support an album. However, it ended up being a preview of lots and lots of new material since he's working on a new album. And oh man, what a great album it will be. He didn't seem to have it all together yet, some words and parts were still improvised. That's a great musician right there. He closed with "Bitches Ain't Shit" because he said it was appropriate for a Folk Fest.

The actual folk festival was okay. Neal Copperman prepared me well in the field of folk, so I definitely could appreciate what I heard, even though it's not my favorite. Natilia Zukerman was probably my favorite of the other artists, female slide guitarists are always okay by me.

Lots of sleep has been happening and I think I really needed it. No real, set plans for the week and I like it that way.

Friedenville!

West-bound.


I left the red house in Little Ferry on Monday, as planned. It was a little sad to see it, and my grandfather waving wildly from the window, go but I had five great weeks getting to know him and getting to visit the bestest city in the history of the bestest. All my life I've wanted to see what it would be like to live in New York/New Jersey, to be part of that massive flow of commuters, to actually BE a New Yorker, not just an observer. Well, it turns out I'm an observer in general. But, I do feel like I managed to blend in pretty well.


My last view of 'er. I'll be there again soon.

I headed through New Jersey (amazing fact: I tried really freaking hard to find some NJ souvenirs, postcards even. I guess, no one wants to prove they were in New Jersey. I stopped at at least six places along the way.) for my Aunt Madeline's house in Pennsylvania. She lives real close to the Jersey border, so it was really just a prep drive for the massive driving I'll be doing the next two weeks.


Smile!


Aunt Madeline is, by definition, a cat lady. She’s just got a big heart. She used to have lots and lots of feral cats that lived around her house and she started feeding them in the winters. She always had one or two actual domestic cats inside, but recently the ferals have ventured inward, in more of an attempt to keep them from breeding. So now, she’s got seven indoor cats: Paulette, Simone, Unis, Timmek, Mitch, Carly and Trevor. She still has 4 ferals hanging out, a dramatic decrease from the 17 that were here last time I visited, but she’s managed to trap two of them (and many more over the years) and get them fixed. See, big heart.


Timmek's my favorite because he's only got one eye.


I spent a few very relaxing days in Pennsylvania binging on One Tree Hill and the OC on soapnet. What the hell is it about those two shows that lends themselves so well to mindless days? I hate them when I’m busy, but on sick days or vacation days, man, am I ever down with some Adam Brody. Nope, not proud to admit that. At all.

And today, I headed through Pennsylvania.


And Ohio.


To get to Michigan.

Almost 600 miles. Thankfully, I had someone with me to help with the driving.


The bitterly cold motor city welcomed me back. Detroit is the first “double up” of my trip, one of only two places I’ll visit twice. The other is of course, Oklahoma. I can’t ignore my room, now can I? My main reason for coming back was for Ben Folds and the Ann Arbor Folk Festival tomorrow night, but I think it’ll be fantastic to spend some more time with cousin Jackie. We might head to Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I mean, why not?

But right now, sleep. Thank you.

I drove through three states wearing her head as a hat.

My time in the tri state area is almost up. I’m officially leaving on Monday, making this the longest stop on my trip. I will have stayed for five weeks. That completely blows my mind.

I can officially say that five weeks is about the right amount of time to “see” New York in. I woke up this morning and went, “Okay, what am I going to do today?’ I ended up going to the Guggenheim, which I felt like I had to see, by default. Of course, the best part of that place is the actual building. But I was pleasantly surprised to walk into a construction site. Almost all of the galleries were closed, only two were open. But because of that, I only had to pay $5, as opposed to $15. And I was totally into it, getting to (almost) see the inner workings of multi million dollar instillations and listening to power tools while looking at Renoir. Snap.

I also went to the Papaya King and I'm officially proclaiming them KING of NYC dawgs. And trust me, I've done some shopping. Just, ahh, that feeling when you bite into one hot off the grill and it explodes with grease and hickory goodness... Man, it don't get better. It helps that the place was originally designed to serve juices and they still do, so you don't feel like complete cardiac arrest after eating there.

I also had a great day yesterday, visited in Brooklyn Museum. Now, THAT is a museum. So many of Manhattan’s museums are just these extensive collections that leave your eyes tired and your brain completely full. The Brooklyn Museum felt very much like a working place, not so static. They also house The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, which might be kind of important. Cari, I thought of you! Not only that but suggested entrance fee for students is $4. What up? I’ve been working on my list of 5 things you MUST do when you’re in New York. One of those things is go to an outer borough. Another is go to a museum. Why not combine the two?!?

I also went to see 27 Dresses yesterday. Aww, Cyclops falls in love with Izzy! It was kind of adorable, not gonna lie. It might have made me want to be a bridesmaid one of these days. It definitely made me want to sing Benny & the Jets on top of a table at a dive bar.

But, this weekend is mostly for tying up loose ends, making sure I take in absolutely everything I can. I might even go brave the Staten Island Ferry just for the hell of it. I'll also probably be visiting the Museum of Sex tomorrow. I mean, why not, right?

I officially made a commitment to start work at the theater again in mid February. This is a smart move, to financially recover and to start saving for apartments and such. But, I feel a little repetitive, a little under adventurous in doing so. That place is so dangerous for me. I really do love it so much that it’s always hard to leave it. So, I just wind up staying there. I really do wish I could make a decent living there. But, we all know that can’t happen.

But, probably the highlight of the weekend thus far was watching Con Air with my grandpa tonight. Why couldn't you put the bunny back in the box?

Who ya gonna call?

Somewhere in the last few years I’ve become the kind of person that loves modern art, fulfilling my prophecy as a fine arts major. I looked at myself in the mirror in the MoMA bathroom today, with my lego glasses, my thrift store shirt, my oversized red & blue leather purse, and for a second, I couldn’t see myself. Then I looked down and saw my old, battered checkered Vans, the very shoes I insisted in suspending in. It made me feel about 50 times better about myself. See, it all comes back to ska.


I want to tell you about my all-time favorite place in New York, the Public Library on 42nd and 5th. Yesyes, home of Patience and Fortitude, the infamous lions from Ghostbusters. My mom loved those lions when she was a kid, so she made sure to take me to see them as often as possible when I was growing up. I guess that kind of love is genetic. Oh, those lions. They're like comfort food in the middle of all that madness. You can just sit and relax under their watchful eye, while the whole city runs past you.

Speaking of, NYC's currently on fire over the Giants, normally the joke of the NFC, making the final four. For once in their lives, New Yorkers are hanging up the Yankee gear for some red and blue.

I break outta here on Monday, rural Pennsylvania-bound. And there I will sleep, shed off all this city skin I've grown in my aunt's farmhouse with her 17 cats. I'm not kidding, it's Kyle's deathbed. Tomorrow I think I'll venture to the Jersey shore, play some skeeball and trace back to my View Askew roots.

Ronkonkoma Ramblers

Please. Get me to a decent internet connection.


Rap Superstars.

Well, boyfriend’s flying high right now and I’m proud to report that’ll be a long time before I get on a Long lsland Railroad train bound for Ronkonkoma again. Geez. His visit was more of the secrets of New York, whereas Maria’s was all about the stars and the glitz. Equally amazing, but completely different.

However, Kyle did take me to do one of the most manufactured New Yorkian treats…


Ice skating in Rockefeller Center! It was kind of magical, and I’m really glad I went on January 14, as opposed to December 23. It was way less crowded, so you could actually skate, as opposed to “ice-crawling”.


Here’s that thing.

We also went out to Coney Island. In the winter, oh man, is it ever fantastic. Everything was boarded up, including the Taco Bell, and the whole place was disserted. So of course, I loved it.







Coney Island is way at the tip of Brooklyn, so it’s a pretty decent Subway ride. And an amazing thing happens in Brooklyn…


The Subway isn’t underground anymore! (I know, it’s not that rare.)


Brooklyn faces.

We also tried to eat as locals, as much as we could. That included a trip to the Corner Bistro, home of the best cheap burger in NYC; McSorleys, a 150 year-old pub that still has saw dust on the floor and only serves two beers: a light and a dark; THE KGB, which, as I told Kate, I’m proud to report is a tiny neighborhood bar for aging literature professors. (By the way, SO easy to drink underage in NYC, I've been ID'd twice out of eight places.)


Also, Grays Papaya, home to the $3.50 recession special: 2 hot dogs and a 24 ounce juice. Love.


And White Castle. Of course. Excuse the image quality, too precious to not post.

So, after all of that in two days, we took it easy last night and went out to dinner. But! Look who was there!


Pope John Paul the Second!

And by Pope John Paul the Second, I mean my grandpa. Isn’t it uncanny?


Grandpa rules. Hard.

You got eyes.

When I don't blog, it normally means someone is visiting me, therefore it's rude to excuse myself for several hours of myspace-coma. And true to history...


My boyfriend's here.

We've been museum-ing, visiting the AMNH and the Met, but mostly just pacing ourselves, taking New York in bite sized portions. But that probably means we'll be bingeing the next two days. His trip is already almost over! :(

One of the awesome things we did was going to the Late Show with David Letterman. I'm a pretty big Letterman fan, grew up on him really. So, I was pretty excited. And it was a completely Writers Guild-friendly act, since he, and his company, settled already. Not surprisingly, they've got it down to a science, getting people in and out of the theater nice and quiet-like. We ended up being seated in the balcony, something that made me somewhat grumpy, but not much because it gave us a better view of that gorgeous old theater. House gots some history. And that was really the exciting thing for me, being there, in that theater. The show itself was okay, we were in and out in about an hour. Got to see Morgan Freeman and Tom Brokaw in person. Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra is a pretty awesome band, by the way.

Today we had a Jersey adventure with my fantastically Jersey-an cousin Gina. She took us through Newark, since she goes to Rutgers Newark and needed to buy books. Then, we ended up at a very crowded Cheesecake Factory for maybe the biggest meal I've ever eaten. I don't care what anyone says. Newark (and Detroit!) really aren't that scary! Just don't go dumb places with dumb people and dumb things won't happen to you! Newark is no more ghetto than the Burque war zone. But I really liked Newark because THERE WAS A BOJANGLES THERE.

The Met is probably the greatest art institution in the western world. I've never been there, shockingly enough, but it really is a fantastic place, The Egypt rooms and all the Roman/Greek stuff was not shockingly awesome, but I really liked the musical instruments they have there. Also, it's pay as you wish, admission is only a suggested donation. And a tip, it's open late on Fridays and Saturdays. And much less crowded.

In case you're not myspace friends with Maria (and you really should be) go do that now and go look at all the fantastic pictures she took in New York.

I feel my time in New Jersey winding down. I might be happy to head for a different place and do some more exploring. But, there's still so much here I've got to explore. There is a chance I'll head down to Washington DC for a few days, if I can budget it, and Smithsonian until my face falls off. And maybe interview for an internship at Newsweek. And you all thought I was being a deadbeat on this trip! :)

Fighting clarity.

A guy walking out of Panera as I was walking in just told me "I hope you don't mind if I tell you how adorable you are." AWW! I am adorable! See, why can't more men be like that, instead of all, "Damn baby!". Some dude on the subway licked their lips at Maria. I wanted to vomit.

So, my grandfather is 88, in case you were curious. I like to think he's my my families American dream. He gave up his Canadian citizenship to fight in World War II. He had the same job as a super for the Eldorado Apartments across the street from Central Park for 47 years. He still lives on his own, even after a triple bypass. He goes shopping at the Shop Rite once a week with his friend Bill Burke. They're both WWII vets and they both hang out at the American Legion. My grandpa also goes to mass every Sunday and still eats fish on Fridays. He's probably the most adorable old man you could ever hope to meet, completely set in his ways and completely ready to feed you an 8 course meal at any given moment. However, he does still use the term "coloreds". He refers to all Asian people as Koreas and all hispanic people as Puerto Ricans.

But, the problem of all problems with dear old gramps is his hearing. The man is deaf. I don't talk to him, I shout at him. And in his old age, he's taken to telling stories. He really has interest in hearing your stories, he just wants to tell his. So much so in fact he'll interrupt you repeatedly if he doesn't like what you're talking about. Spending time with him is just a wee bit tedious, But I've gotten used to it. So much so in fact, I think I've called my mom a few times and yelled at her, just because I'm so used to that vocal volume by now.

But, it's nice to say I actually have a relationship with my grandfather now. And of course, I don't mind the eating thing. We all know I can put some of that away.

Yesterday I went to the Whitney for my yearly dose of pretension. And oh, I got it. I stand by this... I do not get about 70% of video instillation work in galleries. I guess I just don't, like, understand what the artist is trying to convey about the pressures of society and being a minority, buuuuut, really now. I guess I have high hopes for it. I get really excited every time I start watching video work, but I can't stand it after about a minute. Maybe I've just seen the cream of the crop already, since I had such awesome teachers at UNM. OR MAYBE I NEED TO BE MAKING MY OWN. I did really enjoy stuff from Danny Lyon, Kara Walker, and Lawrence Weiner. But the Weiner (hehe) and Walker exhibits were so crowded, it was hard (hehe) to see everything.

On that note, I'm reading Paint It Black, the new Janet Fitch book right now. And SIGH. Honestly, I wasn't that big of a White Oleander fan, I think her females are just so damn whiny and melodramatic. And in this one, the protagonist just happens to be a punk rocker. I don't know if anyone else gets this, but I just CANNOT stand prose about music, especially stuff about punk rock. It either sounds like name pretentious name dropping or stereotypical MTV. I think that's why I just fell in love with Nick Hornby, he really seems to be the one author I can tolerate it from. But, I'm trying to get through it, learn from it, because I think I hate my prose about music just as much.

I'm beginning to see the end of my trip in the horizon. Of course, it saddens me, but I am quite excited about certain things, like being able to bake homemade bread. Have an actual closet. Being able to invite people over to MY PLACE. My own secure internet connection. Getting a new pet. Did I mention that Annie is longer mine? Without a doubt, she's better off with my grandma and grandma adores her.

I'll be settling, domesticating if you will, around February 6th, if I calculate traveling time right. So I'm giving myself Lent to figure out a job that I can at least tolerate for a while and a place to pay rent. And where? Well, we shall see, won't we? 40 days is a long time.

Tea lights and Disneyification.

WHEW. What a crazy few days I've had. Maria got on her flight back home today and by my expert calculations, she's probably hanging out over western Pennsylvania. Let's all wish her happy, safe flight.

Here's a list of places I've been in the past week or so.
1. Museum of the Moving Image: Thank you for making me a museum, Queens.


2. Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island: Crowded, freaking freezing, but I love Ellis Island. Wanna talk about haunted space?

3. The top of the Empire State Building: Maria got a phone number. P-I-M-P.
4. Macy's in Herald Square: What's up, handbags I can't afford?
5. Bodies: The Exhibition at the South Street Sea Port: Oh, how my nerd brain had a freakout.
5. New York Public Library: I love those lions.
6. 19. Ambassador Theater: To see Chicago for a mere $27. Student ID's are better than fake ID's in my book.

7. Times Square. A lot. And once, for a really long time.

SO, HOW WAS THAT? To begin with, you gotta get there before noon to even make it into the places you see on TV. And you really don't get to see the performances because they're on top of roofs. Me and Maria got there a little after 5:00. So we started out about nine blocks back. We gradually and slowly moved up to about 50th and Broadway, so we were about 4 blocks away. BUT, we got to actually see the Ball come down.


See that itty, bitty little purple light in the middle? That's the ball. I've been telling people we were all little spermies, trying to get to an egg. And the ball was the egg.


ONE HOUR TO GO.

Will I ever do it again? Hell no. Maybe get a hotel room somewhere in the Square and split the cost with 10 different people. It does have a really nice vibe. And the police were fantastic. There were SO many of them, but they really do have crowd control down to an art. The best quote of the night went to some random drunk man when we were leaving: "I'm facebookin all y'all!"

It's been terribly cold here and very somber looking. It's been somewhat reflective of my mood, given the madness surrounding a certain exboyfriend. But, I don't mind it too much. I was really sad to see Maria go today, but I managed to shift back into "alone" mood fantastically quickly. It's just so easy to do here, just to completely isolate yourself from the rest of the world. As I said, it's not a negative way to go. I fit in easy here, and I think it's thanks to my mom's DNA. It's easy for me to understand now why she's so much of a hermit. I won't be alone for much longer, boyfriend's here on Tuesday. I'm trying not to think about it, so I won't wait and wait and wait for it and so when it happens, it'll be that much more exciting.

On that note, if you're even thinking of coming to NYC, Southwest flies into MacAuther airport for cheap. It's a ways out there, but the Long Island Railroad makes it super accessible.

There's just SO much I want to do! I finally broke down and bought an NYC book, Not for Tourists. If you're doing any traveling in a city that they've got a book about anytime soon, I highly, highly advise you pick it up. So many maps, listings for everything, etc. WHO KNEW there's a peanut butter store in the village? Well, I do now and I'll be going there soon. Also on the list is to track down the best Pad Thai in the city and to see the Museum of Sex. OF COURSE New York has a museum for sex. Why wouldn't they?

Hey, remember how I said I was going to do luminarias for Christmas Eve? Well, I did. I'm sure we were the talk of the neighborhood.




Happy 2008, ya'll.