my friend jeff said i should blog about the thrill and excitement of alternate side parking in new york city. i'm not sure why he found it so fascinating, but here goes:11:31 a.m.
we live in manhattan. (on manhattan? it's an island, really.) we own a car. we can't afford $600 a month for a spot in a parking garage, so we park on the street.
i just ran down four flights of stairs, with a pocket full of quarters, to move the car. it was parked on 93rd, between columbus and amsterdam and street cleaning happens on the north side of the street today between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. so at about 11:20 i moved the car to a meter on amsterdam. there it will sit for about an hour. today, the meter read fail so that means i didn't need those quarters.
12:10 p.m.
it's been a productive hour! i showered, paid my equity dues, and ate a banana, an apple, and a bowl of cereal (it doesn't get more exciting than this.) i'm brushing my teeth (right now) and soon i'll head back to move the car to the north side of (hopefully) 94th. wish me luck.
12:15 p.m. -- correction
after i cleaned the droplets of toothpaste off the desk, i realized i'd only eaten half the apple. i can hear the violent honking of horns outside our window and my heart rate has gone up in anticipation of the big move.
1:08 p.m. -- moved
got the prime spot on 94th street at about 12:26 p.m. (score!) sat in the car and waited for the street sweeper, which didn't come today. (when it does, you have to get the hell out of the way. then you can move back to your spot and wait until 1:00. if your car is sitting there unattended, even after the street sweeper has gone through, you can expect a $65 parking ticket.)
the time spent sitting in the car twice a week on alternate side parking day -- usually between 12:23 a.m. and 1:00 p.m -- is often about calling my friend kay. today was no different.
today's conversation was about my sinus headache. as always, kay had a remedy: cow thymus. she doesn't even know where a cow's thymus is.
"what if it's from his penis?" i asked, "or from his testicles?" she didn't seem to care if she was taking pills with cow penis stuff in it, or cow testicle stuff, or whatever. all she cared was that it makes her colds go away.
good old kay.
How often do you use your car? If not that often, have you ever thought of parking it in Astoria? I found a spot where you could just leave it on the street. I was there for a week, and no one touched it.
ReplyDeleteSeemed like a relatively safe area too.
However, if you use your car often (when I'm in the city, I do not) then it would be a moot point.
P.S. I've never been able to wrap my head around the concept of being able to brush my teeth without having my head over the sink. But I have a number of friends who can, and it baffles me. Perhaps I simply drool too much (TMI?)
Hope your directing experience went well. I saw the promo vid you put up ... looked like a great production.
Chipper D.
WTMI
ReplyDelete