holiday spirits #2

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Exile on Pain Street

I met M for a holiday hot toddy. We went into one of those loud Manhattan after-work bars that are packed to the rafters with the young lions and lionesses of finance and law. At one point in my life, I enjoyed frequenting these places but now I find both the venues and the people inside them nauseating. Much of my nausea is rooted raw envy. They are all young and good looking with a hopeful future wide open in front of them, whereas I am merely good looking.

This is another phase in my annual holiday tradition of reaching out and getting together with friends who I have not seen in a while. M and I have emailed and spoken over the phone but the last time we sat down and broke bread together was June. It was nice to raise a glass with him. I highly recommend this course of action for everyone. Think of someone you haven’t seen in a while and give him/her a call.

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Have you ever followed someone’s blog and then, all of a sudden, they just stop posting? Do you ever wonder what happened to them? Was it something bad or did they simply get bored with blogging? What is the respectable amount of time to wait before removing them from your reader?

more cell phone jammer shenanigans

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Exile on Pain Street

I had a live one on the train home. My cell phone jammer was carrying a full charge, so it was causing major disruptions in service when switched on. She didn’t stand a chance, the poor dear. She restarted her Blackberry three times, finally lost her temper and—I’m not making this up—started to bang it against the train window.

“…but I want to talk RIGHT NOW!”

Waaaaaa. Where’s my ba-ba? I want my blankee. It was delicious. It was the best one yet. It was better than the guy who held his head near the floor of the train to get better reception.

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Am I the only one on the planet who finds Mozilla Firefox unstable? Am I the freak?

Best. Santa. EVER!

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Exile on Pain Street

Down the street from my house is a two-story brick building that, many years ago, was a warehouse. They gutted it and created separate retail spaces in that “up and coming neighborhood” sort of way, and it is now occupied by little knick-knack stores and specialty clothing shops.

Every Christmas, Santa visits. I’ve seen TONS of Santa’s over the years—including the Santa at Macy’s, who is supposed to be the Authoritative Santa—but nobody can touch this guy. He’s fantastic!

Just look at this face!

I’m tellin’ ya, this guy IS Santa. You have to be in his presence to appreciate his “Santa-ness.” That’s a real beard. And he’s jolly, to boot! But he doesn’t smell of weed or alcohol, so it must be his nature to be happy. Freak.

hanging bard

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Exile on Pain Street

This is my favorite ornament on our tree. It’s an effigy of William Shakespeare. To his right is Big Ben. I have a thing for England. Always have. I wish I were there right now…

P.S. Is it:

“I wish I was there right now”

“I wish I were there right now”?

My useless grammar check says either way.

city sidewalks wrapped in holiday cheer

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Exile on Pain Street

Store windows are a pretty big deal in New York. Designing window displays is an actual profession out here and the penultimate store window display each year is the series of holiday windows at Lord & Taylor on 5th Avenue. People anticipate their unveiling and queue up in line nightly to view them. It’s been a New York holiday tradition for over 80 years.

The Lord & Taylor holiday windows do not display merchandise. They are painstakingly detailed scenes of vintage holidays of yesteryear. There are a lot of moving parts and animatronics. I would describe the color palate used as “violent.” It takes a lot of detailed work by a team of artisans to put these windows together and in this high-tech age, they seem quaint and innocent.