Given up on me yet? I am not sure what the deal is, but I have just not had the motivation to do a blog recently. Ummm, and by recently, I mean in like over a 2 and a half months Yikes. Sooo...how do I make up for the last 2 months? Hmm...I sat down a couple of times to start some entries and just couldn't finish them because I was trying to tell you guys about everything that has gone on. I think I have realized that I am just going to have to move it forward. There is just no way to include it all!
I have been a lot busier lately. I haven't even been able to keep up with Ellen and Oprah lately. I have even given thought to canceling my cable because I just don't watch it. Gasp! So anyway, I will just drop a little blurb about the general goings-on.
Uh, can you say snow?
That would be the word of the month (or last couple of months). Since Christmas, it seems like it snows every Tuesday and Wednesday. I have absolutely no idea why it snows mostly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but I guess it is just Mother Nature's sense of humor. Anyway, Christmas brought on our huge blizzard that I am sure you guys all heard about around the country. As it turns out, I was the sole resident left in New York to be on call that weekend while my co-workers all went home. I was originally scheduled to go home for Christmas and work Thanksgiving (which is why my parents came to see me in New York over the Thanksgiving holiday), but plane tickets from New York around Christmas time are notoriously and atrociously expensive. Since I was going on a cruise with my family the next week, we decided it wasn't worth spending that much money...we are talking somewhere around $700...for two days in Texas right before I would see them again. So I stayed in New York....
I initially thought some of my friends might be in town and we could all snuggle up while I made dinner, but not so much. I spent the holiday alone feeling sorry for myself and making my friends into South Park characters online.
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| Parham the Doctor |
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| Justin the Video Game Guru |
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| Jordan the Butcher |
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| Julie the Stage Production Manager |
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| Farron the Bum |
Then came the snow....oh yes, then came the snow. The storm hit on Sunday of Christmas weekend, which is of course when the millions of NYC residents were trying to get home. What a disaster. This was the 6th largest storm in the history of NYC, and Central Park (which is right by my apartment) got something around 20 inches of snow. Wow.
Being the intelligent young lady I am, I decided to go get something to eat with a friend that night. When we finally found a Chinese restaurant that was still open, the snow was really starting to come down. By the time we left the brave little Chinese restaurant, it was crazy outside. There were buses stuck in the snow everywhere. People were stuck in the subways (one group got stuck in a train for 6 hours underground!). I was over on the west side trying to make my way to the east side. I had to travel south on the subway around the periphery of Central Park and travel back north to my stop on the east side. Normally, I would just take the crosstown bus across the park, but as you can imagine, that wasn't gonna happen. I finally made it home, but it was nuts! There were literally buses stranded on E 96th street from Madison Avenue to First Avenue. I bet I saw at least 15 of them.
I watched the snow pile up on my window sill, and when I woke up the next morning this is what I saw....
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| My street. This is from my front door step. |
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| This is me standing in knee deep snow while walking to work (pre-galoshes!) |
So like I said, I was the sole resident amongst my co-workers that was still in town as everyone else was stranded out of the state. Therefore, I got to man the clinic on my own that day. It turned out to not be so bad, but man it could have been a disaster! I was a little stressed.
Since this was my first snow storm since living in New York, I did have to learn a few things.
1) Those rain boots/galoshes I made fun of in an earlier blog? Absolutely necessary! When the snow starts to melt in Manhattan, it turns into a nasty concoction of dirty, icky slush that can get as high as 4 to 6 inches. Try walking through that in tennis shoes. Not to mention that I am not the most coordinated person as it is, and the traction on the bottom of those boots is kinda necessary. So I found a pair. I really searched far and wide. I wanted something cheaper but still cute. I didn't want the plain black, but I didn't want something obnoxious with huge bright flowers or peace signs or something. So I settled on these....
Ok, so these are Jimmy Choos/Hunters, and obviously my salary and Jimmy Choo are not BFF's. But I found something that looked like these without the brand name. Of all places, I found them at Academy in Texas when I was visiting last, which means durable, functional, and affordable. Yesssss! Let me tell you something, I wear these stinking boots pretty much everyday. They have saved my life. They smell a little nasty now, but they. are. awesome. I can walk through and on anything without getting soaked and cold or falling. Someone asked me the other day if my boots were Armani. Ha! So I guess I have them fooled.
2) Do not - and I mean DO NOT - stand on the corner of the street near the curb after a snow day. You will get soaked by above mentioned icky slush. So you are dirty, cold, wet, and mad. Nice.
3) Snow can fall sideways just like rain falls sideways. I feel like I should be doing my own version of Forrest Gump....ahem...."one day it started snowing, and it didn't quit for four [days]. We been through every kind of snow there is. Little bitty stingin' snow... and big ol' fat snow. Snow that flew in sideways. And sometimes snow even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even snowed at night..."
4) They do not pick up the trash when it snows. Because the sanitation department is so busy trying to salt the sidewalks and plow the streets, they put the trash service on hold. It smells great...especially when it starts warming up and melting. Woo.
5) Ice sucks even worse. There was one morning when we literally could have ice skated to work. Even the boots were slipping on this mess. It was a solid sheet of ice on the sidewalks. My co-worker had to come down the big hill that slopes from Lexington and Third Avenue down to Second Avenue where our hospital is. She said everyone was huddled together, holding on to each other, and scooting down the street en masse. That would probably be one of the only times you see New Yorkers acknowledge each other on the street.
TANGENT: I do want to comment on this. While to most people in other parts of the country the act of refusing to acknowledge the people around you might seem rude, you begin to understand that it is necessary here in NYC. People are crazy. No really. CRAAAAAZY. For the first few months that I lived here, I would still talk to people and look them in the eye. Mistake. Big mistake. You will get stuck talking to someone who thinks bacon is for wearing or someone who can't even form words and smells like pee. No joke. Some of them even look normal. Just don't do it.
This was hard to get used to since I felt kinda rude. I was in New Orleans this past weekend where people are super friendly, and I realized that I was still in New York mindset. I had to remind myself that it was okay to return a "good afternoon" to the people on the street. It was a pretty notable contrast between the two cities.
So yeah, that's been the norm the last few weeks. Snow on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Nothing like that first blizzard, but snow here and there nonetheless. Now that I am used to it and properly prepared, it hasn't been that bad.
Oh lordy, I am currently in Texas (where it is colder than New York, mind you), and my mom just gave me a cup of my grandmother's chocolate pie filling. I love you guys, but I need to focus on the chocolate.
I will try to write some more entries. In all likelihood, I have lost any readers that I previously had. My bad. But I will try to write anyway, even if my mom is the only reader. Hi Mom!
