Bethesda Fountain Senior Pictures vs Bubble Guy

It is a LaGuardia tradition to take senior class pictures- the whole class and each studio- at Bethesda fountain.

I volunteered to chaperone when Daya was a Freshman, and I went again today.

It's a fun trip.

It is unnaturally warm for February....

Here is the whole senior class.  this will be a 2-page spread in the yearbook, hence the gap in the middle.

I have no idea where Daya is.

Then all the studios were photographed, Dance went first.

They had to be back at school by 12 because of a rehearsal and an audition.

I was the designated person to being 20 of them back separately if needed, but we all ended up leaving together.  It was good timing because they all needed to have lunch.

Daya is in the back left.

There is a guy who makes his living standing in the center of the circle blowing bubbles.

It's his racket, to photobomb everyone, and I guess people pay him to move.

Bubble Guy would not move for the class pictures, and had to be paid off- TWICE.

I think LaG staff must have anticipated this because someone had cash.

I think this is a shitty fuckwit thing to do to public high school kids.

********

I had keys I needed to give to another dance parent, so I went back to school to figure out what to do.

Security would not take the the keys.

I was not staying til 1:45.

So...... they would let me up to the 8th floor to bring them to the dance office, which I did.

Alll the stairs.....

At least 4 of the escalators were working....

The escalators only go up to the 7th floor, not all the way up to 8.

I don't know how or why that brilliant decision was made, maybe there is no room on 8 because of the dance studios.

This wouldn't be a proper LaG post without stairs.

And... on my way down (the escalators only go up) there were three other people coming down with me from other floors and ALL OF THEM were going down these stairs while looking at their damn phones.

SHEESH.

What have we become, with all this screen addiction, that people can't tear themselves away long enough to walk down a few flights of stairs?

******

There is a lot of art in the building and I like to see what the art kids are up to, in particular the paintings. Some of it is meh, some of it is too-much-photo-reference,  and some of it is really good.

I think these paintings are really good, remember a high schooler did them.

I like the 2 on the right- the plants with the light and the water.

The Fantastic Vat of Toxic Sludge

I have the day off work for a dr appointment, which was kind of a waste of time and I'm left with no answers, $45 paid, and feeling concern where I did not before.

I have a tiny bump in the inner corner of my left eye, right above the lid in the crease.
It's been there for a couple of years, and the classic timeworn approach of "hoping it will go away on its own" has not worked.

It isn't very noticeable unless you are looking for it, but it's definitely something new that isn't going away.

(The dr had trouble finding it but once I pointed it out he saw it.)

Last December I spoke about it to my retina dr because of the location.  (I have a scleral buckle in my left eye from when my retina detached in 1991.)  She saw it immediately nd said it was probably a cyst, and I need an ocular plastics doctor. She gave me a referral.

The dr I saw today said it was not a cyst and he doesn't know what it is.  He also said he doesn't want to take my case on, which I understand. He gave me the name of another dr that might possibly know what's going on but I don't want to do anything without first speaking to my retina dr.

I do respect that this doctor was honest about this being out of his league. I know I'm a tough case.

So... I don't know.

I'm really tired of dealing with my eyes, I'm tired of looking funny, I'm tired of all the things that go along with a lifetime of having something wrong that is visibly noticeable, I'm just tired of all of it. 

Everything is too much.

********

After my doctor appointment I headed over to 3 Times Square to see my friend Janet and pick up a huge vat of toxic sludge!

Yes, I understand this needs an explanation.

Back in the World Before Covid, the Reuters Art group met on-site.

There are leftover supplies from that time.

Including a huge massive jar of used Gamsol.

Janet had no idea what to do with it, nd I will always take Gamsol, so I told her I would take it.

Solvent is reusable. All the junk settles to the bottom, leaving clean clear solvent on top. I need to let it sit for a week or so because there was much sloshing on the way home... some sediment needs to re-settle. Then I will pour off the clean solvent into a new container.

As far as the sludge, I'll keep it by the open window and let it dry out completely for a couple months. It will turn into a rock which can then go in the garbage.

****************

3 Times Square is like a zombie office building.

It's freaky-weird.

This place used to be full of life and people, so vibrant, now it's just empty and dead-feeling.

The elevators got upgraded to touch pads, like in our office downtown.

I never thought I would take this picture again.

I forgot Janet is on 19 so I went to 17.

Yep this looked more familiar.

My old spot on the platform at Times Square.

__PRESENT

Some Juilliard Stuff & Other Sundries

This morning I thought I would go to the park and paint with some leftover paint from yesterday, but I ended up just walking around.

Exercise, I suppose.

**********

Four (4) kids from LaGuardia got Juilliard callbacks.

That in itself is a big deal, almost no one gets a callback.

Daya's friends E and K had their callback audition today.

They both got cut.

The audition is all day and Juilliard cuts people as the day progresses.

If you make it to the interview at the end, then you wait until April 1st to find out if you made it in or not.

If you get cut you're out, the end.

I'm a bit freaked out that K and E got cut, to be honest.
Both of them are scary-good. K won Young Arts this year and that is a Very Big Deal.

And she got cut!

The day started with 29 people, 11 made it to interviews.

Daya and her friend A go in next Saturday.

This is all very nerve-wracking, and dealing with this stuff isn't in ANY of the parenting books!

We basically need an Act of God.

Getting into Juilliard is truly an Act of God.

No one knows what they look for or how they find it.

************

This is a very similar situation to when Daya was auditioning for LaGuardia, which is also impossible to get into. The thing about it is- there is a perspective balance between dreaming big but not being allowed to crash if it doesn't happen.

LaGuardia was like that and so is Juilliard.

Daya really, really wants it- and I want it for her as well.

It would be a good fit, she is the same kind of crazy as Juilliard.

I do think it is a good energy match.

Do I think she can do it?

Yes. Yes I do.

But she can't crash if she doesn't get it. She just can't.

It's like... you can't be devastated if you don't win the mega-millions jackpot.

Life doesn't end.

***********

Anyhow A's mom and I are both extremely nervous this week, and freaked out that E and K got cut.

***********

Jackie and i met tonight to go see the new magic Mike movie.

It was really fun.

Highly recommended for a goofy night out.

New Wave Pier & More Pencils

Today was a quiet day, I had no particular plans and the weather was good, so I went out painting.

I'm trying to find some new spots- today I went over to New Wave Pier which is all the way East, right by the UN building.

8x10 oil, about 2 hours

This is the strangest statue...

********

After painting I went for a good walk over to Blick on 20th and 6th.

I need more tiny Princeton brushes (I always need them) and I wanted a set of those Chromaflow colored pencils.

I don't really understand why the set of 24 was $26.08 but the set of 36 is $46.58.

So 24 pencils comes out to 1.17 per pencil, but if you get 36 of them it's 1.29.

That's at Blick.

There's an Amazon listing at $26.58 for 24 and ... $54.53 for 36!

This is bizarre pricing and it doesn't make any dang sense to me.

I honestly don't need or want more than 24 of these pencils.

They are quite nice and I like them, they are fine for general sketchbook stuff, travel, and mainly for non-serious relaxing.  There is a good range of colors in the tin.  I'd like a light blue but whatever. It's not like I don't already have too many pencils.

*********

Daya is at a sleepover tonight so I have the apartment to myself plus the cats.

__PRESENT

USC Again

This week has been a haze of ... I don't even know.  It's been a weird haze.

Work is slow. For the whole team, not just me. I don't like being so slow at work.

I did go to the office on Wednesday to break up a week of being in my apartment day after day.

This morning Daya sent me an email that she got from USC, asking for missing financial aid info.

The thing abut USC is... they use the CSS Profile, which is like the FAFSA on crack.

They had a hard deadline for submission on ... Jan 9th, which is stupid-early.

I didn't even know about it and I missed it, so I never submitted the CSS profile to them because the lady I spoke to said it was a HARD deadline.

Also I have mentioned my feelings on USC before.

Well, I called them this morning and they said yes go ahead and submit it, they'll accept it.

So I did.

I guess USC is back in the running, I keep trying to pull the plug on this school and I keep failing.

Taco Tuesday

 Jackie asked if I wanted to meet up for Taco Tuesday.

That's a no-brainer YES.

I'm still feeling really crappy.  

In fact, I'm just slogging through life in general and it's a hard walk.

I'm doing all the things I know to do to keep my energy up but they aren't really doing much.

But tacos always make a Tuesday better!

**********

Dru sent me a video.....

This woman is batshit-crazier than I am.

I actually did watch the whole thing to see if there was a point other than how batshit nuts she is.

There mostly is not.

It did make me want to get a small 24 set of Derwent Chromaflow pencils, which I absolutely do NOT need at all whatsoever... I'll think on it.

__PRESENT

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.