A One-Man Gypsy Band!

I accidentally got on the F train today. A good thing too, as I was vastly entertained by a man who played beautifully “Hava Nagila” on a violin. He chimed in to his own music with a tambourine which he played with his feet by placing it against his violin case.

Athena, restored

The "Judas Priest" sticker has been removed form the neck of the Athena statue in Astoria's Athens Square Park (see "Stupid Punks", March 19, 2005.)

Eyes of blue

Quite fittingly, on Easter, I saw a rabbit (other than George).

I was walking on 30th Avenue near my house and I saw a little old woman holding a big white rabbit inside her coat. I told her I had one too, except he was brown and white.

"Oh! This is Misha -- which is Mikhail, in language of Russia -- is Michael!"

Michael had big blue eyes, which was surprising because I thought he was an albino and would have red eyes.

The lady continued "When I was a child, I had a white rabbit named Misha then too. So now I have another one."

Upon a closer look, she too had white hair and blue eyes.

"What nationality are you?" she asked.

"I am Pakistani", I told her.

"Oh! Assalamalaikum!"

"Thanks! I have to go now." (I was on my way to work at the gym.) I said the one bit of Russian I knew, "Da svidanaya" (goodbye.)

This delighted her to no end. Michael, however, seemed unimpressed.

from a sugar packet

"As sugar dissolves, it spreads happiness."

Aaaah! So sweet!

Since I can't be Miss Subways ....

I answered an ad on craigslist to be part of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade this coming July.

http://www.mysticalchildren.com/mermaids_wanted.html

Part of my reason on why they should pick me:

"I am 31 years old but am told I look about 24 (I tell them I have a glow of immaturity.) I want to be a mystical mermaid because, as a Pakistani female, I have a permanent tan that would look good with a big green fish tail. I am also a personal trainer, and this would be a great new goal for me to stay inspired in my workouts!!"

Yes, I had to send them at least one photo to prove I am not lying.

Multi-tasking

There is an unusual shop in the entrance of the 86th Street Station (Uptown and the Bronx, 4,5,6 lines.)

It is a barber shop that also sells engagement rings.

Pink puppy on parade

I was at the CVS at 87th Street and Lexington tonight and I saw a very refined looking older man, with a puppy on a leash. The puppy was a tan poodle with hot pink ears.

Recognizing what you need to work on

I was on the Manhattan-bound N train when I noticed a sentence etched into the plastic under the window:

"I need to find a more innovative form of communication."

How England helps tsunami victims

I saw this advertised at the local Lloyd's of London bank when I was visiting last month:

www.dec.org.uk

Everyone, keep helping as much as you can! I will too.

I am an auntie

My sister had her first child -- and my first niece today. Although she was 2 weeks early, she was still a big mama at 7 lbs, 13 oz.

Stupid punks

In Athens Square Park in Astoria, near my place, there is a statue of the Greek goddess Athena that was given by the mayor of Athens to then-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani a few years ago. She stands very high on a tall pedestal.

Some punk managed to climb all the way up it and put a sticker that says "Judas Priest" across her neck.

That is pointless vandalism.

A mini Gate!

My friend HB and her mother recently enjoyed the Gates in Central Park. You can have a small saffron scrap of fabric if you ask the volunteers in the park (they wore special vests and carried poles with tennis balls stuck on the end to unfurl the Gates that got tangles in the wind).

HB surprised me by sending a piece of the fabric in a nice little card from her home in New Haven!! What an awesome friend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am wearing red instead of green today. My coworker pointed out this colorful fallacy. Then he thanked me for the almond pound cake. Everyone here really liked it!

I do exist!

In an effort to prove to the gas company that I exist and live at my stated residence, I baked an almond pound cake for JDM's birthday and also one for my office mates in fabulous Flushing, Queens.

Pub Crawl

I went on an Irish Pub Crawl in the Flatiron District last night with Social Circles. It's like a bar crawl only you go to Irish pubs. The people were very nice. We even went to one pub with actual sawdust on the floor (easier on the feet when you have to stand, and absorbs spills very well!)

Updated!!!!

Retroactive posts on my week in Europe are now up. Enjoy!

Hey hey -- he's a Monkee!

I have been listening to former Monkee Mickey Dolenz's morning radio show since it debuted in early January, and I have to say I really like it. He is hilarious!

Now you're cookin' with gas!

Or at least you should be.

Apparently, I cook so little that the gas company has sent me a notice asking if I still live there or do they need to turn off the service.

Skating to the subway

Due to the arctic cold front, snow and rapid drop in temperature yesterday, the streets and sidewalks are sheets of ice all throughout Manhattan and Queens today. You can literally skate to the subways. In fact, it might be the safest way to get to the subways since people have not yet de-iced anything properly.

Sweet lavender 2

This morning on the Queens-bound R train, I saw an old woman with lavender hair. I am pretty sure it was a wig.

You better work it!

At 3:30pm, at the corner of East Houston and Lafayette in the Village, I saw a photo shoot for a cheap prom dress, where the model leaned against a traffic light dressed in peach chiffon, while all the NYC yellow cabs drove by. That was rather trite but cool to see.

You can come in if you can catch this.

AT CSF's martial arts school (I am not going to give out the location here), you can only enter the building if you call them first.

One of the staff then appears on the fire escape and throws down a soft Nerf football containing the key to the front door.

Need a Gate?

Because apparently, Christo's display "The Gates" is still up in its entirety in Central Park, despite all the publicity stating it would be gone by February 27. Enjoy!

Can you hear me now?

I hung out with my fellow personal trainer JDM tonight. Knowing that i am still relatively new to New York, he showed me where I could find the "whispering vault" in Grand Central Terminal.

It is in front of The Oyster Bar restaurant on the lower floor of Grand Central Terminal. There's a 'whispering vault' in front of the restaurant, above the new food court, where you can whisper in one corner and hear it perfectly on the opposite corner. He and I stood in opposite corners and talked to each other and it sounded like we were next to each other.

The corners are architecturally designed to make sure voices carry like so. Neat, huh???

Fare thee well, Europe

The trip has come to an end all too fast. I am going to really miss hanging out with my cousin, SQ from Surrey and our other cousin AM from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We would stay up until the wee hours watching crap television and talking about our lives.

SQ dropped me off at Woking Station in Surrey to catch the coach to Heathrow Airport for my flight back to New York. I hugged her good-bye and started walking to the coach.

She drove up to the coach and yelled through her window, "Hey! Did you remember your TICKETS, MONEY, PASSPORT????" :^)

Turks on display

My cousin SQ and I hit the Royal Academy of Arts to take in their exhibit on "Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years". The last time I had been here was in 1994 when I got taken there for a farewell lunch by my bosses at my internship at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in nearby Piccadilly Circus.

It was very good, spanning eight major rooms, full of clothing, textiles, swords, books, drawings, you name it.

There was even some items I had seen in January in Washington, DC! (See "From Palace to Mosque", January 15, 2005.) That exhibit did, after all, originate from London's Victoria & Albert Museum.

http://www.turks.org.uk/