The donut, the club, the boys, the work, the ouch.

A couple weeks ago I met up with this guy Tim, who won the free donut. He was really nice and cool. It felt a little like a therapy session, since I know nothing about him, he knows a lot about me, and we talked mostly about how I can improve my life.

He's in Thailand right now, I think.

Hopefully this won't be the last I see of Tim, who is nice and cool. He should come to the brunch club.

Speaking of the brunch club, the Sound Scientist, one of our charter members, has not been in a really long time. It makes me a little sad, since we were such good close friends for a while and I had hope that for once a good, close friendship that I developed would not dissolve into the distant, see-you-once-in-a-blue-moon kind of thing that is all too common here in NYC. However, some of the gals I know through dance have been coming, which is nice. And of course my sidekicks, The Starlet and The Heartwarmer, who I love. And our Pet Nineteen-Year-Old, who The Starlet adopted last summer while waiting in line for Shakespeare in the Park...she comes quite a bit. But it's a total chickfest, which sometimes gets on my nerves. I like having guy friends around.

Speaking of guy friends, there are two of them that suddenly seem to be jumping up and down trying to get my attention. Since I've been unemployed, I've had the time to indulge this a bit, but they are both testing my impatience as I wait to see a little assertiveness. Asking me to go out is fine, but it's no fun if I have to be the one making all the decisions. I hate making decisions, and I have to do it plenty enough on my own. Please tell me where to be, when to be there, and what sort of attire is expected. Dating is, like, the one time I do not want to be in control.

Speaking of things that are beyond my control, the reason I haven't written in a long time is that I've been a little depressed. Economically depressed as well as too-much-time-on-my-hands depressed. But here's the good news, President offered me a job yesterday! Praise Jesus! She might not know it (well maybe she does), but she has rescued me from certain financial ruin, or at least from the emotional devastation of having to ask my family for (more) help. I was beginning to worry that I was on the cusp of losing my grasp on this whole New York movie-making freelancer endeavor...and while the financial part would be hard, the idea of failing myself is much much harder.

Speaking of things that are hard for me to confront, I had to reign in my running a little bit, which is driving me crazy, since mentally I'm ready for an 8 miler. I have developed a mild case of Plantar fasciitis. If you can imagine having your heel sliced off with a meat slicer you can begin to understand what it feels like. Long story short, I was grossly inflating my weekly mileage, switched to a new pair of running shoes without enough arch support, all the while romping through New York for miles and miles each day wearing flat-soled Chuck Taylors with no insoles. Boom. Plantar fascitis, or as I like to call it, Chuck Taylor Syndrome. Just goes to show you should listen to Dr. Scholl and put arch supports in all your shoes. With a little Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation and a LOT more stretching I should be able to overcome the daggers in my heels pretty soon, then I'm going to own the hell out of that 8-miler. It's going to take me across the Brooklyn Bridge and back.

It's autumn in New York!

Leaves! Leaves everywhere!!

I went to Brunch Club with the Sound Scientist and my new friend from L.A. who is a costume designer on Saturday at a place in Park Slope called NONO Kitchen. It was so yummy, but the beignets were a little substandard. JH always made really good beignets when he used to work at a little coffee shop place in the French Quarter. His were better than Cafe Du Monde even, but maybe that's because I loved him and anything he did for me made me happy. That was a really good time in my life, right after we moved to New Orleans, when I was waitressing at the most hellacious restaurant ever (name omitted to minimize my embarassment) and JH was a short order cook and we felt so lucky to be young and alive and in the coolest city in America.

Anyway, it was a rainy rainy day and Sound Scientist and I stumbled on a golden-leaved street. Gold leaves everywhere! Gold on the trees, gold on the street, gold on the sidewalk and the brownstone steps and even falling on my windshield. It was absolutely gorgeous and it made me feel so lucky to be young and alive and in the greatest city in America.

I'm in love with New York again. The blustering wind of fall has kissed me on the nose and made me remember that feeling I had last November when I first arrived here for real, for good, for life. I can feel the holidays hanging in the air. I never really liked the holiday season very much but there really is something special about this time of year in New York. There is something exciting about steam from the subway grates and steam from my breath and steam from the hot dog stands. There's something impressive about the way women still manage to dress for fashion in freezing weather and the red Starbucks cups and the die-hard street fair vendors.

Even though it was dark when I left the dance studio the other day at five-thirty, I was just so excited to skip down to St. Mark's with The Grecian and Mama Squirrel for falafels at Mamoun's and to shop for new stripey elbow length fingerless gloves. The air is electric again. Something good is about to happen.

The Prospect Park Brunch Club

About a month ago my roommates and the Sound Scientist and I started the Prospect Park Brunch Club. We had our fourth meeting today and it just keeps getting better and better! I'm really glad to be building some community in the neighborhood and it's a great forum to bring friends to meet other friends! Anyone is welcome, even aunties if they'd like. :) We usually post up the next week's location sometime mid-week.