Staten Island Sunday

One of my boathouse friends is starting a food truck business, and she needed help getting things set up.

It's on... Staten Island.

Ugh.

My friend's indoor commercial space is HUGE, as in ENORMOUS.

It needs a lot of work though.

There's got to be a story here... I guess they broke up before finishing the wall???

I didn't actually know what the work involved would be until we were all there.... it was helping clear out an empty lot next to the liquor store.

I did NOT like that lot and we were provided with work gloves but I didn't think they were sturdy enough for that lot.  I guess I have a lower tolerance for exposing myself to injury and biohazards in Staten Island vacant lots, because no one else seemed to mind much.

You just don't know what's in there, and it's also right by a park where homeless people live.

The city cleans the lot every 5 years or so but they haven't since before Covid.

....

Broken glass

Scrap metal

Weird garbage...

Who knows what else....

...We only found three needles which was less than I was expecting......

I was comfortable being the bag-holder so that's what I did and it was extremely useful after all.

And... we cleared that lot!!

I think we were all shocked at the progress, no one really expected it.

*******

It takes me 2 hours to get to Staten Island, especially on a Sunday with the Sunday train wonkiness.
The ferry runs every half hour and is a 25 minute ride from Lower Manhattan.

A lot of people stayed after the cleanup, but I left bc... 2 hour trip home.

I caught the 5pm ferry by two minutes!!

An entire flock of seagulls flew with the ferry for the entire ride!

__PRESENT__PRESENT

LaG Callbacks

I have had a horrible week at work.
It started fine and good then went downhill fast.

It's a situation I can't do anything about, I can't talk to anyone about it, I just have to suck it up and carry on, but I feel sucker-punched.... and honestly it's all bullshit and isn't even warranted, except by one person's irrational biases, computer illiteracy, and insecurity.

So I'm feeling... sucker-punched and scrambled.

I feel horrible and angry.

**********

Anyhow this weekend is callbacks for the incoming Freshman class at LaGuardia.

Only dance does callbacks.

I went with my friend.

We figured there were probably 500-600 students coming in to audition (out of probably 1250 or so that initially applied), and they will accept around 60 students.

We answered questions the prospective families had.

Daya is volunteering all weekend as well- from 8am til 4 or 5 pm.

Just a second ago she was that nervous auditioning kid-- and now here she is assisting with the auditions.  Her job was to demo during the auditions.

I love LaGuardia Dance, and I'm not ready for it to be over... I wish we still had one more year.

The light in the lobby was really pretty.

The Almost Very Bad Very Nasty Flood

I worked from home today.

A is usual, the cats have their routine of sleeping, bugging me, eating, sleeping, and repeating the whole cycle.

They got hungry, so I got up to feed them.

My cats eat wet food, and after I feed them I rinse out the can and put it in recycles.

I rinsed out the can.

Black water overflowed from my sink.

???!!!!????!!!!!!

There ARE some dishes in the sink because it is Daya's turn to do the dishwasher, but everything is still functional.

My drain has not been slow and there is absolutely nothing in the sink to cause a flood of.... nasty black water!!

I was so grossed out.
I took all the dishes out of the sink and it was FULL of black water!!

YUCK!! This water was NOT going anywhere.

To make some space in the sink, I brought several bowls-ful to the toilet, then I called the super.

THANK GOODNESS I WAS HOME!!

Basically what happened was the pipe on the whole line got blocked, and everyone's water was coming into my kitchen!
It happned so suddenly!

I'm on the bottom of the line so I'm the one who gets the blocked pipe results.

The super contacted everyone directly above me and told them not to turn on their sink.

Then he spent the next hour taking out the pipe, snaking out the whole mess, and putting it back.

He said the same thing happened on the other side of the building but the tenants werent home and came home to a huge nasty flood!!

YUCK!!

I bleached my whole kitchen.

At least it is nice and clean now but... YUCK!!!

First Plein Air of 2023

I haven't painted yet this year, because of Life or Weather, or sometimes Life and Weather at the same time.

But I went out today and made the effort.

I stayed local- went over to Flushing Meadows again.

I need to get back into my groove, and I'm feeling not-great in general... I'm in quite a bad funk to be honest. Artistically and otherwise.

But at least i got out and did.... something... this painting took a little over an hour.

8x10 oil

Senior Dance Luncheon

I took the day off work to help volunteer for the annual senior dance luncheon.  This year it as on the 8th floor at school.

Last year I also helped out, and it was downstairs in front of the concert hall.

The kids were very happy with their catered lunch.

I finally got to see my paintings in-person on the 8th floor! They look really good.

And of course, it wouldnt be a proper day at LaGuardia without the neverending stairs................

I'm really going to miss volunteering when Daya graduates.

Winter Dance Showcase

Daya performed in the LaGuardia Winter Dance showcase this weekend.

There were three shows, 2 on Friday and one on Saturday.

I went to 2 shows, Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

The show is overwhelmingly, as all LaGuardia shows are.

Home, Finally

The red eye to Atlanta was only about 3 1/2 hours.

I tried to sleep but really couldn't because it was SO SO COLD in that plane.

On the way over to LA they gave out blankets, but I guess it's ok for people to be cold for 3 1/2 hours... apparently the flight duration didn't qualify for blankets.

I think it's pretty incredible we can almost cross the country in 3 1/2 hours...

That was not a fun plane ride though.

I haven't been to Georgia in many years.

I do not like being in Georgia.

If you have been to Hartsfield Int'l Airport, you know there is a train that goes between the concourses.

Back in the 90s there was a really scary artificial voice that did the announcements.

It is on youtube!!

And here!!

Last time I was there it had been updated, and it has been updated again since.

I could not wait to get home.

And I did manage to sleep most of the way from ATL to LGA.

(The plane was warmer and I was so exhausted.)

Pebbles came out to say hi but Isis and Furball did not.

All was well at home except Isis spite-pooped in the bathtub.

Eventually everyone got over being mad and came out to say hi and be clingy.

I made Oden (Japanese hot pot with fish cakes) and took a long nap.

I am SO GLAD to be home!!!