Monday, October 15, 2007

I do feel ashamed and a bit guilty but I must share with you, my loyal readers, that I am no longer reliant on the public transportation system of my beloved city. Yes, it is true, I now have a car in NYC. Please put away your judgment while I tell the story of why I have a car and how it is making my life more enjoyable.

My very cool city grandparents had a car which they kept in a garage under their building. They used the car on weekends and on trips to see their friends. Well my grandpa just got sick and my grandma can not drive anymore so they decided last week that rather than pay to have the car sitting in the garage at the insane price of $420 a month that they would rather their granddaughter have it. Last Monday, I picked the car up and due to the late hour I parked the car in a garage in my building. For the privilege, I had to shell out $29 plus a dollar tip for 12 hours. Not cool.

The next morning I headed out to New Jersey and found that the entire trip of one highway a bridge and a side street took me 20 mins! Astonishing that I could be at work so fast when my morning commute using public transportation took me an hour to an hour and a half.

The trip home takes a bit longer but its basically much more enjoyable and relaxing.

Parking in NYC deserves its own entry but I will just say that I suck at parallel parking and it takes 20-40 mins of driving in circles trying to find a parking spot.

If you see me driving around in my green Camry wave! :)

Friday, October 05, 2007

Adventures in Crocheting

My commute is so very long everyday that it allows me plenty of time to work on the three baby blankets that I am crocheting. I don’t have much time before the babies are born so even with all the transfers I make I still take out my hook and huge ball of yarn to crochet on the subway.

I have found out that people become mesmerized by the repetitive action of my hook grasping the yarn. Whenever I crochet on the subway, I have an audience. Most of the time the onlookers look away quickly when I look up, ashamed to have been catch watching me. I play a little game of counting how many people I can catch staring at my hands.

Sometimes some of the onlookers ask questions. I had a couple who were sitting across from me ask what I was making and if my mom taught me how to crochet. (A baby blanket, and no a friend in college.) They were intrigued and the woman said she always wanted to learn how. They complimented me and then continued to watch until they departed from the train.

Another morning, a man on the bus asked me in broken English about what I was making and if I was pregnant and it was for my baby. I laughed and told him no and then he shared a story with me about an old lady in the community (Harlem) who makes sweaters and sells them.

A few nights back, I was busily crocheting on the train when a couple walked on. They sat down and the man pulled out a digital camera. I thought at first he was just showing the images to the woman he was with but then I saw him discreetly press the button. He was photographing me crocheting! Then he showed the woman and she smiled and then looked up at me. It felt really cool to be doing something that a random person felt the need to record forever (or at least for a little while.)

So I continue to stitch 1000’s of little knots….