Wednesday, April 29, 2009

day 117.

in lieu of a photograph, random musings about our gym today.

i've never understood how a gym functions as a pick-up spot - i imagine this could be because i personally could care less about whether or not a guy works out, and would rather see him eating a cheeseburger than lifting weights. but i digress. - even when i was younger, and i suppose more stupidly into all that stuff and spent a good deal of time at my college gym, which was a total scene, i just focused on my workout and left the chatting-up-the-muscular-guy-at-the-next-treadmill to my roommate. it takes so much to actually get me in the place, i suppose the least distraction i have in there, the better.

anyways, i bring up that line of thinking as our current gym is almost more of a social club than an actual fitness facility. given it is the a. cheapest gym in the entire universe, b. on a main strip where all the astoria tween hooligans roam, and c. has free tanning, it shouldn't be that surprising that the place is more hangout than workout - but still, it boggles my mind. and i have to marvel at the fact that when i'm there maybe 35% of us are actually in workout clothing, moving vigorously, and breaking a sweat. the rest are roaming about in tight and/or little clothing, feigning minor physical exertion and looking like extras in [insert teen movie here. i started to write clueless and then realized i was massively dating myself].

this evening, however, the "i'm only pretending to exercise" vibe was brought to a whole new low when two young ladies waltzed past the elliptical machines missy and i were huffing/puffing on with their giant dunkin' donuts iced coffees, which they then proceeded to place in the cup holders of the machines in front of us. the cup holders that generally hold hydrating beverages. like water. and gatorade. you know, stuff to rehydrate you when you, like, sweat because you are at the gym!!!!

a few minutes later the girls had started their 'workout', and were moving about .0000003 mph on their machines, flipping their hair about and sipping their coffees.

i promise i won't write a 'shocked and appalled' post when they install a bar in the locker room.



day 116.

got to spend yesterday seeing two films at the tribeca film festival, thanks to a dear friend who had some fancy all-access badges from work. it wound up being a big day as besides being my first time attending any part of the festival and my first time seeing two films in one day, it was also my first time going to a movie theater alone.

i know, you say, big deal. but for whatever reason i had built solo movie-going up to some sort of epic, virginity-losing, milestone status in my head. it was, as i'm sure most of you already experienced, nothing of the sort.

but a good time nonetheless, as i saw the delightful rudo y cursi, which i totally recommend if it makes it to a theater near you.


Friday, April 24, 2009

day 114.

no, i didn't morph into an earthworm today (which would have made this, by far, the most interesting day to date, and in general, would have probably been the most fantastic thing i've ever done). this was the view from my neat sheet*, where i spent most of the afternoon, lazing in glorious sunshine and 70 degree weather in my new second home, astoria park.

give me a sunny day, good music (dengue fever), and a good book (child 44), and i'm a happy happy happy camper.


*this is a neat sheet. missy and i never refer to it as a blanket, we call it by its full proper name - "the neat sheet" - as it has more than earned our respect by folding up so neatly and so adequately protecting our bottoms from grass stains.



Thursday, April 23, 2009

day 113.


missy sent this photo over to us, direct from an unnamed subway platform. while i'm sure the green river flowing between the tracks is just a mixture of some noxious transit chemicals, we can't help but hope it leads to a river of slime!



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

day 112.

we've been skipping days here and there, but this week we missed a bunch. whoops. i don't know why i've been so busy, but i have. thankfully part of the reason is because i've been working on a freelance project - well, two, actually, although i'm only getting paid for one of them. and the other part is that i think i'm still worn out from making a colossal salad the other night. i think vegetables are only supposed to energize you when you don't spend about 4 hours chopping them up.

since i failed to take photos of the epic bowl of garden-y goodness, i'm going to cheat a little and post photos from d
ay 109, since i can't possibly disappear from a photojournalism project for 3 days and then not have any actual photos to show for it.

so for our sports fan readers, i imagine day 109 will seem the most exciting thus far as it involved a trip to yankee stadium. being i'm not at all a baseball fan, and when i am pretending to be a baseball fan i lean more towards the mets than the yankees because the mets have an entertaining mascot, i could care less about the game, but being there was a shiny new stadium and all, i was super excited to go and check out the new place, most especially the new food offerings. if there's one thing that makes baseball games tolerable, it's the hotdogs. and popcorn. and ice cream in little plastic hat cups.

the new food stands did not disappoint
, especially once i came across this one:

:
how i love garlic fries! i was so excited to eat them i accidentally threw half the container of them all over my shiny new stadium seat.

but the biggest entertainment of the game came a little later, when i looked over and noticed what the woman sitting diagonally from me was holding on her lap:

the parenthesized subtitle had my friend and i in stitches. i'm always amazed by the crazy uber-fans who carry ledgers to the game to document every move the players make - do they actually go back and read through the stats?

i'd so much rather focus on the snacks.




Thursday, April 16, 2009

day 108.

one of my favorite habits is my penchant for leaving myself reminders. there is no event/idea/item too insignificant that i won't mark it down to remember it for a later/fitting time. it's both highly useful, and on occasion, wildly entertaining. in the old days, i used my outlook calendar for such purposes - these days, it's my blackberry. i fear its little indicator light is going to burn out soon, given the number of time a day it flashes. from interviews to picking up the dry cleaning to the lyrics from a song heard in a bar that i want to remember to download the next morning when i'm home - little escapes a place on my calendar.

so just before i happened to receive my most exciting reminder EVER. ever ever. in all of my 29 years of calendars and datebooks and post-its and scraps of paper and pop-up windows.

i know, you ask - how exciting can one
reminder be?




velociraptor awareness day! i have no idea when i typed that into my phone, because i had completely forgotten the holiday even existed...but here it was, appearing on my calendar and completely making my day.

the holiday is tomorrow, by the way. (and is also being celebrated on saturday, according to its facebook event page) i imagine i set my phone a day in advance so i had time to alert my dear readers to it.

celebrate accordingly.



P.S. for those of you subscribing to time warner cable - jurassic park is currently on demand. coincidence? i think not. we all know how loveandcyanide is spending the next two days.



Wednesday, April 15, 2009

day 107.

i wonder how many days i can subsist on a diet of easter candy...

Monday, April 13, 2009

day 105.

as i've mentioned before, i've been doing quite a bit of cooking during the past 100+ days - a total upside to the whole unemployed thing. one of the ingredients that i find myself buying the most for my little kitchen exploits is cilantro, an herb i always knew i liked, but didn't realize how much i liked. after cooking with it for two days straight last week (the aforepictured veggie burger, and a curry, which our apt STILL smells like, a whole week later) i realized i was starting to smell like a giant bundle of cilantro, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was wonderful to me.

today, in a burst of cilantro-scented coincidence, i was directed to this site - cilantro porn - which totally made my day. i think i need to find some sort of cilantro home spray, pronto, before i start strewing leaves of it around my pillows.


Friday, April 10, 2009

day 104.

sriracha squeeze bottle + veggie burger = new way to entertain myself during lunchtime.



Thursday, April 09, 2009

day 103.

another snapshot for the recession - back in my old life, if you were to see me post-hair dye session, i'd be breezing out of a salon, happily sated with useless knowledge from the gossip magazines i had spent the past hour reading whilst relaxing comfortably in a leather chair while my awesome hairdresser neatly applied chemicals atop my scalp to hide all my prematurely gray hair.

scene from earlier today, post hair dye session:


i've mentioned before how missy and i would cause havoc dyeing each other's hair - little did i know how much MORE chaotic things would be when i attempted doing it myself. never, ever, again. unless i cut my hair super short and grow five other arms.

i cut the messy portion of the tub out of the photo, as it looked like i had murdered someone in it, but i'm sure you can envision the situation from that filthy lump that used to be a clean towel. and please note my watering can - the log-thing next to the 'fill cup' for my steam cleaner (ed. note: WHY DO WE NOT HAVE ANY PLASTIC CUPS SUITABLE FOR RINSING PERMANENT DYE AND THEN BEING DISPOSTED OF IN THIS APARTMENT) - and remember this advice for the next time you find yourself in a similar hair dyeing situation: a watering can is only a useful tool in theory.


Tuesday, April 07, 2009

day 101.

(which is actually today - the centennial was monday, but as usual i'm running behind schedule). i was reading recently, i think on the Times website, a call for readers to submit snapshots of the recession - sale signs in windows, boarded up stores, etc.

as i was cleaning up the kitchen earlier
, tossing some recyclables in their proper can, it hit me that i should be submitting a photo of our recycling pail --

it used to be filled with empty alcohol bottles...and now?

cans and cans of beans!


skip a few...day 100.


well, we made it - 100 days of unemployment. not quite as fancy-sounding as 100 years of solitude, but somewhat similar. it wasn't the most exciting thing to celebrate, nor the most exciting celebration i've ever had, but hey, it's a milestone and dammit, if there's one thing i still do well it's commemorate occasions.


Wednesday, April 01, 2009

day 97.


those are not rags - just my favorite pajama pants. my ABSOLUTE most favorite pajama pants, staple of and reason for the pajama preservation society*, that today developed an even larger hole than what they previously had. we might have even ventured out of hole and into crater territory. either way, it's tragic. why on earth i had to stretch my leg out of the covers this morning in such a fashion that i completely ripped away the right thigh portion of my pants is beyond me. this is what i get for spontaneous exercising!


*i have been meaning to write about the Pajama Preservation Society for months - yes, seriously, months. from back when i used to write actual posts, and not crap out of my loveandcyanide-ly duties with my 'photojournalism' project. i even had the draft of it saved on my work email at my old job (a job so fascinating i instead thought about preserving my pajamas during it) and we all know how long it's been since then - now. i don't know what kept preventing me from doing it - i think i had decided that words couldn't do it justice. they still can't, especially not after the tragedy that befell one of the society members today, but i'll finally attempt it.

in any event. the PPS is a select community of nighttime clothes** that i've owned for over a decade (some might say gross, i say "worn in to the point that it's like sleeping in clouds. frosting. the bosom of an angel.") that one day i decided were so ridiculously comfortable and perfect that i wouldn't be able to go on if i couldn't sleep in them anymore, and therefore i had to preserve them. while i'm sure the proper method of preserving something involves stowing it away in a glass box or jar, my method involves making up a stupidly fun-to-say society name and wearing the items no more than twice a month, thereby experiencing less wear&tear and less trips to the washing machine. i hope someday i put as much caring and thought into my own health as i do the health of my pajamas.

**current PPS members:

  1. aforementioned (and pictured) maroon/purple/navy checkered pajama pants - american eagle men's pj pants circa 1998, size XL. goodness knows how big these things were when i actually first got them since they are humongous on me now (and, erm, i was a wee bit smaller when i was 18). but that's just one of the reasons why they are the most comfortable pants on earth to sleep in. they now possess a giant hole in the middle/bottom/along the right leg, something i was desperately trying to prevent from happening when i started the society. at this point i'm guessing my only options for keeping them in my life for another 10 years are: a. a major sewing session or b. never wearing them in public. on the plus side for b., i imagine i'll no longer have to listen to complaints from guys about my adoration for sleep pants that are 'unsexy'. unsexy indeed! these might now be the sexiest men's pajama pants in history.
  2. gray patterned pajama pants - nautica sleepwear XL men's pajama pants circa 1998 (i know - you sense a trend here. clearly i love wearing giant pants to bed, and my freshman year of college was filled with fortuitous shopping trips for them. yes, and yes.). more cottony and traditional "pajama" material than pair 1, and they make you feel like your bottom half is swathed in a giant jersey knit sheet. while in no danger of holes at the moment, the elastic on the too-big-to-begin-with pants is going, making these a poor choice of pants to run a race in. but other than that, they are perfect.
  3. blue Edwin Markham Intermediate School t-shirt - as though i haven't seemed dirty enough already with my decade-old, giant holey men's pants, the final member of the PPS is none other than my sixth grade gym shirt. faded blue, short-sleeved, emblazoned with a trojan head and the words I.S. 51 Spartans (sadly, this is practically the best of all my school mascots. i went from a spartan, to a seagull, to a ram. laugh it up.), circa 1992. before you run off in horror, just let me explain that in junior high my friends and i came up with the genius idea that we'd wear our required gym uniform (blue spartan shirt and sweatpants) OVER our clothes so we wouldn't have to bother changing. i vividly remember having the tshirt over a turtleneck and giant sweatpants over my jeans, basically waddling out of the locker room. for whatever reasons, the gym teachers allowed this stupid little trick for awhile, so technically i never really did the whole '"sweating" thing in the shirt. and it was impossible for me to sweat in gym anyways back then since we barely did any legitimate 'gym' things, given the fact that we were too preoccupied with a. watching the boys, b. hoping the boys would notice us lounging about the gym daintily not playing sports, and c. not ruining our bangs, which in the early 90's you know we spent HOURS on teasing every morning. so it wasn't a gross gym shirt to begin with, and now after 2,000,000,000 washings, all it can possibly (gloriously) smell of is Tide and comfort.