Safety.

Friend is waiting for the subway and some guy tells her she looks good, or something. So she says "Thanks!" and puts on her earphones. Then, the guy starts following her - onto the train, down the length of the car, trying to talk to her, keeping close by. So the next time she sees a cop on the platform, she asks him what she should do if a guy on the subway is harassing her. He says, "I don't know, he probably just wanted to talk to you. I mean, you're pretty good lookin'." So she asks again, and he says, "Well, you could move to the conductor's car, maybe. Or look for a cop. You also gotta carry pepper spray. Every woman in New York should have pepper spray. What's your number - I'll buy you some."

Please explain

It was awhile ago when I first noticed that the tracks of the A/C at West 4th are littered with batteries - fistfulls (fistsfull?) of AA Duracells, some shiny and recent, some filthy old. But then I got on the C at Canal today, and same effing thing!

I know you can't tell from this crappy photo, but I would never lie about the subway.

This post is boring

I'm bad at spreadsheets but good at research, and I have one of those jobs where you have to pretend to know Excel, so my solution was to steal the perfect template from the MS website. But the real internet victory this week was learning what combination of browser and plug-ins allows me to watch Y&R online.

Speaking of which, the Brad-Carlton-is-jewish plot is so effing dumb. And I hate the new Colleen. HI-larious about Nick's amnesia, though.

I hear that, Ms. [deled]

from the work files...

NSU Officers/Local 128 Grievance Form
Location: [deled]
Officer Name(s): [deled]
Nature of Grievance: Suspension of Ms. [deled] violates article XXIII of the collective bargaining agreement.
Contract Violation: Including Act. XXI and Act. XXIII
Remedy Requested: Ms. [deled] be made whole.

Bug drama

There was a bug in the bathroom, and it was small, but it was moving in the nastiest, most unnatural way. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and smashed it before I had a chance to think about it. Problem was, the fucker didn't die - instead just unnaturally sidled under my shelves. So I screamed. Then I thought, "Oh shit, I hope my neighbour doesn't respond to that," since my neighbour's apartment is 3 feet from my bathroom. And then I thought, "Oh, wait..."

Sigh, Canada

You know what's nice is episodes of Corner Gas online and CKUA over the internet. With the two hour time difference, I actually make it to work in time to hear the morning news. Holy crap Alberta news is boring. I mean, New York news is no less provincial, except that it's shootings and things. Very few, considering the number of people and the fact that shit is always going on. Speaking of which, New Yorkers are so nice it's almost nerdy. Like on the subway last night this woman - I couldn't figure her out: 40s or 50s, nice dress, ugly shoes, purse, gaudy (fake?) gold jewelry, busted-looking feet, but overall middle-class-looking (old hooker?) - anyway, she was bobbing and weaving on the train, and didn't notice when a seat opened up, so this huge rapper guy took his headphones off and pointed it out to her in this geniunely empathic way, unlike me who thought "Get this drunken weirdo the eff away from me".

Bluestockings

The other day I was in mid-drunken rant when I realized that all the exhibitions I had wanted to see at PS1 had closed the day before, and got really depressed. It's that thing I've mentioned before about never going to stuff here because there's a ton of options (catch that, Kate?), but you have a routine and that routine is bed, work, coffee, books, class, drunk, bed. So for the thousandth time I remade that resolution to get out there and do stuff, and went to see Avi Lewis (hot Canadian radical) talk at Bluestockings (radical New York bookstore). Back in high school, when I had such a big fat crush on him, I never would have been able to converse with him on consumer debt.