A Day in the Life

Filed under a day in the life, adventure time, just pictures, living in new york is neat

• Tuesday night, my friends Ash and Kim came over to . . . well, I don’t want to say they came over “to” watch The Skulls on Netflix streaming, because it’d be embarrassing to plan a night around a 2000s-era teen heartthrob secret college fraternity movie, but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. Kim and I had basically spent the entire afternoon having an online argument about the types of people who have a list of celebrities they’re allowed to cheat on their significant others with–apparently this type of person is everyone but my BFF, Tracey, and me–that eventually escalated into Kim and Tracey–who have never met nor spoken before–exchanging words over a Google document the three of us were editing together and then somehow resulted in me telling Kim I’m ambivalent on whether or not she has a brain. Um, but The Skulls was surprisingly entertaining! I thought maybe Kim was speaking metaphorically when she said there’s a duel in it, but there’s definitely a duel in it.

• Wednesday: “Survivor”! “American Idol”! Have I mentioned that I’m aaaaall over this Burnell Taylor kid? He has such an interesting tone that I really think he can make anything sound good, even a song from a musical. This is the performance that really got me. Even Kamran likes him. I downloaded the “American Idol” app so I could vote for the first time ever this year. I haven’t, you know, done it yet, but I could.

• Kim came over again on Thursday night so she could tell me about the first date she had with a guy who asked her what her credit score is as a way of deciding whether she’s wifely enough. I won’t say anything else about the night so as to not lessen the impact of a man asking her credit score on the first date to determine if she’s good wife material.

• Friday night, it was unclear if anything was being done for happy hour, so there were just four of us left at work when we decided to go out. We work in the Financial District, so by the time we got to this new bar I wanted to try, it was so packed with suits we literally couldn’t get ten feet in the door. We went to an old standby bar instead, and my friend Jeff has an amazing way with waitresses without even trying, so we were led to this upstairs room filled with Victorian-ish furniture that was totally uncrowded and where they were playing everything from my iPod at a totally reasonable level: Cold War Kids, M83, Imagine Dragons, Band of Horses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Passion Pit . . . it was, um, basically the best time I’ve had in a bar?

Nik and Jeff in repose:


Dranks:


• Saturday night, Kam and I went for a tasting menu at Tocqueville in Union Square, which is one of our favourite restaurants, one of the best restaurants in NYC, and one of the restaurants most deserving of a Michelin star that doesn’t have one. We were treated like a king and queen and then went home to watch “X-Files” and The Game, which I’ve basically been thinking about nonstop since, especially this song, which is so annoyingly and catchily 1960s.

• Yesterday, we watched Safety Not Guaranteed, which was adooooorable, and Midnight Cowboy, which was well done but totally depressing and made me feel like I will pretty obviously end up living in a condemned tenement building someday and almost killing children with stolen coconuts. Also, thank god Angelina Jolie looks like her mother and not her father.

Later in the afternoon, we went on a walk up the East side of Manhattan and into Central Park, which I’m using as an excuse to use my Adventure Time logo:



the Queensboro Bridge at the edge of Manhattan, looking over Roosevelt Island


a modern building with art-tastic balconies and doors


looking down the East River toward lower Manhattan


a crazy wild boar statue surrounded by all sorts of marine life and snakes eating toads and stuff

Apparently this is Sutton Place Park’s replica of Porcellino, a sculpture by Pietro Tacca from 1634. Bill Clinton liked it, too, although for a completely dumb reason.


a Colonial-looking house with a vibrant door

This place had a private drive and a private park overlooking the East River. A Latino-looking person driving a Honda–obviously the hired help–wanted to leave but waited to open the gate until Kamran and I were well across the street. We talked about how we spend so much of our lives feeling better-off than everyone everywhere else in the U.S. that it’s annoying to see someone wagging their rooftop solarium in our faces.


New Yorkers play tennis inside giant balloon-domes


Magnolia Bakery cupcakes from Bloomingdale’s


a store devoted entirely to buttons


Hans Christian Anderson in Central Park


apartment buildings on 5th Avenue behind the Central Park conservatory


the Alice in Wonderland statue, which is totally freaky and not at all for children


squirrel/rat


an elaborate temple on 5th Avenue


sunset over the Central Park conservatory

9 Comments

  1. Anna and I just watched ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’, too. Unfortunately that’s about the only thing from above I’ve actually seen / experienced. Other than buttons. I can relate to buttons on a fairly personal level , too.
    Also I LOVE your photographs. Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for warm, yellow tones?! Because, yeah.

  2. Kim says:

    It sounds like this Kim person had a rough week.

    I love the Alice statue. That story was never for children.

    Also, I need to know which drink was yours, and if that chaise is actually awesome or is as hilarious as it looks.

  3. Jessica R. says:

    I haven’t watched American Idol this season because I’m exhausted and hate Nicki Manaj, but that song was good and I love that he’s from NOLA.

    That Alice statue is sooo spooky. I love it.

  4. bluzdude says:

    As someone who lives in NYC, you should totally have a celeb “Do” List. Mine runs, like, 30 celebs deep, although I would obviously have to trim is to a Top 5. And if I lived in NY, I’d get mine laminated, like Ross did in Friends.

    The Game is a great “Mind-fuck” movie. Love it.

    Love the squirrel pic too. Definitely not a rat, unless one has gone undercover, to infiltrate the squirrel community.

  5. Erin says:

    I dream of the opportunity to tell someone not to wag their rooftop solarium in my face. Also, I have an informal list of freebie celebrities I would pound if I had the opportunity, but it’s just in my head and mostly a joke. The dude who asked about your friend’s credit score must be the Captain of all Douches. And The Game is a bomb-ass movie. Adding The Skulls to my Netflix queue for giggles.

  6. Lisa says:

    Wait… they have The Skulls on Netflix? Also, I love the super moody photos. That Alice statue is freaking me out.

  7. clubbingdresswearer says:

    I’m proud to note that I’m one of a few people who remember when you used to have a blog called ‘a day in the life’ – that was probably in the days before they were called ‘blogs’ :-)

  8. Megan says:

    Cold War Kids? M83? Passion Pit? Band of Horses? YES! They never play stuff like that at our local bars, not even the hipster ones.

    Haha, I can’t believe a guy asked a woman for her credit score. To see if she’s wife material. She should have said it was in the 700s but that she had a rare STD. What a conundrum!

  9. facie says:

    Reading about your life and looking at those amazing pics reminds me how boring my life is (fortunately I am okay with that 95 percent of the time). Never had that kind of a “to-do” list either. I cannot even imagine who would be on it.

    Never liked Alice in Wonderland and that statue seals the deal. But that bar with the cool furniture and that place with the arty-metal doors and balconies? I give those and pretty much everything else on your adventure two thumbs up (or maybe two cupcakes).