For the first time that I can recall, The Grey Lady has printed an article which, in order be fully appreciated, must be read with a goumba accent.
"The father of the cousin of the owner"? "He made as if to leave."
I wasn't sure which paper I was reading, but I was sure it wasn't The Times. But it was.
In other news, I'm out of town for a couple days, and most likely will not be posting. I'll see you next year.
Does anyone besides me think it's really weird to have a hyper-realistic dream about eating hot dogs? Then again, I was evidently eating them with Keanu Reeves' in-laws or something, so I guess it wasn't exactly normal.
Here's a topic which I consider, in my mind, every so often, so I thought I should write something about it here. Remember back to the good old days of the world of education? One of the things that was remarkable about the world of academia is how poorly it prepares you for the "real world." And, for the sake of this particular argument, not specifically in terms of what you learn, but about how you perform.
If you're in college and you get a 64% on a test, there are classes where that's actually a decent grade (well, at least there were where I went). In high school, you could take the AP test and get a 4, while the top score was 5, and still get college credit. A "B" was a decent grade. A score of 98% was, in most circumstances, amazing.
But now we're all older, and we're off in the real world. Here, you have to be perfect. If your job is a bridge designer, you have to get 100% every single time. If you get a 99.8%, as a bridge designer, guess what that means? People are going to die. In my job, simply working in a hotel, if I'm anywhere less than 100%, people are going to be pissed off. They're going to complain, my manager is going to get pissed at me, and so on.
So here's the question. Why does our education system prepare you for a life of mediocrity which is not acceptable in real life? Where do all these people who are nowhere near perfect go?
I guess it explains Enron, the Bush Administration, "Gigli," and half of this fall's season on Broadway.
I just wrote (well, technically, had the bank print) the largest check I ever recall writing (or having the bank print). It is now in the hands (well, in the truck) of a cute FedEx guy.
And now my Spring Break (well, February Trip) is (almost) paid for.
Woo hoo (except, egads, that is a big check).
There are three things today which are really high on my list of things that piss me off:
1) The over-merchandising of "The Cat in the Hat." I am, frankly, appalled that the Estate of Dr. Seuss would stoop this low. Burger King? Target? I do not like this, Powers that Be. I think you need to set Seuss free.
2) Reality Television. Average Joe 2? The Apprentice: The Ultimate Job Interview with Donald Trump? Jesus H. Christ. And then when the TV people stoop to the level of "new" programming, they have shows about gay people who are never allowed to date and movies about "war heroes" before the war is even over.
3) The blog comment spammers. Enough already. Fuck you and the phenteramine you rode in on.
Can someone explain to me why the Weisslers think it's a good idea to put Patrick Swayze in "Chicago"?
No, I know. It's because they're the Weisslers.
Wait, I have a better question.
Can someone explain to me how come they let the Weisslers produce Broadway shows in the first place?
So I mail ordered a couple videos from TLA Video. And they came today, along with a 10% off any future web purchase over $25. But the problem is, today's the 11th, right? And the coupon had an expiration date of the 10th.
Needless to say, I'm going to send them an email demanding my discount.
Wish me luck, ladies and gents.
I think I have strep throat. It hurts a lot and my uvula is quite fiery red.
Luckily, the Stage Deli delivers Matzoh Ball Soup, which is Jewish for anti-biotic. It's really only at times like this when I am in touch with my Jewish heritage.
Well, this and when I have to open my Hanukkah presents.
I can tell you this for certain:
Friday and Saturday, AKA Blizzard 2003 V 2.0, were the two worst days I ever spent at the hotel.
Basically, Friday and Saturday were going to be two of the busiest days of the year anyhow, but then throw a blizzard on top of them, and it turned into an icy hell. People were bitchy and impatient. Cars were impossible to find, but the guests didn't seem to think that they should forgo their trip to the Blue Note, or that restaurant in TriBeCa they'd read so much about in "Iowa Weekly." They were all bitches from hell. And the mega-overtime didn't much help matters. I worked from 9am-8pm on Thursday, just because it was gearing up to be a busy weekend, then on 9am-9:30pm on Friday, and started at 8:00am on Saturday. At 6:30pm, I just couldn't take any more, and I was starting to feel sick, and I just said that I had to go. I came home, watched a bit of TV, got in bed, and promptly slept for over 12 hours.
I tell you, it was more pleasant to be at work on 9-11. (We're a hotel. We never close. We work on days like 9-11 and the Blackout.)
But I get to go back tomorrow.
So I was watching "The Simpsons" tonight. And what did Lisa say? Yup. She used the S word. Schadenfreude. (Simpsons buff note: It was the episode where Homer's wish on the BBQ's Chicken wishbone is that Ned's mall store for lefties would flop.)
And in other news about how real "Avenue Q" is, why don't you try and guess the first thing I did when I got the computer fixed?
Yup. Porn. After all, it's what the internet is for.
:-D
I actually picked up some day shifts at work! So I don't have time to sit around all morning and blog at you.
But I'll blog later tonight.
In other other news, I went to the opera last night. Go see "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" if you like really interesting, non-ordinary opera. Some fantastic singing and what a gorgeous score. And even though it'll be late, stick around for the third act. Wow.
How lucky are we, as New Yorkers, to have Madison Square Garden this close to our apartments?
I was there this evening, and I was a witness to a fantastic concert appearnce by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. I have to say, I have loved their music for years, but tonight, wow. I mean, who'd have thought I've be bopping my head and clapping and yelling and, yes, shedding a tear, for two guys who are both 61, one of whom is a guitar-master... Wow, what a concert. And the suprirse guest appearnce from the Everly Brothers didn't hurt, either. They're playing again tomorrow and Thursday. I have opera tickets for tomorrow, but let me tell you, if I find a way to get tickets for Thursday night, I'll be back.
It was strange, though. At one moment in the concert it occurred to me that MSG was full of 20,000 of the most liberal people in New York. And next August, when the Republicans descend on MSG en masse, won't it sort of be the exact opposite of the Simon & Garfunkel crowd?
In other news, my landlord (or at least the super of my building?) does not understand the concept of when, exactly, the radiators should be on and when they should be off. The mice are still here, and they've managed to climb to places I do not understand how they got there. I am scared of my mice.
And I have plane tickets to go to San Francisco just after Christmas. Woo hoo, New Year's Eve on the West Coast! The trip will be a nice little reward for me after the busy crazy season at work has wound down. We're right in the thick of it this week -- the hotel is sold out for the next 10 or 12 days, except for maybe Sunday night.
So, that's that, and there'll be more soon. Hope you didn't miss me too much. Hell, most of you probably didn't even notice I was missing...
Jesus H Christ, I hate technical support fools.
But finally, today, via the 800 number, I got ahold of someone in South India (!) who was able to help me re-install the drivers that I needed after the repeated Fatal System Error and reinstallation of Windows and so on and so forth.
Partly, the tech support sucked.
And partly, I was lazy.
But I'm back.
Hooray.
More soon. I promise.