Diary of an adult runaway

I think I need...

one of these:

And one of these:

One each of the pendant and telephone, please:

And one of these fabulous plants for my living room (anyone know what it is?):

Thanks to Keris (*shakesfist*), I also must have one each of these:

Come on! Pink buggy! Who doesn't need one of those?

I'm about a week away from getting my hands on Keris's new book, with its beautiful bling cover:

But until then, and thanks to Amazon UK's excellent deal (spend £25 on selected items and UPS express shipping is free to AU/NZ), I now have this:

Oh my, Redford in the 70s, I don't believe it will ever get any better than that! I'm going to need to curl up in this NYC atrium to do this book justice:

But what I'm supremely happy with:

Chilly day...

...and lots of writing to do, so it's just as well I have firewood. I also have this on the way:

I'm so geekishly thrilled, because I've always wanted a featherbed! And when it gets here, I'll be dressing it up with this:

Once I light the fire, I'm going to pop this into the DVD:

Yes! Yes, that's right--I'm one of those freaks. I also have one of those crackling Yule log DVDs. But I'll bet you already knew that.

So, yeah, going to light a fire, write...and wish I were here:

I want the whole building! That's right: the whooooooooooooooole thing. But you can come & visit :)

J'ai pas des doldrums d'hiver!

Seems there are a lot of people feeling mopey and depressed lately, casualties to the post-holiday blues, and I'm happy to say...I'm not one of them!

Could it be because I only worked 2 1/2 days this week? Why, yes, I think it could! Monday I was out sick, Wednesday afternoon I had the pleasure of my first root canal--a double! Took an hour! No pain, NOOOOOOO pain, best dentist in the world, though I did have to question exactly why some little spark of something burning should flip out of my mouth and zap me on the lip, WTF Dr. G??? Then yesterday there was supposed to be a massive strike* and so I decided I'd take a day's leave rather than battle the desperate throngs at the métro. I heard later (from the woman at the butcher's who was doing a sudoku, it was so quiet) that it wasn't as bad as they'd anticipated so I probably could have gone to work but eh.

(The strike was to protest the government's apparently slow response to the financial crisis, though I'm not sure how taking out the transportation system and the schools, forcing people to look for care for their kids or stay home for the day, and thus have millions of man-hours in lost productivity is going to solve anything. Welcome to France!)

Anyways, this morning it was almost light by the time I skipped out of Starbucks, almond latté in special Obama coffee cozy in hand, and it just made me feel happy happy joy joy. I recruited another taker to my Project Bonjour (in which I say "bonjour!" to people I see all the time on the street, at first startling them and then the first time we saw each other after New Year's trading kisses with some). This one is a woman I always see at the bus stop.

And then!! For some reason!! I was all "Hot DAMN I wish I was in New York!!" I think that's partially due to a super-secret project that involves repeated listenings of Jon Bon Jovi's "Midnight In Chelsea" (which I know is about Chelsea, London, but was filmed in Chelsea, NYC, and so I always think it's about NYC.) Suddenly I flipped back to early August, on the Super Shuttle and just when we reached Chelsea, there was a big blue dragonfly floating outside the window and I knew this was going to be good. And it was hot and steamy in that great NYC way, which drives the locals nuts at times but which I love, and when we walked at night we heard the hum of a million a/c units. And when we walked during the day the FDNY comms guys who were down a comms pit stopped working to tip their hats at us, and then there was the wildly gay guy at the op-shop who kept calling us "baby" and who I wanted to bring back to Paris with me. And the B&T guy coming out of the subway, saying "Lookin' good, ladies," which I'm totally using in my latest ms, partially set in NYC coz the hero is a New Yorker and I just fucking love that town! In case you couldn't tell. (And may I add, I just fucking love this hero! Uh huh, yeah, he rocks.) I'm thinking about the night we lurched back from St. Mark's Place to Lisa's apt. in Chelsea, after having consumed quite a bit of booze (!!) and we went into a random Starbucks for an iced coffee and were singing, singing, singing our way down the street. The Tuesday Lisa came back with the issue of Jolie-Pitt twins issue People, that the plebs wouldn't see until Friday. The night we were looking for a Barnes & Noble (closed!! as in shut down, gone for good!!) and got caught in a massive thunderstorm, comme normale in NYC in August, and the Empire State Building was shrouded in clouds and we pretty much got soaked but what the hell, who cares, it's New York and anything can happen there.

So, yeah, I'm avoiding the Paris winter blues by reminiscing about New York in summer, and singing "Midnight In Chelsea" very loudly when I find myself alone in a tunnel at Gare St. Lazarre, because those acoustics are fab.

Hey. Whatever it takes.

Oh, and yeah--there's snow on the forecast for next Monday and Tuesday. SNOW, people, SNOW!! Now, I know all of you in Minnesota and Maine and Kentucky and elsewhere are well and truly over it but it's not that common here and I NEEEEEEEEEEED it. So please, keep your fingers crossed for me!

The bells, the bells

At 7 last night, the bells tolled at a small church here for a good 5 minutes, in memorium of those who lost their lives September 11th. I didn't blog about it yesterday, not because it's far away but because it's still so close. I was glad when I was in NYC last month that the city feels better and that my friend can talk about that day without the same pain she once had. But standing on her rooftop looking towards downtown, I still longed for those twin towers. But if all I longed for was a view, then I could count myself lucky. Too many others weren't "lucky" that day.

Rest easy. You have not been forgotten.

A few NYC pics

A lovely, lazy evening on 7th ave:

Hand-painted tiles from around the world to commemorate those who lost their lives on September 11:

The view from Lisa's window. Except for the last one, you could almost believe it's still the '40s:

New York City Kitty

RWA Nationals is over (will blog once I make sense of my notes) and it's on to my final stop. Last night, Lisa and I were wandering along Bleeker Street in search of perfect gelato (Grom) when I was suddenly overcome by a fit. "Kitteh!" I squawked and ran across the street to a store that sold herbs and teas and smelly stuff and pretty things but, most importantly, was ruled over by 2 cats, one in the window, the other outside.

I made the outside kitty's acquaintance first. She rubbed her face all over my bag (she could probably smell Cedric from Santa Fe and Isabelle from Colorado Springs) then went to town on my feet:

I went inside to meet the other kitty but the owner said she was a biter, which I found kind of strange because she didn't look like one. However, having owned my share of biters (Khan, anyone?), I knew looks could be deceiving and so took a tour around the store. A few moments later, a cat walked determinedly up to me, intent on some petting. I thought it was the outdoor kitteh and reached down to pet her, which she allowed then turned and lightly nipped my hand before rubbing on me. It was indoor kitteh.

"Oh, she gives love bites," I said to the owner.

Owner (looking relieved): "Yeah, but some people think she's biting them."

One more pat and I was on my way, my kitty craving satisfied. Finally!