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?

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.

Paper bag.

After getting us lost for about an hour, Maria and I came to the now infamous wifi location of the Panera Bread for lunch and to put the final touches on our Times Square plans for the night. That's right, look for us in the horde of thousands, maybe millions, of Asians and Texans. Maria's excited about seeing Miley Cyrus. Whereas I am excited about being an art fag and taking lots of pictures. My mom has instructed me to head straight for the CNN area with Anderson Cooper so she can see me. So, want to see some New Mexicans? I'd watch CNN. Or any other network. Something tells me we'll be famous by the end of the night.

So, wish us luck. And send us lots of good vibes about preventing pick pocketers and catching buses on time.

This will be insane.

PS. Long Island is really long. And it's legal to drink on the train to get across it. Thank God.

Someday, you'll accompany me.

Gata the Grump.

Oh, I’m a whiny-pants. But you know, we all are at some point.

I guess it all stems from all the communication difficulty I’ve been having lately. No phone, French, deaf grandpa… You know, I’ve always considered myself a solitary primate. But it’s funny how much I miss you all when you’re gone.

And there’s no better place to loose communication than in NYC over the holidays. Thinking about just the sheer amount of people in that little island is maddening. Then add in the holiday factor, when you’re supposed to be surrounded by gobs and gobs of friends and family. And splat, here’s Cat; all by her lonesome in the middle of Central Park, surrounded by 4 million people.

The kind of lapse of communication I’ve experienced in these past few weeks is unprecedented. I've nixed the internet before, because I crave it like a drug sometimes, it's disgusting. And I kinda enjoy it when my phone's lost/stolen/broken. A part of me likes the way I've made up up for it this time around, by post-carding and letter writing. But, a part me just cannot wait to have a face-to-face conversation with someone who cares very much about it. Or even just being able to be silly and giggly with someone.

I worry if I’m thinking too much about the “experience” of this and not making any time to have fun with it. But, I’m not unhappy, that’s for sure.


My first stop in the big city was the American Museum of Natural History.

I find myself hyper-critical of all museums now. But, the AMNH's takes its special place. I LOVED that place when I was a kid. I wanted to come to New York every summer JUST so I could go there. So, it was a sweet little reunion for me. But, I guess I'd forgotten just the sheer amount of taxidermy in that place. They should call it the American Museum of Things Teddy Roosevelt Shot Before it was Illegal. There are other things, like, you know, the largest collection of gems I've ever seen in my life, some stuff that crashed into earth a few million years ago, some casts of really old hominids, you know.


I always go straight for the monkeys.

As noted, I saw Juno at a 25 screen theater on 42nd. My theater was on the sixth floor of the building. And they had a terrace.




Little girl.

And here's a giant Christmas tree.


Now, my experience with Rockefeller Center is minimal, because I've never been to NY during the holidays. It's a lot bigger than one block and I'm pretty sure I circled a few times before I found the dang tree. I was sort of confused. But, I should have known exactly where it was. I should have followed the Texas accents straight to it.



My cousin Teresa sent my grandfather one of those edible arrangement things. He seriously just paced around it for a few minutes, muttering "Oh my God. What the..". It was really precious and totally made up for the remark he made about "the coloreds" the other night.

I bought tea lights and paper bags today. I think we all, in New Mexico, know what that means. If I blog-not before the Noel, I hope everyone back home has a fantastic few days off. I'll miss the posole, my wiggle butt and the leftover Albuquerque Turkey sandwiches. Special well wishes to my parents, Chase, Max, Rachel, and Savvy (SINCE THEY TOTALLY READ THIS!) as well as Teresa. Take good care of my momma, cousin!

I'll be with my grandfather, screaming at him, since he refuses to wear his hearing aids, my Aunt Colette, her boyfriend John, her daughter Gina, and Gina's priced Yorkshire Terrier Niko. Be it a mop dog, I'm excited about some puppy. That'll be all the Christmas present I'll need.

Northern New Jersey

Bonus Points To:
A possible Cat-Chas east coast reunion.
Seeing Juno in NYC today.
NYC in general.
The American Museum of Natural History.
It not being negative digits outside.
FINALLY purchasing Superbad today.
Merry Christmas, my boyfriend bought tickets to come see me in January.

Negative Points To:
Creative flow being stomped all over by conservatives and money grubbers.
Not being able to find free wifi in Little Ferry, NJ.
Deaf, racist grandfather who won't let you be alone.

I'm just tired.