Not Quite Wordless Wednesday: Living Room

This is my living room.

Yes, I have been living here for a month and some days and still don't have living room furniture.  We have basically been using the place as a studio - living in mainly the bedroom.  I'm getting some more counter space for the kitchen today and will be more comfortable using that space after that happens - I even plan to cook my first meal in the apartment afterward.

Today, on our third day off of the year from Jewish holidays, I am going to go to Target to get some sort of organizer to put into the bedroom.  Not sure how I will carry the item(s) back home on the subway and the walk to the crib - may have to get a cab if it is not too expensive.

I have the yoga mat for morning centering/sanity and for sitting when I am grading or planning for school - though, some of that, too happens in the bedroom (which I hate since I like it to just be for sleeping).  I have my two teacher bags sitting neatly on the floor.  I need to get a couch, but I'm not sure when that will happen due to money and me not being home for it to be delivered.  I would like to get a desk, but that is not a necessity since I have never used one in places I have lived.

The television has been watched for a total of about two hours in the month and a week since I have been in NYC.  Crazy since I used to be watching tv from the time I got home from work until the time I went to bed - at least 5-7 hours each day.

I am going to have the cable cut off and just keep the internet.

My luck and money are running out

Went to try and get payroll information squared away today.  Again.  Again, I was given information that contradicted what I had been told before.

At least they finally let me fill out some tax forms - a month after being hired.

I was not paid on the first pay day on the 15th, and the way it is looking, I may not get paid on the next pay day - the first.

The last time I had a check come in was May 22 when I received the lump sum payment for the rest of my summer.  I am always good at budgeting that money and even have some money saved up by the time I start getting paid in the next school year.

I am very lucky that I had a substantial savings (well, at least for me) when this all began.  I had enough to last my previous, typical life for close to a year.

This is what I saw today when
I opened one of my savings accounts.
Life should definitely be more than this.

I am unlucky that the savings has almost completely dwindled down to naught.

The image is from one account.  The other account is a bit better, but still not what it used to be.  And definitely not enough to last me more than another two months.

Flying back and forth to NYC dealing with issues that led to the move was expensive.  Moving wasn't expensive, but rebuying some items I didn't ship was a little costly.

This move was not anticipated.  The expenses I am dealing with were not anticipated.

Not getting paid until over a month into teaching was not anticipated.

I have to look on the bright side and hope that the money starts coming in in the next few weeks.

Saturday Quote: What people always say

Why am I not shocked?

I took this picture early last week.

Three-day old pile of trash on the sidewalk

I walked by this pile of trash two days in a row before I had to stop and take a picture of it on the third morning on the way to work.

Same pile.

Sitting there for three days.

Getting bigger and bigger.

Stinkier and stinkier.

In a different area of the city, there was one day the trash was picked up (after sitting there for days) when there were so many flies still floating in the air that it was almost like walking through a spider web trying to get past the former trash pile area.

I really don't understand the old-school way of getting trash picked up in the city.

I know New Yorkers think they are the shit and all, but, this is ridiculous.  I think they think it is normal to have trashed bags piled on the side of the road.  It is all over the city - rich areas and poorer areas.

Perhaps they have never heard of trash cans and dumpsters.

I would not want to grab these nasty, rat-invested bags if I was a trash man.  I would demand the city to find some way to get bins or dumpsters or something that is more conducive to cleanliness.

In Da Lou, if you put your trash can out before sundown the day before they pick it up or leave it out for more than an evening after they pick up your can and empty it into a dumpster, you are cited and may eventually have to pay a fine.

Here, trash on the streets is so common that I was shocked when I came across a piece of sidewalk not ridden with old, hardened, black pieces of used gum.  (I often wonder if they are still pink or white underneath all of the street scum.)  I often wonder what color yellow the subway platforms really would be if they were power washed.

I wonder if those Febreeze commercials with the blindfolded people would work if they sprayed in some of the super stinky (think urine, body odor, funk, stale air, feces, and any other thing that smells really bad) areas of subway walkways and standing areas.  I wish I could just not breathe during my walk from the 2/3 trains to the L at 14th Street.  In the afternoon, I am going to start getting off at Union Square and walking the couple blocks up to the 14th Street entrance for the 2/3 since I will be able to breathe slightly cleaner air in the open.

There are many things I like about NYC, but the trash situation is on my hate list.

Yesterday, I saw an article that said that New York was the dirtiest city in the country.

If you have ever been in NYC three days ahead of trash pickup day, I am not sure why anyone should be shocked.

New Yorkers don't like straight lines

I don't know what it is about New Yorkers and the way they walk down a street.

I have never seen so many people that cannot walk in a straight line.

My mind has tried to come up with logical reasons for this occurrence.  Here are a few of my guesses:

• New Yorkers are so used to walking through big crowds in certain areas of the city that even when they are walking on a sidewalk with only three other people occupying the super-wide sidewalk with them, they wander in a zigzag motion out of habit.
• The city is has so few nearby parks and outside play areas that people don't learn coordination at a young age. 
• Along the previous note, I cannot for the life of me understand how so many people in a city lack the ability to turn their head to look at something and not have their body move in the same direction.  I knew a girl in college who did this when she drove, and it was frightening.  When walkers do it, it is not as much frightening as it is annoying as hell.  
• Another guess is that the advertisers in New York are so good that they really do create magnets that draws people to whatever they see.
• Some of the people I have seen will suddenly start walking from one side of the sidewalk all the way toward the store side, as though they are about to enter a store.  It is always to my chagrin that the person is not going into any store on either the current block or even the next five blocks.  There is, again, some sort of magnet drawing the person toward a store.  I guess the magnet is not strong enough to make them go inside.  Instead the person continues to walk close to the storefronts for  at least a block and them, of course, migrates back to the other side of the sidewalk and back again since it is impossible to continue to walk in a straight line.
• My final guess is that the people who walk in s-formations on the street actually really do have eyes on the back of their head.  When they see me coming behind them, they immediately start to walk in whatever direction I am moving to try and get around them.  When I finally do succeed, they proceed to laugh behind my back.

Kid Sis #1's dog is so 

incredibly cute and friendly!

I was in a Rite Aid the other day picking up some dog treats for Kid Sis #1's super-cute, new, Chihuahua dog she adopted.  While in the store, I saw a phenomenon that I have never witnessed before.

When I finished gathering the dog treats and a Snickers bar so I would not act like Betty White during the bout of hunger I was suffering, I went to get in line to check out.

I have never been in a store and had absolutely no clue what was going on with the checkout line.  I started to get in line behind a man who looked to be in the line.  Then I glanced to my left and saw three people who looked like they might also be in line and was totally confused.

Why was I confused?

WTF is up with the long break in the line?

Because the three people who looked to be in line were super far from the man who looked to be in the actual line.

I had to take a picture of this ish!

Help me understand what the reasoning was for this man to be standing so far back from the start of the line.

It's not like the man in blue was at an ATM and required some privacy so no one stole his pin number.  I have never even seen people at money machines give people this much room!

I asked the man in red twice if he was in line - I hoped that the second time I asked he would realize that he was too far back to make any sense, but he just stayed where he was until the man was finished.

When the man in red went to the counter to check out, the two women in front of me only moved forward to where the man in red had been standing.

Fortunately, a new checker came to the front about where you see the 75% off sign and I went into that line and no longer had to deal with the madness.

I will not play ping pong

As I wander the streets of NY I see some really cool things.  Sometimes I remember to take my camera out and take a pic.

I loved the intensity of table tennis as I watched the Olympics this summer.  There were some mean-mugs to opponents that could kill!!

I saw this place and decided that when I finally get paid, I might go in and beef up my non-existant ping-pong skills.

I will own one of the rackets that cost upward of $400.  I will be able to stand 10" from the table and play my opponent.  My matches and sets will be so intense that I will have to invest in the prescription strength deodorant and will need to buy some sweat-wicking clothing.  I will be able to give people the evil eye as they are about to serve me the little ball.

I won't play ping-pong.

I will play table tennis.