A Child Of Atom

I guess I still have the power to surprise people after all... Peter Filichia, blogger and reviewer for TheatreMania had this to say in his Sept. 30 month wrap-up:

"Most Unexpected Line of the Month in Someone’s Bio: Cully Long (Set/Props Design for Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type at Manhattan Children’s Theatre) “was part of the design team on the Pope’s recent audience at Ground Zero.” Who knew that a design team was needed?"

As a theatre reviewer you'd think he'd realize that that sort of stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum... I mean, where did he think that stylish yellow stage came from?

I moved 1 year, 4 months ago. This weekend I unpacked the last box.

Technically it wasn't a box, it was a pile. A pile of books that we didn't have room for, so they got pushed into a corner and forgotten. Since then they have been a place for the cat to nap, for dust to collect, and for us to generally not look at, and wish it would go away. Last week we received delivery of 4 new book shelves, which means that for the first time in 16 months all of the books have a home. Every last one of them. KF spent the weekend playing librarian, and arranging books in an arcane system that only he really understands, which led to a flurry of other cleaning and arranging. That box of papers that he had been ignoring since he started school? Filed! The space in the breakfront that was housing junk? Empty! The broken bed frame that has been held up by a stack of books for the entire three years we've been dating even though I brought a new one with me when I moved in? Replaced! KF really did all the work, I have to admit, but it is awesome to finally have things closer to a perfect order. The next, and really last, thing to tackle is the kitchen. There is some serious rethinking to be done in there though, which will probably require a new piece of furniture or two... anybody know where I can get a good pantry?

Remember how... just a few days ago... I was saying how happy I was that it was fall, and how much I was looking forward to the cool weather, but that I would probably be over it soon?


Well, it happened a hell of a lot sooner than I imagined. This SUCKS. There goes my weekend plans...

Went to the movies tonight (Paranormal Activity... not as good as it should have been...) and during the commercials before the previews was a commercial for Outback Steakhouse. Behind me this conversation occurred as a result:

Girl1: You Robin went to Australia right?
Girl2: Yeah, how was it?
Girl1: They totally didn't have Bloomin' Onions. They told her they never heard of it.
Girl2: What?! Why would anybody go there then?

Weep people. Weep for the fact that these girls will be your future caretakers.

Weep.

Can I just tell you much I fucking LOVE this cat? He lives in a pet store that I pass on the way to work everyday. He sits perfectly still right outside his shop, letting himself be petted, watching the people pass. Completely nonplussed by anything.

And he has a bigger wardrobe than I do.

Another month, another 12 of 12, Chad Darnell's photo-documentary project. See the other participants here.

My theme this month was "The Colors of Fall." I'm liking the cooler weather, though, in a few weeks I'm sure I'll be complaining about it.

Getting ready for work. I had tuna, (with my new favorite tuna salad recipe) and these carrots.

Spotted on the way to my office.

Ultraman stalks the apple I brought for my afternoon snack.

A magazine in the lobby of my office. We've been trying to figure out where they come from. They appear every few weeks on the table, by magic it seems. There is no subscription tag, no one in the office seems to see anyone drop it off.. yet there it is, like clockwork.

A little light reading with lunch.

Headed home!!

The Thomas Hart-Benton mural in the lobby of the building, it is a tribute to the American worker. Typical Hart-Benton stuff.

A grocery on my walk home. Pumpkins are the surest sign that the weather is cooling and that fall is on the way!

My corner. The orange and the purple are nice together, don't you think?

I guess lobbies are a mini-theme this month. One of the many murals in my apartment building lobby.

Kid Flash made me snickerdoodles!! I do love him.

And to bracket my day with carrots a felt carrot that is part of a craft project that I am working on. Isn't it cute?

Today was Open House New York, an annual two day event where lots of places around the city that are typically closed to the public are open and available for tours. Since more and more places have been closed since 9/11 it is a very exciting event, the one chance that most people will get to see the lobby of the Chrysler building, or an MTA substation, or the secret corridors between the windows at Grand Central.

Kid Flash and I had one of our very early dates during this weekend back when we met, and we toured Highbridge tower, and a building out on Roosevelt Island. This weekend we chose three places to see.

First up was the Society of Mechanics and Tradesman, a former technical school, and home of one of the first unions. It was an interesting building, and certainly not somewhere that I would have considered visiting on a regular day, but the most interesting thing about it turned out to be the enormous collection of locks that they had on display in the library.

Next up was the Grand Temple of the Masons. The home of the Masons in New York state and the building where some 60 different Lodges of Masons meet weekly. There are 12 different Lodge rooms, each designed in a different style. Sounds cool, right? It was pretty awful actually. The rooms ended up being over-designed boxy affairs with plaster casts of various ornaments, columns, and what-not. It was all restored in the 90's and as we were reminded over and over again all the rooms, ornaments and all had been painted beige for decades up to that point. Instead they are now painted in multi-color gaudy schemes with some (not very well done, frankly) faux finishes. The people with us on the tour seemed most interested in asking questions about Masonry (doubtless fuled by Dan Brown and bad Discovery Channel pseudo-docs), which just served to drag things out further, and so the half hour we were supposed to be there turned into nearly 2 hours. The half hour would have been more than enough.

We wrapped up the day with the real gem, Grace Church on the lower East side. The cool thing here wa sthe stained glass, all over the church, in a huge variety of styles and periods ranging over nearly 200 years.