It’s been awhile since I last updated anything personal on
here and since I’m up early enough and with a clear head, I figured I’d catch
up now. It’s been a busy month so far,
both at work and at home, and today promises no let up. The weather here in New York has cooled down
quite a bit from what it had been, but it’s been beautiful nonetheless. Since it’s Sunday, a day off, I need to get
outside sooner rather than later…
Central Park
This Thursday I will be taking my students on a field trip
to New York City’s Central Park. The
trip is going to be a cool one, with an awesome scavenger hunt built in. In the past several weeks I’ve been doing a
lot of research on the park, and even though I’ve been there plenty of times
before, I learned a lot about the place.
Yesterday I took a test run to scope out the things I’ve read about so I
can prepare for the trip.
The weather in NYC was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, making
it a great time to go into Central Park.
There are so many things to see there, and I wanted to catch most of
them while I was there. I arrived at the
park around noonish, and meandered my way through many of the beautiful
pathways that wind their way around the place.
As it was such a beautiful day, the place was teeming with activity and
only served to remind me of how much I want to live in the city.
I visited the Central Park Zoo, Bethesda Terrace, the statue
of Balto the sled dog, Belvedere Castle, Sheep Pasture, and so many other
places I can’t even remember it all. Here
are a few photos I took so you can appreciate the wonderful beauty that exists
right in the middle of Manhattan…
Ziggy
Ugh, lately I’ve been having some of those Ziggy moments that
I experience from time to time. I dunno,
there’s definitely some sort of bad energy that hits me for spells every once
in awhile and all I can really do is try not to let them get me down and wait
them out until they go away.
I guess it all started about two weeks ago when I got my
third bill from my gas company in a month.
I pay that bill on a monthly budget and once a year I get a year-end
statement with a reconciliation between what I paid and what I used. The first bill was for $28 and change, which
was a nice surprise, but then I got a second year-end statement a few weeks later
in which the amount jumped to more than $330.
A week after that, yet another came saying my total was well over
$400. Sheesh!?!?!
I called the company, which is something I neither good at
or like to do, and I got this robotic service representative who simply couldn’t
answer my questions. I mean, I’m not
disputing what I used, but aren’t I right in that I am on a budget to avoid
things like this? The whole thing
brought me from extra money in my pocket to a negative balance. Ya just can’t fight “the man,” I guess!
My Zigginess continued on Thursday when I got a speeding
ticket. I told you once before about a
ticket
I had gotten last fall and fought, and now I got another one on my way to
work. Again, this one was cheesy as I
was one of about 6 or 7 cars all moving relatively close to one another at a
similar speed. Yes I do drive fast, but
I’m not the type of driver that weaves in and out of traffic flying past every
car in my way. I asked the officer why he
picked me over all of the other cars that were going at a similar pace and he
could not answer me. All he said was
that it didn’t matter if I was in a group of cars cause he uses laser radar and
he could pinpoint my speed. That doesn’t
answer the question, does it?
I felt that I was targeted because of my car, my sporty
little Eclipse, and I still do. I only
should have opened my mouth sooner because I don’t think he would have given me
the ticket if I had asked before he wrote it up. I dunno, just a feeling…
I also got a parking ticket in the city yesterday. Oh when will this end? It was my first one ever in the city, and
again it was cheesy because there were other cars parked in front of and behind
me and the “No Standing” sign was at least a half a block up from the
spot. I simply didn’t even notice, and
considering all of the illegal things that people do on the roads of NYC, this
wasn’t so bad, was it? And it was for a
hundred bucks, too! Again, when will
this end, lol….
On the Bright Side
Earlier this week we held our 6th annual ESL
Family Night at school and once again I was tasked with public speaking. Though I’ve done it a gazillion times before,
I still get butterflies for about 24 hours before, and as always it was for
nothing. I’m not sure if it’s because
the other teacher who went on before me is so bad, but she energizes me to get
out there when she’s speaking and I always do a good job once I’m up there. Both my boss and the principal were on hand
and if I say so myself, I rocked it!
Let’s Go Rangers
Yesterday afternoon the Rangers began their 2nd
Round series with the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I DVR’ed the game and watched it last night
after I got home from the city. The
Rangers won the game, 3-1, and I’m starting to really love rookie Chris
Kreider, who scored a beautiful goal and had an assist for the Blueshirts. Go Rangers!
Da Bunk
I went to the Bunk House last night for the first time since
opening night, and I’m only telling this to anyone who’s read my review of the
place to catch up on what it’s really like now that it’s up and running. The crowd is still nice…not as big as on that
first night, but nice enough to make it a regular thing. The music was great and the crowd was, um,
very Long Island. Take that for what it
is…
Well that’s all she, or rather, he, wrote folks! As always, thanks for checking out my lil corner
of the Web. Your visits are always
appreciated. Enjoy your Sunday, and stay
tuned for my late “Y” post…
Image Sources:
John Myers
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