Brooklyn Bound
May. 13th, 2011 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI have a bad habit of assuming that, if someone doesn't get back to me right away, it's because I've done something to offend them. I realize this is ridiculous, especially considering that I'll often take upwards of a week to respond to comments and such. So I'm both paranoid and hypocritical, I suppose. Really, though, there have been times when I think I really DID offend someone to the point they didn't want to talk to me anymore. Back when I was in college, there was one girl who liked my web page and exchanged e-mails with me a few times, but stopped when she said she was joining a sorority and I said they came across as pseudo-communist organizations. Probably not the smartest thing to say, but I still kind of feel that way. I remember when I was doing some preparation work for a church book sale, and some sorority girls were also helping out, and there was just a real sameness to all of them. You know how, in A Wrinkle in Time, the people of Camazotz don't look identical, but they're all somewhat the same, and it turns out that they all share one giant brain? That's basically how sororities come across to me. Maybe not all of them, but it's what comes to my mind. But I digress. Also, a few years ago, somebody added me on LJ but then suddenly removed me a few months later, and when I asked about it she said something about how I was mean to her friends. The main thing I can remember arguing with her friends about, though, was how I think "natural cures" are most often bunk. I'm sure I could have been more tactful in both situations, but it still confuses me a little. It's not like I was being personally insulting, at least as far as I could tell. And anyone who's been reading my journal for a while knows that I often criticize religion, but if anyone religious has stopped following me because of that, they really kept it on the down-low. So what I've gathered is that it's fine to bad-mouth people's deeply held convictions about the very nature of life and the universe, but not to point out that herbal supplements are highly unlikely to cure cancer. Good to know, I guess.
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bethje and I had a bit of a delay in watching last Sunday's cartoon lineup, but we finally did on Wednesday night. I really don't have much to say about the Simpsons episode, which just struck me as kind of trite. While plot lines based on a character discovering a hidden talent have practically infinite possibilities, I think they're starting to get a bit overdone. This time, we find out Homer has a knack for cutting hair, and he opens his own salon. I was amused by Homer's reaction to the constant chatting, however. One thing I wondered was that, in the scene at Moe's when Homer starts remembering everyone's foibles, why does he have one for Ned Flanders? His wife is dead, remember? I think it did just say "stupid," though, so maybe Homer filled that in himself. Also, we get an interesting look at how Lisa is uninterested in Milhouse, but still gets jealous when he's dating someone else. That actually makes a certain amount of sense to me. In other cartoon-based discussion, is every American Dad from now on going to include jokes about how Principal Lewis is a lunatic? Not that I mind them, but I kind of wonder why they've been playing up the character's insanity so much as of late. And I have to give props to the Family Guy episode for being particularly creative. Since when did Leonardo da Vinci have children, though?
Yesterday, Beth and I trekked up to New York City so she could see Rufus Wainwright's tribute to his late mother Kate McGarrigle. I didn't go to the show, but I went along anyway so we could do a little exploring. Beth said she didn't recognize any of the songs from the show, and I wonder if I would have, as my dad had a Kate and Anna McGarrigle album. It was one of only a few cassettes in the car at the time, so I became quite familiar with it. For what it's worth, from what I remember, every song on there was depressing. Anyway, Beth has a thing about wanting to live in Midwood, a largely Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. She's told me several times that she's always wanted to be culturally Jewish, so I'm sure that's part of the reason. From our limited look at it, it really does look like a nice neighborhood, and not at all urban despite being in the city. They even had car dealerships, which isn't a selling point, but drives home just how different it is from other parts of New York City. We mettherealtavie for dinner at the Heartland Brewery, and then joined up with Stephanie, who was going to the show with Beth. While they were there, I wandered around the Times Square area looking for a place I could rest and charge my phone, and could not find the latter. I thought Starbucks usually had outlets, but that's apparently not the case in that part of the city. I ended up ordering a smoothie at McDonald's, then sitting around and reading there for a few hours. Beth loaned me her spare battery, so I was able to keep my cell phone intact. Really, though, this is an issue I pretty much never see addressed, but which must come up. I always see people walking around the city talking on cell phones, and I know those batteries don't last forever. So where do they typically charge them? Or do they just not stay out long enough for the battery to die? I'm really quite curious, because when I'm on all-day excursions, I'm always afraid to use my phone for fear the battery will die on me.
All right, I guess that's it. Happy Friday the Thirteenth, everybody!
bethje and I had a bit of a delay in watching last Sunday's cartoon lineup, but we finally did on Wednesday night. I really don't have much to say about the Simpsons episode, which just struck me as kind of trite. While plot lines based on a character discovering a hidden talent have practically infinite possibilities, I think they're starting to get a bit overdone. This time, we find out Homer has a knack for cutting hair, and he opens his own salon. I was amused by Homer's reaction to the constant chatting, however. One thing I wondered was that, in the scene at Moe's when Homer starts remembering everyone's foibles, why does he have one for Ned Flanders? His wife is dead, remember? I think it did just say "stupid," though, so maybe Homer filled that in himself. Also, we get an interesting look at how Lisa is uninterested in Milhouse, but still gets jealous when he's dating someone else. That actually makes a certain amount of sense to me. In other cartoon-based discussion, is every American Dad from now on going to include jokes about how Principal Lewis is a lunatic? Not that I mind them, but I kind of wonder why they've been playing up the character's insanity so much as of late. And I have to give props to the Family Guy episode for being particularly creative. Since when did Leonardo da Vinci have children, though?Yesterday, Beth and I trekked up to New York City so she could see Rufus Wainwright's tribute to his late mother Kate McGarrigle. I didn't go to the show, but I went along anyway so we could do a little exploring. Beth said she didn't recognize any of the songs from the show, and I wonder if I would have, as my dad had a Kate and Anna McGarrigle album. It was one of only a few cassettes in the car at the time, so I became quite familiar with it. For what it's worth, from what I remember, every song on there was depressing. Anyway, Beth has a thing about wanting to live in Midwood, a largely Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. She's told me several times that she's always wanted to be culturally Jewish, so I'm sure that's part of the reason. From our limited look at it, it really does look like a nice neighborhood, and not at all urban despite being in the city. They even had car dealerships, which isn't a selling point, but drives home just how different it is from other parts of New York City. We met
therealtavie for dinner at the Heartland Brewery, and then joined up with Stephanie, who was going to the show with Beth. While they were there, I wandered around the Times Square area looking for a place I could rest and charge my phone, and could not find the latter. I thought Starbucks usually had outlets, but that's apparently not the case in that part of the city. I ended up ordering a smoothie at McDonald's, then sitting around and reading there for a few hours. Beth loaned me her spare battery, so I was able to keep my cell phone intact. Really, though, this is an issue I pretty much never see addressed, but which must come up. I always see people walking around the city talking on cell phones, and I know those batteries don't last forever. So where do they typically charge them? Or do they just not stay out long enough for the battery to die? I'm really quite curious, because when I'm on all-day excursions, I'm always afraid to use my phone for fear the battery will die on me.All right, I guess that's it. Happy Friday the Thirteenth, everybody!
