okay okay. so.. I completely did meet jon stewart today. if you can call openly gaping and blushing bright red while trying to write out a drink order on a cup and not pee your pants "meeting." not one of my prouder moments.
I've actually been mentally preparing for this for a while.. he's a regular at my b&n, so it was going to happen eventually. he comes in with his wife and two kids ( a boy and a girl), gets coffee, and hangs out. everybody that works there has a jon stewart story. he once impersonated a monkey to make his daughter laugh, full-on hooting and scratching his armpits. which when you think about it isn't that far off from what he does on the show. but brilliant. once he asked a kids' lead for help in finding.. "this is really embarrassing. superhero stories." he explained that his son is into superheroes.. when said employee asked which one he was like, "it kind of doesn't matter."
then there was the time he was followed into the store by paparazzi.. steve, the asm at the time kicked the guy out.. he threw a fit (the photographer, obviously, not jon stewart) and said he was going to have steve's job taken away and "enjoy the unemployment line" and blah blah. he left, and a few minutes later somebody told an employee that the guy was actually hanging around outside, waiting for jon stewart to leave. so steve arranged to take him through the back room and open the receiving door so he could get out the back. jon (oh yes, we're on a first name basis now.) was uncomfortable about that.. he said he just wants to be treated like a regular customer, that's why he comes in. and steve was like, if any regular customer had some asshole following him around with a camera, I'd do the exact same thing. so, they went through the back, and steve, who was accustomed to a nod from jon whenever he came in, graduated to getting a little wave. the day after that incident, the daily show had a big segment where he talked about paparazzi and being followed around (I saw that one when it aired, but I can't find the clip.. I'll post it if I do).
anyway. invariably all the stories I've been told involve jon being courteous to a degree that's really, really rare in retail. and also he's very clear about wanting to be left alone and treated as any other customer. once an employee asked to take a picture with him.. she almost got fired.
so, combine all this with the massive new york stigma associated with losing your shit around celebrities. it's the most tacky thing you can do. I've met a couple of celebrities before, authors mostly, and I have gotten a little starstruck but never done anything too stupid. but, I'm such a huge daily show fan. I've been watching it for years, y'know? it means so much more to me than anything else I've come into that close contact with.
so.
today was busy busy.. we had a huge line in the cafe, the kind that stays exactly as long as it is.. you get people through and more come in and you constantly have about five people waiting at any given time. I was working the register- meaning, taking drink orders, writing them out on cups with the names, and getting pastries and stuff. so I'm in my groove and everything is moving along and I look up.. and it's jon stewart. I think I went into a bit of shock. I could feel myself blushing, and I froze. he actually chortled a little bit. I can't say what I was thinking.. I actually don't think I had a coherent thought until about ten minutes later. he bent down to his daughter and asked her if she wanted a brownie. she did. so I went and got it, and he ordered a grande skim iced latte. so, I wrote that on the cup, with "Jon," and passed it to the barista. I think maybe I still looked like I'd been recently concussed, because he was looking down, like he was embarrassed. he paid with a $50, and somehow I made my hands work to get him change.
slick, mcclean. there's nothing like jon stewart popping up in the middle of your day to make you feel like a texas hillbilly. oh well. hopefully the initial shock is over and the next time he comes in I can work on NOT embarrassing the man in front of a line of people. I'm just proud that I managed not to say something stupid or screw up his order.
as he was leaving, steve heard his daughter ask "daddy, do you think I'm going to love this monkey game we got?" and he was like, "you know, I think you might." sigh. I think I have a chance.. ;)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
NY 101 - THE RULES and a glossary
so it's been just about two months since I moved to the city. it feels more like eight.. you know what they say about new york minutes. it really is true, maybe just because of the spectacle or your mind trying to process so much going on around you. david cross says in his stand-up that new york is like a conflict between staring at either the most beautiful woman you've ever seen, or the craziest man you've ever seen, and they're walking different directions and you can't stare at both. I'd say that's true except that staring at anybody is especially rude here. and you can't make eye contact with a crazy person because then you've engaged them, and you really, really don't want that.
one learns to affect a vacant stare on the subway, which is a little bit more difficult when the train is crowded.. you wind up staring at somebody's elbow for a while. I think this might be part of the reason visitors think new yorkers are rude - it's an odd experience to wind up sitting scrunched between two people and trying to find a blank spot to stare at to avoid engaging anyone in conversation if you're not used to it. but in the end, I think it makes the commute a lot more comfortable. you don't have to deal with being social when you're on your way to work.
waiting for the subway is really, really boring. and when you live here you spend a good chunk of your time doing it. you either listen to the street performers, some of whom are really good, read a book (which you should never, ever be without) or look around on the tracks for rats. they're little things, (the rats, not the musicians), and are exactly the muddy gray color of the ground under the tracks. did they evolve that way? you usually see them when you're not looking for them.. a little scurrying next to the rail. yesterday I saw two of them engaged in what I thought must be a territory dispute, making little high-pitched squeaks at each other. they were like, "that's MY area next to the crushed soda bottle caked with mud! YOU live over by the half buried lottery ticket." the subway tracks are a gross, gross place.
by all accounts, new york really isn't that difficult to get around in if you know the rules, because new yorkers absolutely love to tell people where to go. it's hard to really get lost because of this. nobody actually cares if you're a tourist, as far as I can tell--you have to assume that a big percentage of the people you come across are going to be tourists, anyway-- as long as you don't piss people off and follow THE RULES. here are THE RULES of new york courtesy as they've been explained to me and as I understand them..
Rule #1 - do not ever, for any reason, stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
this was the first rule I learned on my first trip to new york city. my friend paddle taught me this. she was like, see a dollar bill in the middle of the sidewalk? keep walking. dead baby? keep walking. people are trying to get where they're going on time, and if you stop in the middle of the sidewalk to crane your neck and stare up at a building like a moron, they're going to plow right into you.
it's perfectly acceptable to step over to the edge of the sidewalk, near the street or near the buildings, and take pictures or tie your shoes or whatever. but any abrupt changes of your trajectory are just asking for trouble. walking through a big crowd actually takes its own kind of skill. I find the best way to navigate it is to sort of relax your eyes, pick a direction, and walk purposefully. it's like announcing your intention. if you're coming up on somebody on a collision course with you, you notice it a few paces away, and they notice it, and one of the two of you changes direction before you get close. this is where it's important to just pick something and stick with it. otherwise you do that weird dancing around each other awkward thing, which makes people slow down, which pisses them off.
Rule #2 - if you see a celebrity, don't be tacky.
it is the height of new york rudeness to freak out around a celebrity and bother them. if you're here long enough, you're going to see one - they live here and work here and come here on business or for fun, and they don't always want to be on display. they hide behind giant sunglasses and baggy, ill-fitting clothing- this is the international dress code for "please, please leave me alone."
if their work means something to you, it's okay to tell them, provided they're not eating, talking on the phone, or in another way occupied. if you have something genuine to say, they're usually gracious and happy to hear it. but don't bother them otherwise. this is really important, not only because it's just plain good manners, but because there's a serious stigma attached to this in new york.. nothing screams "tourist" or "amateur" more.
Rule #3 - don't stare at people.
this one is in its way tragic, because there are so many interesting or crazy or beautiful people that you just want to stare at all day. some people just blow you away with how gorgeous they are. you want to check out the hair, the shoes, the coat, the makeup, the case - my impulse, anyway, is to try and figure out how they put every piece together to create this nimbus of fabulousness. this is probably also why new yorkers have such well-developed peripheral vision.
and now it's time for a handy
NEW YORK GLOSSARY!
here are some terms you might come across in new york:
bloomberg - new york city mayor. if you want to relate to anybody, just start complaining about the price of something, roll your eyes or scowl and go "ugh, bloomberg!" and you will make a friend.
bridge & tunnel - describes people that don't live in manhattan, and therefore have to get there one way or another.
gentrification - definitely a buzzword you'll hear a lot. it means rich people moving into lower-income neighborhoods, bringing up the cost of living there and making it more difficult for everybody else to keep their places at the same price.
MTA - metropolitan transit authority. the subway and bus people. the subways are the veins and arteries of the city, and in new york you're going to spend a lot of time on them, even if you have a car. but you need to know the appropriate title so that you can complain about them correctly (i.e. "yeah, they're building an N line down 2nd ave, which doesn't make any sense because it's a good four avenue blocks away from the water, so why would I not just take the 6? f'ing MTA!").
NFT - the not for tourists guide to new york city. this book is amazing, and every transplant new yorker I know swears up and down by it. it divides manhattan into something like 35 maps, each one listing the banks, coffee shops, restaurants (complete with price guide and description), bars, grocery stores, shopping, bike paths, post offices, and such. it has a handy fold-out subway map which I've relied on heavily. if you're spending any amount of time in the city, you must have this book.
PBR - pabst blue ribbon, the beer you come to love because it's all you can drink because it's cheap. in bars where a mixed drink will run you $8, you can get a pitcher of PBR sometimes for $10 or cheaper.
third rail - on the subway tracks, this is the rail that is the third one in from the platform. it's bigger than the first two that the train rides on, and carries all of the electricity. it's more than a lethal amount, so if you step on it you'll get fried. apparently it happens sometimes, somebody drops something on to the tracks and, like a stupid person, jumps down and tries to get it. they might either get fried by the third rail or plowed by a train, which is going much faster than it would appear. the platform is also a lot deeper than it looks, so it's hard to get back up. here also is where new yorkers defy their rude, selfish reputation, because every year there are a handful of stories of somebody falling onto the tracks, and of people jumping down to help them back up.
zagat - this is the definitive guide to restaurants in new york. you must have it if you like to eat food and have enough money to pay for good food.. sigh. it must be nice.
that's about it for now. time to try and schlep (see that? I'm so assimilated) my giant suitcase to the laundromat. because I'm like, an adult now. sort of.
one learns to affect a vacant stare on the subway, which is a little bit more difficult when the train is crowded.. you wind up staring at somebody's elbow for a while. I think this might be part of the reason visitors think new yorkers are rude - it's an odd experience to wind up sitting scrunched between two people and trying to find a blank spot to stare at to avoid engaging anyone in conversation if you're not used to it. but in the end, I think it makes the commute a lot more comfortable. you don't have to deal with being social when you're on your way to work.
waiting for the subway is really, really boring. and when you live here you spend a good chunk of your time doing it. you either listen to the street performers, some of whom are really good, read a book (which you should never, ever be without) or look around on the tracks for rats. they're little things, (the rats, not the musicians), and are exactly the muddy gray color of the ground under the tracks. did they evolve that way? you usually see them when you're not looking for them.. a little scurrying next to the rail. yesterday I saw two of them engaged in what I thought must be a territory dispute, making little high-pitched squeaks at each other. they were like, "that's MY area next to the crushed soda bottle caked with mud! YOU live over by the half buried lottery ticket." the subway tracks are a gross, gross place.
by all accounts, new york really isn't that difficult to get around in if you know the rules, because new yorkers absolutely love to tell people where to go. it's hard to really get lost because of this. nobody actually cares if you're a tourist, as far as I can tell--you have to assume that a big percentage of the people you come across are going to be tourists, anyway-- as long as you don't piss people off and follow THE RULES. here are THE RULES of new york courtesy as they've been explained to me and as I understand them..
Rule #1 - do not ever, for any reason, stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
this was the first rule I learned on my first trip to new york city. my friend paddle taught me this. she was like, see a dollar bill in the middle of the sidewalk? keep walking. dead baby? keep walking. people are trying to get where they're going on time, and if you stop in the middle of the sidewalk to crane your neck and stare up at a building like a moron, they're going to plow right into you.
it's perfectly acceptable to step over to the edge of the sidewalk, near the street or near the buildings, and take pictures or tie your shoes or whatever. but any abrupt changes of your trajectory are just asking for trouble. walking through a big crowd actually takes its own kind of skill. I find the best way to navigate it is to sort of relax your eyes, pick a direction, and walk purposefully. it's like announcing your intention. if you're coming up on somebody on a collision course with you, you notice it a few paces away, and they notice it, and one of the two of you changes direction before you get close. this is where it's important to just pick something and stick with it. otherwise you do that weird dancing around each other awkward thing, which makes people slow down, which pisses them off.
Rule #2 - if you see a celebrity, don't be tacky.
it is the height of new york rudeness to freak out around a celebrity and bother them. if you're here long enough, you're going to see one - they live here and work here and come here on business or for fun, and they don't always want to be on display. they hide behind giant sunglasses and baggy, ill-fitting clothing- this is the international dress code for "please, please leave me alone."
if their work means something to you, it's okay to tell them, provided they're not eating, talking on the phone, or in another way occupied. if you have something genuine to say, they're usually gracious and happy to hear it. but don't bother them otherwise. this is really important, not only because it's just plain good manners, but because there's a serious stigma attached to this in new york.. nothing screams "tourist" or "amateur" more.
Rule #3 - don't stare at people.
this one is in its way tragic, because there are so many interesting or crazy or beautiful people that you just want to stare at all day. some people just blow you away with how gorgeous they are. you want to check out the hair, the shoes, the coat, the makeup, the case - my impulse, anyway, is to try and figure out how they put every piece together to create this nimbus of fabulousness. this is probably also why new yorkers have such well-developed peripheral vision.
and now it's time for a handy
NEW YORK GLOSSARY!
here are some terms you might come across in new york:
bloomberg - new york city mayor. if you want to relate to anybody, just start complaining about the price of something, roll your eyes or scowl and go "ugh, bloomberg!" and you will make a friend.
bridge & tunnel - describes people that don't live in manhattan, and therefore have to get there one way or another.
gentrification - definitely a buzzword you'll hear a lot. it means rich people moving into lower-income neighborhoods, bringing up the cost of living there and making it more difficult for everybody else to keep their places at the same price.
MTA - metropolitan transit authority. the subway and bus people. the subways are the veins and arteries of the city, and in new york you're going to spend a lot of time on them, even if you have a car. but you need to know the appropriate title so that you can complain about them correctly (i.e. "yeah, they're building an N line down 2nd ave, which doesn't make any sense because it's a good four avenue blocks away from the water, so why would I not just take the 6? f'ing MTA!").
NFT - the not for tourists guide to new york city. this book is amazing, and every transplant new yorker I know swears up and down by it. it divides manhattan into something like 35 maps, each one listing the banks, coffee shops, restaurants (complete with price guide and description), bars, grocery stores, shopping, bike paths, post offices, and such. it has a handy fold-out subway map which I've relied on heavily. if you're spending any amount of time in the city, you must have this book.
PBR - pabst blue ribbon, the beer you come to love because it's all you can drink because it's cheap. in bars where a mixed drink will run you $8, you can get a pitcher of PBR sometimes for $10 or cheaper.
third rail - on the subway tracks, this is the rail that is the third one in from the platform. it's bigger than the first two that the train rides on, and carries all of the electricity. it's more than a lethal amount, so if you step on it you'll get fried. apparently it happens sometimes, somebody drops something on to the tracks and, like a stupid person, jumps down and tries to get it. they might either get fried by the third rail or plowed by a train, which is going much faster than it would appear. the platform is also a lot deeper than it looks, so it's hard to get back up. here also is where new yorkers defy their rude, selfish reputation, because every year there are a handful of stories of somebody falling onto the tracks, and of people jumping down to help them back up.
zagat - this is the definitive guide to restaurants in new york. you must have it if you like to eat food and have enough money to pay for good food.. sigh. it must be nice.
that's about it for now. time to try and schlep (see that? I'm so assimilated) my giant suitcase to the laundromat. because I'm like, an adult now. sort of.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
first blush
okay, so this is my first entry. I've just moved to New York City, and I want to keep a record of my thoughts and impressions, and also to let everyone know how I am, because it's apparently really hard to call people when you're in New York. unless you want to stand around in front of your subway entrance, or talk in your room and feel awkward because your roommate, who is in the kitchen making sandwiches, can hear you. but I'll get to that.
I arrived in New York on November 9th, almost two weeks ago. I've been planning this move for years, really. it's just something I knew I had to do while I was young. after I do this, I can do anything. I can settle down, or not, but I'll know I don't have that regret. anyway.
in the weeks leading up to the move, everybody was like, what are you going to do once you get there? or, okay, so you wake up your first day in New York City.. what's the first thing you're going to do?? and I was like, um, get a job.
boring, I know. but I was so afraid of winding up without a place to stay or a job, trespassing on my friends' generosity and drying up my stash of money.
Phase One of my plan consisted of two things:
A) find job, probably at a Barnes & Noble (I've worked for them in some capacity for about five years)
B) find a room, probably in Queens, which is maybe not perfect but comfortable enough for a few months while I get my bearings.
I attacked Phase One so fiercely that I made myself sick. seriously. my second day in new york, I'd found a job. my fifth day, I'd found a room, and I moved in a few days later. but I'd caught some kind of bug which just got worse, and when I didn't slow down my voice started to go.
but one way or another, I'm at a stopping place. and I'm pretty proud of what I've been able to accomplish, even though neither my job nor my room is ideal. I work in the Cafe at the Barnes & Noble in Tribeca, which is way at the bottom of Manhattan, near the financial district. I work a literal two blocks from Ground Zero, which gives me a sort of vertigo. I can see it when I'm just getting to work, now just a construction site, and wonder about the stories the buildings around me would tell. or what the streets looked like coated in black grit and debris. my store wasn't built yet in 2001, so I can't ask anyone there what it was like, although every New Yorker has a story. I think I'm too polite to ask.
I'm rooming with a guy from Columbia named Fernando. the room sort of fell into my lap when my store manager, Sara, told me about a friend of hers who was moving out of her room in Queens, leaving the owner of the apartment with a vacant room. through her, I got his number, called, and set up a time to come view the place. my room is tiny, something like 7' by 10'. but it's cozy, furnished with a full-sized bed, a small metal desk, and an armoire. the apartment is in the basement, and it's carefully furnished and comfortable. Fernando is very particular about his place - you have to take your shoes off right inside the door, you have to clean your dishes right after you use them, and god help you if you use his white mug with the words "cafe latte" on it. I don't understand this fixation with the cup.
Fernando's a working electrician, and from what I can judge does nothing on his off-days except for hang out with his girlfriend, Lisa, who is very nice, her two elementary-aged daughters, who are very cute, or his neurotic chihuahua. and watch T.V. on his giant LCD screen. so very, very much T.V. you'd think he'd run out of interesting things sooner or later. he also plays some first person shooter game which I'm sure is cutting-edge or something, and watches anime.
Fernando is still an unknown quantity to me. he likes to joke around, and can be very warm and friendly. he calls me a weirdo at least twice a day. he'll be like.. you're going out? you should put a scarf on! and I'm like, thanks mom, and he's like, you're such a weirdo! or.. you're using my white cup? don't you see the one made for tea, without a handle? what a weirdo!
it's vaguely uncomfortable, living with somebody you don't really know. I think I might make it a rule in the future to not room with straight guys. it's not that there's any kind of problem, it's just a bit awkward. hopefully in this case that will dissipate with time.
but anyway. I'm now moving toward Phase Two of my plan, which is all about upgrading. it entails:
A) finding a new job that pays well, so that I can afford
B) my own place.
this is the shining goal for me. I want a studio, possibly, all to myself. and in a better place than this.. I don't want to knock the location too much (I'm in Rego Park), as a place this magically convenient could never exist in Texas. I'm within reasonable walking distance from:
- a subway stop
- a Target
- a grocery store / deli
- a DSW shoes (praise the gods of retail!)
- a Century 21 (not the real estate.. this is an overwhelmingly awesome discount clothing store a'la T.J. Maxx and Kohl's, so good it only exists in New York)
- superfluously, a Kohl's
- cheap sushi
- a laundromat
- a diner
- a drugstore
- a White Castle, if you're into that sort of thing
and more restaurants and such. I don't want to jinx a good thing by knocking it, but I am, in fact, living by a highway, and close to a mall. it doesn't so much feel like New York, certainly not the same way it feels when I'm in Manhattan. as dearest Paddle (one of the wonderful friends who let me stay over when I first got here) says - I didn't move to New York City to live by a mall. or, she says something like that. she won't live in any other borough than Manhattan because that's not why she came here. she earned the right to live the way she wants to.
as for me, I'm hoping to find a place in Brooklyn. I recently got lost there while looking for IKEA and fell in love. it feels almost more like New York to me than Manhattan does.
well anyway. I'm going to try to get plenty of sleep - I work tomorrow and don't want to be croaking people's orders at them. I'll maybe have some more tea, read before bed, and do something I've done for a while.. I always try to go to sleep thinking about good things I want to happen. it's definitely worked, to some degree, so far.
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