Mid-January Things

Hey, everyone!

Classes start in just over a week, and I'm excited to get back into the flow of syllabi, note-taking, and quiet hours spent in the library. You start to miss those things over long breaks. But I'll bet you anything that in three weeks, I'll already be complaining about the workload. I still can't believe I only have 3 semesters left at Macaulay Hunter. I'm going to try to make them the most memorable yet.

For the majority of the semester, the days blend into each other as I try to balance everything and get everything done on time. At the end of the semester, all I'm left with is a blur of experiences and feelings. Certain things always stick out: a really awesome exam grade, a great paper, the time my friend made me laugh really hard, my stomach in knots before an exam, my frustrations with a professor, etc. I come to appreciate all of those moments even the ones that felt scary or uncertain.

Last Sunday, I went out with my old middle school friends again. This time, we met on the Upper West Side a couple of blocks from the Macaulay building. This is a beautiful area. Lots of fancy artsy things as well as a quiet residential area. There's the Metropolitan Opera House (Macaulay students get to see an opera here when they take the "The Arts in New York City" seminar class their first semester), Lincoln Center, and the American Folk Art Museum amongst other things.

They wanted me to pick a place for lunch so I researched a few places and wrote them down on a sheet of paper. While I was waiting for the train to arrive, I was reading a book (with the list that I had made tucked into the back). It was particularly windy that day, and when one gust of wind blew in my direction, the piece of paper flew onto the train tracks. Just my luck. I panicked a little, but then I was like, whatever, we'll find a place when we get there.

When I got to the UWS, I noticed an Apple Store, and I ran over and did some quick browsing on an iPad and semi-reproduced my list. Thank you, Apple. You're cool sometimes.

We ended up picking a place that wasn't on my new list, but might have been on my old one. Anyway, the food was good so nobody was complaining.

Next, we went to see American Hustle. When we went up to buy tickets, they asked us for IDs because the movie is rated R. One of my friends didn't have any kind of ID on him so they wouldn't sell him a ticket. He decided to call his dad and see if he could bring his ID over, but his dad said his ID wasn't at home. My friend then reached into his pocket and found the ID. Too much drama for a Sunday morning.

After the movie, we got coffee at Starbucks, and I finally got to use the Starbucks gift card that I won back in October. The UWS is gorgeous at night so we strolled around drinking our coffee like sophisticated millennials. haha. It was a good day.

On Monday, I went to the DMV in Brooklyn because I had to get a new ID. My current ID says "Under 21", but I'll be turning 21 next Wednesday so I'm going to need a new one. Thankfully, my dad and I didn't have to stand in any crazy lines. I just ordered a new card at a machine.

Afterwards, my dad went to do some grocery shopping, and I went to downtown Manhattan. First, I dropped off some books at the Jefferson Market library. It used to be a courthouse but is now a beautifully renovated library. It's one of the coolest looking libraries in the city. It actually has stained glass windows, which is pretty awesome.

Then, I walked over to the Strand, which is this cool bookstore that displays books outside for as little $1-$2. Inside is a large collection of all kinds of books: fiction, graphic novels, children's books, coffee table books, etc. They also have a rare book collection on the third floor.

Today was fun because I finally got a chance to go to the Jewish Museum and see the exhibition showcasing comics artist Art Spiegelman's amazing body of work. I've mentioned graphic novels several times on the blog, and back in the Fall 2012, I talked about reading Maus by Spiegelman after reading an excerpt from it in my English class. That book opened a whole new world of books for me, and I've read so many great graphic novels since then. Seeing this exhibition was a great opportunity for finding out more about his other work, and also learning more about how he created Maus. The exhibition definitely didn't disappoint. I found myself standing in front of certain pieces for several minutes rereading the text several times and analyzing the drawings to try to see deeper meanings. It was great. You have to get really close to all the works because all of the text is really small. This is different from other exhibitions I've seen where you're encouraged to stand far away. Standing so close  encourages you to see a lot of interesting subtle details. I found myself having an Aha! moment on the train about one of the drawings I saw. I love when you realize something about a piece long after you've seen it.

S.

Quote of the Week

"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily. "

~ Zig Ziglar