Today I fought the urge to kick a pigeon...

...and I probably love pigeons more than anyone I know.  I count them among my style icons.  And I really dislike animal cruelty.  It was that kind of day.  

I don't know what has happened to me but I can no longer get my rear in gear in any kind of quick pace in the morning, so for a 9:30 class (and an 8:40 trolley) I figured I should wake up at 7:15.  That's just not my scene.  

So as I am exiting my building today, some batshit insane-looking (and not in the fun way) oldish lady stops me and asks

"Were you using cable yesterday?"

I paused in such a way that I was quite sure she could visualize the ellipses going through my mind over my head like a cartoon idea lightbulb, until I released a low, guttural "uhhh" (Charlotte, you know the one) and said

"yeah, my cable worked yesterday, like RCN you mean?"

Homegirl went on to accuse me of blasting "some loud movie all day into the night" and reminded me how thin the walls and small the building are.  Lady, I probably did not wake up until after noon, nor was I even in the apartment all day, and god knows the sounds from my wee little TV intended for a kitchen could not reach the opposite end of the building, let alone your apartment, if it tried with all its might.  Nor did I hear "the loud machine noises next door" she also questioned me about.  What the hell, don't stare me down as I exit my building, you culotte-wearing wackadoodle.

So, as the semester has started, the Route E NYU buses have gotten considerably more crowded, as I expected, but I don't think I expected herds of the undergrads to take a bus when, in reality, they have an approximately 10-block walk to class.  GTFO my breathing space.  For the few days I couldn't locate my ipod last week i wanted to punch a hole in the bus window (if I had managed to snag a seat) and dive into traffic.  In a related story, I'm pretty sure I want to become one of those twats with giant puffy noise-canceling headphones.  

I still haven't been to all my classes yet.  My phenomenology course is mad theory-heavy and the books double as doorstops, but that's kindof what I need (sidenote: Dear W&M, offer more strictly theory courses, luv, Beaton).  I seem to have to do a presentation or show-and-tell (dead serious) for all of my courses, so I'm scheduling myself into these according to what will keep me most sane within the syllabi.  Also, there's this Blackboard Scare at NYU; it's really a lot like the Red Scare.  The faculty and law school are apparently losing their shit about getting caught for copyright infringement, which is good for authors and publishers and all, but bad for killing trees, checking out reserves, and my wallet.  

Also uggggh, no, I do not know why the new printer is not connected to all the computers at work, I am not a wizard, it is not my fault, do not shoot the messenger, she is not getting paid anymore, and will only be okay with this when I see my name on the front matter.

Surprise, there's like a dead zone in NYU's insurance.  That was super fun to find out as the price of a prescription MORE THAN DOUBLED THIS AFTERNOON.  Speaking of drug stores, my trusty old friends BenGay and Medical Tape are back in my life, as I seem to have recovered from last week's first ballet class by developing shin splints in the middle of the night or something.  I am now taped up like a steroid-injected racehorse.  

In happy news, the section of street adjacent to the fire hydrant in front of Team Face's apartment building has been filled in with fresh asphalt, which means perhaps the lovely puppy piss odor might linger a little less.  

I also find slight comfort in the fact that I get to GTFO the city in the near future for Charlotte's birthday AND reveling in my four day weekends just after that by visiting my dear dear best friend Laura at MSU, who, by some aligned stars, has cranky days when I do too.  

Excuse me while I read a shit ton, nurse some chocolate soy milk (I am a child), and unrealistically hope that Andy Murray beats Roger Federer.  I will probably disappear really soon now that I have a routine.