the email subject was "claire and the antler head"

I see no reason to mess with literary magic (thanks, lynne)

I met this little fellow on Saturday afternoon, 14th street at about 6th ave. Really, really, really wanted to pet his head. obviously.



the real fear, of course, was not that the guy would notice me running down the street after him, but that he'd stop walking, and I would go ahead and plow right into him. I relied on my sashay skills to keep my speed equal to his. I think, overall, the mission was a success.

New Year's Resolutions

So I have not posted on this thing in a while. Funnily, the thing that inspired me to start again was yet another mean comment someone wrote on that doctor post from 2006. Really, it just reminded me that yes, I did once have a blog, and maybe my life is interesting enough at this point to start writing in it. Although, I'm pretty sure every one of my readers (all 2 of them) have taken me off their RSS feeds. Oh well.

So here's my test.

Is anyone out there? and Commenter John, I don't want to hear from you. talk about someone wasting their time.

Red Hot is Dead. Long Live Red Hot.

Yes, my friends. It's true. Sad as it may seem, and on a Sunday when all I want is General Tsao's Tofu, it is VERY SAD. (Seth, stop smirking), Red Hot has left our world, and gone to a better place. I hope.

Now we must wait for its replacement - probably a Bank of America or a Starbucks.

And learn how to make a good hot and sour soup. Also scallion pancakes.

cloverfield - almost

Last night, Seth and I went to see Cloverfield (after a lovely dinner at BLT fish during which we downed many delicious oysters, some king crab, and a very salty burger).

I was pretty excited, as I hadn't seen it yet and you all know how I like monsters and unicorns and things that don't actually exist. Also the destruction of New York.

Anyway, I became less and less excited as the movie continued and, sadly, by the time we actually got to the good stuff of awesome monsterness (and the monster and destruction WAS awesome), I had to excuse myself so as not to vomit on Seth.

So that was about an hour in. And I just couldn't take any more of the handheld camera thing. I'm pretty disappointed with myself, to be honest. And I wish I had brought my anti-nausea bracelet things. Sorry Seth. I'll rent it for you on dvd when it comes out.

In other news, a book as escaped from our apartment, so if any of you see a copy of "The Long Embrace," which is about Raymond Chandler, running down the street would you please catch it and return it to us? thanks.

UPDATE: seth has informed me that I lasted through approximately 40 minutes of the movie. maybe less. the previews screw up my sense of timing.

UPDATE ALSO: the book was found in a pile of books. in a back corner. in a cave.

say it

So it has been quite some time since I posted on this here blog thing. For a while I was busy with my first semester of grad school, but toby, josh, and gil all manage to maintain their founts of funniness during grad school, so I suppose it's not much of an excuse.

Mostly I'd given up on my ability to write things a) that anyone would read, b) that anyone would actually enjoy reading, c) that didn't blow.

I'm still not too sure, but I'll give it a try this semester.

This past week I spent with my parents, mostly hanging out in their hotel room as first dad then mom came down with an evil flu/cold. luckily (knock wood) I have not been afflicted.

Then we traveled down to DC to see my sister's singing group perform (www.18thstreetsingers.com). as always, they blew me away. oh, we also went to visit Colbert's portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, which was really the only thing we had planned for the visit. It was a very nice week and a nice ending to my winter vacation. so now it's back to the old grind stone for me - one semester down, 9 semesters to go!!

don't worry, Nancy didn't want ice cream either

for some reason, this is posting rotated, so I'll just leave it that way.

This weekend, the Golden family descended upon DC to garbage up Ali's apartment. As you can see, she made a new friend.

Actually, we all made a new friend, as Nancy Pelosi actually said "good morning" to us, which she then amended, saying, "oh, it's afternoon already!"

celebrities are just like us! they forget when it's afternoon!

anyway, aside from that piece of awesome, seeing the house floor, going to the spy museum (which was pretty sweet), and wandering around DC, we went to Annapolis and toured the naval academy. I'm sure you don't know this, but the naval academy looks just like a cleaner, quieter, Paris. weird, huh? as an example, I give you the largest dorm building in the country (it houses 4,800 students).

the take-home highlight of the weekend was obviously our run-in with madame speaker, and getting to stand on the house floor (and sit in one of their [quite comfortable] chairs). aside from getting to spend the quality time with the family, obviously.

oh, i also broke obediah's brain with a new laser pen toy. Ali, is he still staring at the wall, waiting for the laser to come back?

Mattie doesn't really like hers as much - keeps looking at my hand and meowing for a petting. maybe some day she'll tire of human contact in insist on chasing the laser around the room. some day.

Aside from that, I'm sitting in my apartment studying for midterms. so if someone would like to come by and give me chocolate, that'd be cool too.

it's that time of year again

It's that time in New York City again - end of summer, beginning of autumn, when everyone starts to take the air conditioning units out of their windows. And as a result, we suddenly realize that we do in fact have neighbors across the airshaft.

It seems weird, but one tends to forget that those big white boxes ten feet away actually hide people. People who, like us, go to sleep, wake up, stand naked in front of their windows, etc.

There are some people, like OperaLady, who we hear all year round. Similarly, I can count on always knowing when RapperDude is laying down a sweet track at 1am. But I tend to forget about my neighbors across the way, some of whom are physically closer to me than my roomates, and the lovely noises they make that echo through the airshaft. Which, of course, makes me think about what lovely noises I make that echo through the airshaft. But that's a different blog post.

I have two things to say to my airshaft neighbor
a) If you're going to stand in the window naked, I'm going to look. I can't help it. Am I not human? If you cut me, do I not bleed?
b) If that bothers you, oh, what could you do? Oh, I don't know, maybe DRAW YOUR CURTAINS. I'm not saying I don't mind a free show every once in a while, but I saw you stare at me judgingly.

It just makes me paranoid about who can see what into my room. You know what? I guess I don't really care, but it's one more thing for me to think about when I'm trying to fall asleep.

Now I can't wait for it to get cold so I can close my window and go back to pretending we aren't packed in like sardines.

look to the bee dog, or, happy birthday josh!

Now, as you may have surmised, when the computer got stolen all the pictures I had got taken too. because, obviously, I'm dumb and didn't upload them to flickr or similar. Sooooooo, when I decided to write a birthday post for joshie, i realized i didn't have any pictures of him.
also, i don't have a picture of bee dog anymore either.

but!

i found a new and adorable bee dog!

joshie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! will you be my bee dog?

oh god. what have i done?

so, Josh warned me about this, but I seem to have ... oh how to say this ... jinxed myself. Is that no longer a pc term? jinx?

Anyway, after declaring this the summer of claire, I obviously tempted the gods to screw me. and screw me they did.

On Friday afternoon, whilst I happily played my viola in the living room, a person (or persons) entered my apartment and proceeded to take things that belong to myself and my roomate. Things that include my computer, ipod, Deirdre's computer, ipod, and bag of recently purchased clothing. The scary part is that I heard something in the back of the apartment, and went back to stop the cat from doing whatever she was doing, because I assumed the plastic bag noises were from her getting into something. As I walked down the hallway, I looked into my room and saw that my computer was not on my desk. It took me a few moments to realize that there was also someone (or someones) in Deirdre's room. I don't remember how I got my keys or my phone, but I ran out of the apartment and was soon screaming at the poor dispatcher that someone was robbing my apartment.

The police response was impressive - I think because I happened to be inside when they broke in - we had six squad cars arrive. but the "perp or perps" were long gone by that point. Also two detectives in jackets and ties (just like on tv!) canvassed the building, asking all the neighbors if they saw anything. then the cops left and told me not to touch anything and to wait for the evidence collection guy. needless to say i did not want to wait around by myself in the apartment as the gate on the window was still open. so i went down and sat on the stoop to wait.

The evidence collection guy came and took some fingerprints from the window. He then recognized a picture of Deirdre's cousin as his own cousin. Small world, eh? So cousin cop took both Deirdre and my fingerprints for comparison. He seemed pretty sure we'd never see our stuff again.

Anyway, not really the kind of excitement I had in mind for the summer.
Thanks to everyone I called in a panic for talking me through this.

And don't forget to lock the gates on your fire escape windows!

does anyone else find this creepy?

I just saw a new m&m commercial, maybe you've seen it. It features many lovely m&m's exploring the city, riding double decker tourist buses, making faces into video cameras, window shopping, all whilst EATING M&Ms.

Does this freak anyone else out that m&m's are eating other m&m's? Who decides who gets eaten? Who gets to do the eating?

Also, in the Harry Potter world, do they ever listen to music? aside from the one band they talk about in the fourth book, I've never read about them talking about music at all. Just riffing here.

summer of claire

Josh: this is for you.

So this past Monday saw the beginning of the summer of claire. By that, of course, I mean that I quit my job, and have nothing on the horizon until school starts last week of August. Now, that's not to say I don't have goals for the summer of claire. Oh no. In fact, I'm pretty close (I'd say three hours or so) to finishing my first goal of the summer: watching the first season of The Wire. Followed closely (obviously) by watching the second season of The Wire.

Also, I have visited the newly installed Dinner Party by Judy Chicago at the Brooklyn Museum - definitely worth a looksee, although I'd wait until after August 3rd, because there's a companion exhibit that looks good opening then.

Aside from those things, I've been doing a lot of walking around both Manhattan and Brooklyn and this is what I've realized - a) there are a lot of babies b) there are a lot of camp kids c) school trips from out of town are really annoying when you're trying to walk down the sidewalk and they're looking up at the buildings and stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. There are others, but those are the first ones that come to mind. All in all, a nice beginning to the summer.

Proof of Fun

Yesterday, as Josh has mentioned, Josh, Seth, and I went to the New York Aquarium and Coney Island (Coney meaning rabbit. I guess there were once rabbits on the "island"?). Here are the boys posing in front of said aquarium.

Look how cute and happy they are to see the giant walrus and the jellyfish and the adorable sea otters!!

Also, we were at the beach, so I had them pose in front of the ocean.

The photos are from my phone, and I can't seem to get them bigger, but you can see the joy and excitement in their eyes. It's almost as if they KNEW we would see a sperm whale battle a giant squid.

She's no Beedog, but she's still pretty cool.

Happy Birthday Sheena!! Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, do they even HAVE birthdays in New Hampshire? I assure you that they do, and that today is the day that belongs to our far away best friend Sheena. Unfortunately, we cannot celebrate WITH Sheena, as she is so so far away. BUT BUT we CAN drink alone in our room pretending Sheena is with us, crying and moaning, while the cat stares at us and judges. Well, that's what I'm probably going to do after work. I mean, his own decisions, right? right guys?

Anyway, I'm hoping that Sheena has a better time than that, with a nice dinner chez Mohan and/or drinking at Harlow's with her Peterborough crew. Either way, we will be together in spirit, as per usual. Just because she's in a different state doesn't mean we don't still share the one brain cell.

In conclusion, Sheena is a land of contrasts, and is also now in her late twenties. Welcome!!

Erin is the birthday boy AND girl

Today is the lovely Erin's birthday. Happy Birthday Erin!!! Let us all bask in the glow that is Erin!

travel back in time

Sheena, do you remember in freshman year when I worked at the Wicca/Occult Bookstore called, wait for it, The Dreaming Goddess? and remember how I used to buy nag champa incense and burn it all the time?

Last night all I could smell in my room was nag champa.

Really took me back, is all.

but if it wakes you up, it's probably a little too strong.

I was awoken from my traditional subway nap this morning by our local friendly leprochaun. Actually, I think it was the lady sitting next to me chomping on bubble gum. I have no problem with bubble gum. I like it. But at 8am, maybe it's not the thing you want to smell. Also, I really almost sat the young man sitting next to me down and had a talk about how you COULD cut off the label on the coat sleeve that says "100% wool". I didn't. But I really wanted to.

The Great Move, and the Mighty Return. But not in that order.

Hello Friends!

I'm sorry for the delay in photopicturing from the Istanbul trip, but it took us some time to get the pictures together, and then I went to DC this weekend to drop Obediah off at my sister's house. Yes, it's true. Obie has made the move to the capital. Mostly because he feels it will be easier to pursue his political dreams (Obediah/Obama '08) and partly because I think he'll be happy there. The direct result of this move is that Mattie now realizes that she likes people. Also knocking shit over. sweeeet.
So, farewell, Obie. Ali will give me daily reports, so behave yourself.

In Istanbul news, I'm working on getting web-album together, but until that happens, here are a few choice photos.
This is the vew directly outside our hotel. I'm not joking. I stepped out of the hotel, picked up the camera, zoomed all the way OUT, and took this photo. (It's the Hagia Sophia, built as a church by Justinian, turned into a Mosque, turned into a museum)
This was the view from the top floor of the first restaurant in which we ate, Dubb, an Indian place with great food. That's Hagia Sophia in the back, with the remains of a Basilica in the foreground (the Basilica Cisterns, which were awesome, are located underneath those remains).
Here's me on top of the ancient walls of Istanbul in the Western District. I believe it was on the top of this wall that I got the world's record long distance cat call. Until Seth stepped into view, and then the guys apologized to him profusely.
Here's Seppo in front of the Blue Mosque. It has six minarets, which freaked people out when it was built in the fifteenth century, because only Mecca had six minarets up until then. It is still used as a Mosque, and we heard many a call to prayer blasted from one of those minarets.
Here's Seppo with his finger in The Weeping Column in the Hagia Sophia. It's supposed to heal you if, when you take your finger out, it is damp. Needless to say, Seppo's finger was not damp upon removal.
He WAS able, however, to climb the ruins of Anadalu Kavagi, which were totally awesome.

I think that's about all I can handle right now. I'll work on the web-album so that you can peruse at your leisure, if you want. Sorry for the lack of postcards. I blame Seppo's influence, but in reality I've never been so good with them either.

...

Tomorrow, Seppo and I head to the great land of Turkey. There we will eat a lot of street kabobs, probably contract the double dragon, and have to be airlifted out of our hotel room. In the event that does not happen, you might see blog posts for the next week and a half about our travels. You might not. I'm just saying, it's a possibility. There will definitely be pictures of it afterwards. So, be prepared. Also, if you want a postcard, email me your address and I'll see what I can do.

Istanbul Ho!!!

bumper stickers

On my walk to the post office this morning I saw a car with the following bumper sticker:

"Frodo failed, Bush got the Ring"

I may be late on this, but that is an hilarious bumper sticker.

I'm already starting to look more like Toby

Yes. I've probably told everyone I know already, but I've decided on a graduate program.

Starting in September, I will be in the CUNY Ph.d. program for School Psychology. Oh, and they're paying for it. niiiiiiice. It makes me feel like this:


and in five to six years, you can call me Dr. Claire. I mean, you could call me that now, but it would be wrong. And I realize I should have been calling Toby Dr. Toby the whole time. Forgive me, Dr. Toby??