2 of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1. The Cubs and White Sox are both in first place this late in the season.

2. Simon and Garfunkel got back together and are touring this fall.

The devil better sharpen his ice skates because I think hell is about to freeze over.

My trip, part 4
I must go to Columbia. The campus is awesome. Its reputation is awesome. I so beong there. Thus, I would never get in. I thought I didn't want to continue school after I get my PhD.

I got a cute light blue Columbia University sweatshirt. A zip-up hoodie.

Tavern on the Green is still amazing. We sat in a different room. It was like being in a gazebo. I had my first creme brulee. Yum!

The Guggenheim is so cool. They had an exhibit on abstract art. Yellow cows and suprematism and cubism and Jackson Pollack.

The apartment buildings around Central Park are awesome. How can somone afford to live there? How much money does that take?

There are tons of restaurants on 46th St. between 8th and 9th Aves. We ate at one called Joshua Tree. Cheap for a NY restaurant. Good variety. Yummy.

Rent! Why did it take me so long to see this musical? Amazing! My new favorite. It's so my taste. Must see it again. Got a shirt.

Hot Japanese people sitting around me at Rent.

Damn Andy Roddick serves hard.

One of the great things about this time of year is the fact that I can take advantage of things the university has to offer. For example, I can take the campus shuttle to work now, since I work a few blocks from the Water Tower Campus. And that helps since I don't have to pay to take the train. I will save $36 a month by not taking the train.

Also, during the school year there are free movies. Last night Tim and I went to see Matrix Reloaded again. I was glad I got to see it again. I had forgotten some details, so now I remember everything. The new movie comes out in a couple of months, so that will be useful. It's not like Matrix Reloaded is a movie unto itself. It's not complete on its own. And I'm sure you have to remember what happened in that film to understand the final installment. So I had my refresher.

The university is showing some good movies this semseter, including Frida and The Quiet American. Yay for free movies!

I'm having a problem getting back into the swing of things after going to New York. With Monday being a holiday, and yesterday not being a normal Wednesday for me because I had to go to the dentist and that threw the whole day off, I'm not back into my regular routine yet. I'm exhausted. I hope I don't fall asleep at work, as that would reflect poorly on me.

My trip, part 3
From my journal

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Maria Sharipova so looks like Tennis Barbie.

The Big Apple Greeter thing is so cool. You get shown around by a NY native in a neighborhood of your choice. We choose Greenwich Village. Our guide was a retired man who lived in Greenwich Village his whole life. He was very knowledgeable. He showed us small theaters where famous actors and playrights got their start; a pub that's so known it has no sign that used to be a speakeasy where a lot of famous authors hung out; a very elegant restaurant that used to be a stable. And many other cool things. He knew so much and was so nice and interesting. We never would have found those things without him.

The main hall at Grand Central Station is awesome. Pictures don't do it justice.

The Soup Nazi is closed for the summer.

I had the worst headache today. I slept most of the afternoon. No going out tonight. We got a pizza and we're watching tennis.

While I was asleep my mom went to the Hershey store in Times Square. Very bad. She bought a lot and we keep eating chocolate.

I bought some t-shirts to bring back for people today.

I would love to live near Washington Square Park. If I did I would be there every day.

Perhaps I should have gone to NYU.

I have been to NY 3 times and have sen so much, but still feel like I have seen nothing. There' sso much to see. I have never been to Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Staten Island. All I have seen in Queens is the US Tennis Center and La Guardia Airport.

It's too bad I feel like crap because I want to go out and about.

When I went walking Monday and Wednesday I saw this man walking his dog, the cutest litte bulldog! I want to see it tomorrow so I can tell him how beautiful his dog is.

Yesterday as I was going past the firehouse, and some of the firemen were outside. One had a tattoo on his calf. It was diamond shaped. It looked like the Twin Towers with a red, white, and blue background. If I see him tomorrow, I wonder if he'd let me take a closer look.

What I see when I look out our hotel room window: a yoga studio (earlier I watched them to yoga, but they're done now); apartments (I can see in a few, but not much); 4 restaurants, and a fifth that looks like it's getting ready to open; a video store; 2 small grocery stores; the subway station; a dry cleaner; a Starbucks; a hardware store; many tall buildings (some look like apartments, others like businesses); and a smoke shop.

My trip, part 2
From my journal

Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Notes from Tuesday:

My 2 new favorite women tennis players: Ai Sugiyama and Jennifer Capriati

We finally went to a match on a small court. There was only seating on one side. It was awesome to be that close. W ewatched the first set of Ai Sugiyama's match. She was killing her opponent.

The Michael Chang match was great. Although Gonzalez was ranked much more highly than him, Chang really stayed in the match well, winning a set. The crowd was clearly behind him. It was nice that Chang was in his last match and not completely demolished. When the match ended, Gonzalez said a few extra words to Chang, and he got a standing ovation. His TV interview was over the sound system. I was glad to see his last match.

Andre Agassi's match: As much as I love Andre Agassi, he so easily beat Alex Corretja it was actually boring.

Sally Field was there for the night session. I saw her on the screen, but was then able to pick her out in the crowd.

Jennifer Capriati's match: See Andre Agassi.

Capriati looked so cute. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white stars, cute shoes. And her hair was in two little buns. If I were a professional tennis player I would want to look like that.

Hinman/Roddick match: Very exciting. Roddick sure has a huge serve. One of his faulted serves clocked at 141 mph.

I must have had the dumbest person ever waiting on me at the cafe at the tennis center. She didn't realize that a "skim latte" is a latte with skim milk, or that a "blondie" is a white brownie. I can understand that not everyone knows that those things are. However, if you are selling them, you should know.

I put sunscreen on 2 or 3 times, but mythighs still got burned.

Wednesday Notes:

I went walking again this morning. I found Dean and Deluca again, but it was crowded so I got coffee at the place next door.

I passed NBC.

We went on a Circle Line tour arround Manhattan island. It was an interesting perspective, seeing everything from the boat. We passed all the burroghs and bridges, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and all kinds of interesting things. It's 3 hours and closts like $27, but it's awesome. The guide did the whole thing without notes.

Back to tennis. Why do some middle aged women feel the need to wear their tennis togs to the US Open? Do they think they're just going to go down to the court and play? What's up with that?

The Intrepid is an aircraft carrier that is now a museum. It was really cool, and if you had all day you could spend all day reading everything and seeing all the films. There were planes and tanks on display. Where was also a destroyer and submarine. We didn't go on the sub.

On Monday my scalp got sunburned. So yesterday I got a white US Open floppy hat. It's cute on me! Sunburns hurt, especially when you comb over them.

I have a rash :( Hopefully it's due to my sunburn. Not that that's good, but at least then I will know why it's there.

I met Caroline!!! She's so cute and sweet and I wish I could hang out with her more!

We met Caroline in Washington Square Park and walked to Little Italy from there. LIttle Italy is so cute! All the restaurants are cute and the waiters have real Italian accents. It's so much fun. And such yummy food and chocolate and vanilla cannoli!

We did a bit of walking around after that. I must live in Greenwich Village. I must. No question.

I'm getting the "I must live in NY" feeling again. It has reared it's ugly head.

I got lunch from one of the trucks parked in front of Northwestern Memorial Hospital today. I am wearing my hippie dress, the one that's sort of khaki in color with lots of embroidery. The man I bought my lunch from told me that my dress is very pretty, and that it becomes me. :)

My trip, part 1
I will tell about my trip by just posting what was in my journal. I will post it how it is. Sometimes stuff isn't in order, or I remembered something about one day on the next day. Anyway, here's what I wrote.

Monday, August 25, 2003
Notes on Sunday:

The theater where "Nine" is playing is around the corner from our hotel. As we went out to look for food we saw Chita Rivera and Jane Krakowski were signing autographs in front of the theater. Jane Krakowski is so pretty, and so tiny! She's pretty short and very thin. I was thinking, if she's that small, imagine how small Calista Flockhart must be.

We had dinner at Times Square Grill. I had BBQ shrimp. They were these huge shrimp served on skewers with really yummy BBQ sauce. It came with this cold black bean salad that was also very good.

Last year, as soon as we got to NY, I had this sense that I had to live there I would , like, die. That didn't happen this year. It's easing in. We'll see how I feel at the end of the week.

Notes on Monday

The atmosphere is very different at the US Open depending on whether you re at a day session or a night session. Today we went to both. While you have the opportunity to see more tennis during the day, the night session really is more fun.

Best line of the day: "Is he in your way?" "He" refers to a blow-up kangaroo on the shoulders of a young Aussie tennis fan.

I watched Arnaud Clement of France play no-name Brian Valahy. The crowd was clearly behind Valahy. Why? It's nont like they were all big fans of his, since most people never heard of him. WAs it because he was American? Or an American playing someone from France? If he had been playing another foreigner who wans't French, like Lleyton Hewitt or Gustavo Kuertin, would they be pulling for him? What if he were playing another American?

I was really glad we were there tonight because they had a ceremony to celebrate the retirement of Pete Sampras. It was really nice. He got a rather lengthy standing ovation when introduced. He got rather emotional. The more he cried, the louder the crowd cheered. Paul Annicone, Boris Becker, Jim Courrier, and John McEnroe all said a few words, adn there was a video message from Andre Agassi. Very nice. To bad I never had a chance to see him play in person.

Players I saw win today: A Venezuelan who beat Chanda Rubin, Arnaud Clement, Kim Clijsters, and Lleyton Hewitt.

Before leaving, I took a long walk, figuring I'd be sitting a long time today. I wanted coffee. The only cafe I know near the hotel is a Starbucks, and I'd prefer not to have that. I found a Dean and Deluca while walking, but when I went back to find it I couldn't. I will have to look again tomorrow.

We saw Kim Cattrell at the US Open. Well, at least on the Jumbotron.

Boris Becker, with his hair how it is, looks like Sigfried. Or Roy. I'm not sure which.