More classroom cleaning. Today I had a clearer idea of how to proceed with my classroom. First, I tried avoiding unnecessary conversations; I also avoided ( but I wasn’t too successful) digging thru the piles of things that other teacher’s had thrown away.

In the classroom, I had to continue going through more books and papers. I really was starting to feel overwhelmed by the amount of material. I finally had had enough. I started skimming and putting into the hall any material that did not relate to third grade. For some reason, no one wanted to risk throwing anything away. Even one of the assistant principals “suggested” that I put the books back because the school would have no budget to buy any new materials. I realized that fighting this would be a waste of time. After finishing the books and papers, I started to think about my learning centers. After I had a rough idea where my learning centers would be, I started to put away the test prep materials and the workbooks. Finally, I went to work on covering the bulletin boards. I assumed that since the principals were all present today, the school would probably stay open late to allow teachers to work on their classrooms.

Five minutes after four, the principal made the announcement that the teachers had 5 minutes to leave the building. I went to her and explained that I was far from finished with my classroom. At first she said that I would have plenty of time tomorrow to finish, but then she was nice enough to change her mind with a promise from me that I would be out of the building by 6pm. Strange, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a school where the teachers had to leave so quickly at the end of the day. If I did not have an incomplete classroom to worry about, I would not mind being encouraged to leave early. I ended up leaving the building around 5:58pm. I was only able to do the bulletin board in the back of the room, and one closet door. At first I really did not like the color scheme. Unfortunately, I was in a rush when I went to the nearby teacher’s store (in the rain) to buy the bulletin board materials. I arrived about 20 minutes before closing. After I finished the back of the classroom, I realized that I got lucky. The colors seemed to match. I was able to change some of the planned colors, and use some of the old paper to make it look like I did the color scheme on purpose. Since my classroom was not finished, I did not take any pictures.

When I left the school building, my plan was to go to the local big office supply store in my neighborhood to buy more paper for the walls (I ran out of black), but the store was too crowded. I just looked at some of the electronics, and then I left. I am thinking about buying my own small photocopying machine. The school I am at is nice, but some of the other schools have better photocopying procedures. A couple of schools had a copy machine available for the teachers to use at anytime. Other schools make you put in a request. The school I am at now, I have to go to the secretaries. Although the secretaries are very nice, and they will often stop what they are doing, there are a few times when they can’t stop to make copies. There are also times when the copy machine breaks down. Usually, I plan ahead with my copies, but I think it would be a real comfort to have access to a copy machine for the few rare emergencies. Also, I make and adapt worksheets for my students, having access to a copy machine (especially the enlarger and shrinking features) makes making worksheets easier. I will still go to the secretaries for most of my bulk copy needs.

Post Date - Saturday, September 2, 2006 11:33pm

First day back in the classroom. Today was a cleaning day. When I first stepped into the classroom, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. It has been about 3 or 4 years since I had my own classroom. I did not know where to start. I received nothing in the way of a list of things to do to get ready for the school year.

First informal assessment of what was in the room by grouping items and materials.
By myself, I moved (several times) students desks and class furniture into different configurations. What goes into planning furniture layouts; the schools teaching philosophy, but more importantly student population. What was on my mind for third graders? Runners. Hiders. Crawlers. Throwers. It was very difficult to arrange a room when I did not know how many students I would have.

Once I had a basic idea of the room’s layout, I emptied all closets and cabinets. I felt that it was very important for me to get comfortable with the room that I would be using for 10 months. couple of hours into the day, one of the assistant principals called all available men to help move boxes and things out of hall storage closet because the electrician could not reach the electrical box. It took about 6 of us about 45 minutes to clear out just a pathway to the electrical box.

Since I had so much to do, I didn’t eat lunch. Around 4pm, I went shopping for classroom materials. Since I was in the neighborhood, I return to school so that I would not have to carry the materials to my shoebox in the Bronx, only to have to return the next day.

I stopped by foster father’s place to pick up my mail. I received a letter from the NYS board of Ed saying that they will mail me my teaching certificate in 2 or 3 weeks.
I ate dinner at a local restaurant. I bought two plastic 4-shelve unit.
I walked to 125th street office supply store.
Returned to my shoebox. I was too tired to do any rowing.
I ate a can of sardines and a glass of green tea.

Post Date - Saturday, September 2, 2006 11:26pm

Today I began my job search. It turns out my extra planning was not necessary. I started the day with hot oatmeal and green tea. I signed my cover letters, and stuffed them in envelopes. I did not bother with any fancy paper types. I made 8 copies of my resume (with cover letter and a copy of the NYS page showing that I was due a certificate -- eventually) to 8 former schools I subbed at.

The first school I decided to try was the school mentioned several times in this blog. Why? Of the 7 or 8 schools I subbed in, this school had the best vibe (relatively speaking). The principal was the one that seemed most specific in asking me to join. Specifically, she told me that if I made a decision over the summer to contact her. The other schools only gave vague interest that they would love to have me full time at their schools. It turns out that the first school gave me a 3rd grade position as soon as I walked through the door. If I thought it was going to be that easy, I would have thought a bit more carefully. What was the response? The minute I told them I was looking for a full time position, the secretaries stopped what they were doing to call the principal on the loud speaker. When the principal walked in they told the principal that they had their 3rd grade teacher. The secretaries said happily that they would vouch for me. The principal said that since she already knew my work, she did not need to interview me. She went to the secretaries computer to log onto the State (or city’s) website to see if she could offer me a position.

It turned out that when I quit about 6 years ago, I was in the system as resigning. I would have to go to the regional office to rescind my resignation. The trip to the ROC (Regional Office Center) was easier than I thought. I was in such a good mood that I went to the NYC board of education in Brooklyn to change my status from substitute teacher to full time teacher (different pay rates). At the HQ, I was told that I did not need to change my ID since it was a smartcard (microchip contained inside the ID). I was also told that it was too early to change my payroll status.

I was still in a good mood. It was late (about 4pm), but I decided to go to MacDonald for a late lunch or an early dinner. Unfortunately, MacDonald was very crowded. Next, KFC was also too crowded. I settled on Subways. I had a BBQ sandwich, apple pie, and bottled water. For an extra dollar, I could have gotten the combo meal (a bag of potato chips and a soda), but I decided to pay extra pretending to be making a healthier choice. I told myself that if I did eat at a fast food restaurant, then I would walk it off. I was about to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, but I remember the Manhattan Bridge. I did not realized the two bridges were so close. I can’t count how many times I’ve walked across (and back over) the Brooklyn Bridge without thinking about the Manhattan Bridge. So, how was the Manhattan Bridge? Very Noisy. And it was not as nice. The D train runs across the Manhattan Bridge. I think the Manhattan Bridge was a slightly long walking time (maybe 30 minutes). I forgot to time myself. Next time, I will walk across the Brooklyn Bridge then return on the Manhattan Bridge.

On the Manhattan side, I walked through China Town to the Grand Street station. I rode the D train back to my shoebox. I changed clothes to shop for some supplies for my classroom. On an impulse, I went to cheap shop that sells irregular items, for example, clothing with loose stitching. I decided to buy a pair of jeans. Recently, I’ve lost some weight, before I invest in an more expensive pair of jeans, I decided to buy a cheap pair. The jeans I bought were a size 34 waist. Wow, I have not had a pair of 34 waist jeans since high school. Strange part, I now have a 34 waist, but I still have a beer belly (even though I don’t drink beer).
I ate leftovers for dinner. I was not really in the mood to exercise. I only did about 40 minutes on my rowing machine. I watched the first half of TEAM AMERICA – Baka!!!!!

I attached a couple of photos from my walk. The first is near Board of Ed HQ in Brooklyn. The other photo was taken on the Manhattan Bridge.

Post Date - Saturday, September 2, 2006 11:05pm

Resume Update. A fairly slow day. I did not do much. Again, I spent way too much time on my computer. I started by finishing up my New Teacher Orientation blog entry. I am about to post it this evening. After the blog entry, I worked on updating my resume. Now that I finally have my teaching license—well, I was told that it is “in the system” and a printed copy is on its way here. I hope.

Now, I have to find a teaching assignment. I would like to sit back and wait, but I really don’t want to wait. Teachers only have two days to prepare for the new school year. As a new teacher, I need more time to get ready. If I had the same class, the same grade, and the same materials, then I could be comfortable with a two day preparation. Most likely, I will probably spend my 3 day weekend working (or worrying) about my new teaching assignment.

After I updated my resume, I had to walk to the local big office supply store, to have them open the file on my floppy disk, and print a copy. Once I get paid, I will need to buy a printer. After the clerk printed a single copy of my resume file, I went to the back to use the self-service copy machines. The copies were $0.10 per copy. My resume was three pages long. I also had a cover letter (one page), and I also had a print-out of the State Education’s web page showing that I was approved to receive a New York State teaching certificate. I printed 8 sets. I did not bother with fancy paper. Tomorrow, I will deliver my resume in person to a few of the schools I subbed in last school year. I will also need to go to the NYC board of Education in Brooklyn to change my school identification card from sub to regular teacher. I think the place will probably be very crowded.

After finishing my copies, I went to the grocery store to buy a few items; among the items was some ground meat. I finally made my pasta with meat sauce.

Finally, another example of why I need to get my own apartment and move out. The couple on the 3rd floor my building had an argument. According to Mr. 40+, the woman threw the man’s things out the window into the alley right outside my window. When I heard the loud racket in the alley, I just assumed that that someone was doing some late night work there. And when I smelled the bleach, I just assumed that the person had finished up. According to Mr. 40+ (who felt the need to investigate), after the woman threw the guys clothes out the window, she poured bleach on the clothes. He also told me that there were several cop cars outside.

After a while, Mr. 40+ returned to finish our conversation, he also borrowed a couple of my DVDs. He borrowed Batman Begins, and Van Helsing.

Post Date - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 11:35pm

A lazy, sloppy blog entry. It is late. I am going to just quickly summarize the last two days. There isn’t much to write about, so it should not take long.

Friday, after several attempts to get through to the board of education in Albany, I finally got through again. I was told that there were many people who also had application in, so that might have been the reason for the long delay (6 months) in getting my application processed. I was very happy to finally have some kind of confirmation that my application was finally being processed. I decided that on Monday, I would schlep around to various schools that I recently subbed at to see if I can find a teaching position. Hopefully, I will be able to find something before Thursday (the day teachers are due to return to the classroom). I really hope I will be able to get in a classroom before the kids.

I went for a walk to the big retail store (think red and white logo) to buy some more rat glue traps; there is another rat in my room. I can tell I have another rat visitor, because 1. I can hear some movement, and 2. poison pellets lying around even though I’ve vacuumed the carpet a few times. At the store, I first checked out the DVD section, then the book section. I decided to buy another book. I am about 1/3 of the way through the “Broker” book. So, any opinions so far? Well, at first I wasn’t really getting into it, but then later, I started enjoying the book. How, or why did I change my mind?

First, I should confess. It is a little embarrassing to admit. I am really not a reader. I won’t embarrass myself by admitting the time span between the double read I did last year (The Da Vinci Code & Harry Potter – the Half-blood Prince) and the time before last year when I actually read a book cover to cover (that wasn’t a textbook). The problem, since last year, I’ve been measuring all (I should say the few) books I’ve picked up with the two summer reads mentioned above. When other books would not hold my attention the way last summer’s books did, I would lose interest. At first I told myself that the John Grisham book I am reading now, was not very interesting. However, once I stopped comparing it to Da Vinci Code, I realized that this book is fairly interesting. I am almost half way through, and I have to say that I am enjoying the main character’s development so far. I also enjoy being able to pull out my book when I am standing on line. Since I’ve gotten back from Japan, It amazes me how poorly service has gotten. Or maybe, I got used to living in a country where people are taught to take pride in serving another person. Maybe this is just a sign that old-age is slowly creeping up. I am getting sidetracked.

At the store, I had trouble making a couple of decisions. I couldn’t decide whether to buy the “adult” edition of the Chronicles of Narnia (containing all seven books in the series) at $16, or buying each part separately at $8 each. The adult edition is about the size of a 5 pound dictionary. I am lazy about carrying things when I am walking. I am frugal, but I like the idea of buying separate books in the Chronicle series. The separate stories are about 200 pages each. I can finish the small books without risking boredom. I worry a little bit that I have not developed as a serious enough reader to handle a 5 pound book.

The other decision? I couldn’t decide between the Chronicles of Narnia and The Bartimaeus Trilogy. The Bartimaeus Trilogy reminds me of Harry Potter, it seems to have a bit of a dark edge.

I decided on:

The Bartimaeus Trilogy (Book 1 [462 pages]) The Amulet of Samarkand. According to the cover, this book was a New York Times Best-Seller. While waiting on the line to purchase my items, I read the first chapter; I liked what I read. I also liked the cover. Book 3 is out now in Hardcover. By the time I’ve finished with books 1 & 2, Book 3 should be out in paper back.

Today (Saturday) was just a very lazy day for me. I was on the computer/ internet for most of the day. Half the time, I was searching for apartments. I was seeing what was available for my price range. I watched a couple of news reports from time to time that said that a person should not spend more that 1/3 or his or her salary on rent.

It is getting late, so I better summarize quickly. It is 2:25am. So much for getting back on regular school time sleep patterns.

After surfing the net for apartments, I got curious about downloading. I decided to download a video on my dial-up connection to see how long it would take.

The results?

5 hours and a half for a 12 minute video. Interesting. I also looked at some second-hand printers. In order to print a document, I have to walk about 12 minutes (uphill) to the near office supply superstore. There, I have to pay 2.50 just for them to access my floppy disk, then I pay about 10 cents a copy. I was planning on buying a printer yet, but I saw a couple of nice and cheap ones. Unfortunately, when I got around to writing e-mails to the advertisers, my computer started the freeze and stop working. At least I was able to read some of the Grisham book. I am almost at the halfway mark. I am currently on page 182 out of 422 pages.

Finally, I need to go shopping. I was so lazy today, that I did not feel like going out, so I had to go through the food that I had in the cabinet to make my dinner. I ate miso soup with spinach, and frozen fish sticks ( heated in the oven). Since I was still hungry, I boiled a couple of eggs. After letting my food digest, I did an hour on my rowing machine (without the plastic suit). Yesterday, I was watching Men in Black and did not exercise.

Post Date - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 11:29pm

New apartment internet search. Not much done today. I spent a bit of time searching for apartments. Hopefully, if things go well, I will be working full-time this school year. I finally got through to the Board of Ed in Albany. The representative told me that my application was reviewed and my teaching license will be printed in a few days. I really wasn’t given any explanation for the very long delay, other than there are a lot of people waiting.

For dinner, I did not feel like cooking so I was planning to go to KFC, then I changed to going to the nearest Chinese take-out restaurant to buy an order of fried chicken ( would have had miso soup [with horensou]). However, I settled on beef with broccoli.
I did not exercise this evening; I just wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything. Hopefully, I will be in a mood to do something tomorrow.

Post Date - Monday, August 28, 2006 1:44am

New Teacher Orientation. Yesterday, while randomly searching the internet, I came across a New Teacher Orientation here in NYC. Since I have not had my own classroom for several years, I think of myself as a new teacher; I decided to go to the orientation. It was last minute, but I managed. The web site said that anyone interested in attending the orientation had to register and print out the flyer to bring to the orientation. I assumed the flyer would act as a ticket/invitation. Yesterday, I got off my butt to walk up to the big local office supply store to print out the flyer. The office supply store is about a 12 minute walk up-hill. I walked to that area, I went to the bank, I went to a couple of the small shops in the area, and on my way back, I needed to go to the grocery store for a few items.

When I finally returned to my shoebox, I had the feeling that I forgot something…

I forgot to go to the office supply store to print out my flyer. I had to return. In order to print the single flyer, I had to pay $2.50 just to open the file, then another $0.10 for the B&W copy. I was told that usually any requests for printing or copying had to be reserved (meaning that once the order was placed), I would have to return. However, I was lucky, the woman was nice enough to do the printing then and there. That woman is one of the nicest store clerks I’ve ever met.

On my way back, I knew that I would not have time to make the spaghetti and meat sauce, so I ordered take-out from one of the local restaurants. I ironed my my white shirt and slacks. I set my alarm clock for 5:20.

About 5:00 I woke up with my biological clock. I am lucky enough to not have to need an alarm clock, my body always seems to know when I have to get up. Unfortunately, when I have an irregular schedule, or I don’t get enough sleep, my internal clock does not work. When it comes to work, or an important event, I don’t rely on my internal clock, so I set an alarm clock. It is a little strange, I set the alarm, but I don’t like the alarm to go off (especially when it might disturb others), so I will usually wake up before the alarm goes off to turn it off.

For breakfast, I ate 2 bowls of cold cereal and drank hot green tea. On the train, I was able to get a seat, there I continued my Grisham book “The Broker”. The travel route (to the orientation) was very easy. I checked the map for the end station. Since the D train was one of the trains that stopped at the correct station, I thought I did not have anything to worry about. Unfortunately, since I was so into my book, I really didn’t notice that I was on a morning express train (which takes a different route during the morning rush hour. I ended up going about 3 or 4 station out of the way. Luckily for me, I was planning to get there early to avoid any rush and possible get a good seat. When I arrived at the correct station, I met a woman who was also going to the new teacher orientation, and she had just asked someone for the walking directions to Brooklyn Technical High School (the location of the orientation). As soon as we arrived (the woman and I) we were greeted by the teacher’s union representatives. The reps were handing out information flyers about the teacher’s union.

At the front door, we were greeted by event organizer escorts. Once inside, the woman and I went our separate ways. Escorts escorted the newbie to their seats. We were told to sit row by row without skipping any seats (just like we would tell the kids). On each seat was a black shoulder bag with a few free items inside:

An insulated coffee mug
A B5 sized calendar book with a weekly, monthly, and yearly planner
Information flyers

Also free books were given:

The First Days of School
Conscious Classroom Management
Best Lesson Plan Websites for Educators

It turned out to be a packed house. And, I was clearly over dressed. Very few guys were in shirt and ties. A few people were dressed in shorts and tee-shirts. The event started at 9:00am with a drum performance.

A 20 minute performance! Now, not to sound old and crabby, but isn’t it a little too early to have drums beating for 20 minutes. And after every drum act, the audience felt the need to give the kids a loud rousing applause.

Did I like the drum performance?

Yes, I did. I thought it was too loud (and too early for drums), but I thought the kids and their teacher did a very nice job. A very nice entertaining performance!!! Two thumbs up!! After the drum performance, there were speeches from the Chancellor, the Deputy Chancellor, the head of Human Resources, and the teacher’s union president. The speeches were okay, I guess. Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention. I was a little annoyed that the speaker’s podium was located at the far left side of the stage. I was in the audience on the far right side of the auditorium (about 4 seats from the exit). Since I did not see anyone taking pictures, neither did I.

After the speeches, the newbies were herded into the high school sized gym where about 70 exhibitors had tables displaying various kinds of information relevant to teachers:

Free stuff (books, pens, pencils, magnets, etc…)
Union information
Teaching resources
Catalogs
Field trips information
Banks
Etc…

A big office supply store, and a computer company were there offering discounted merchandise. Since I was close to the exit leading to the “exhibition hall”, I was one of the first ones in. Unfortunately, the tide of newbies just kept coming and coming. It got to the point that we were pressed in like sardines.

After about 5 minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore, I left the “exhibition hall” and waited out in front of the school for the workshops to start. They called them “workshops” but they were basically Q & A sessions, all located in the 7th floor cafeteria, all going on at the same time. According to the itinerary, there were supposed to be 2 one hour sessions. I went to the Teacher Certification/Licensing section (see previous blog entries for why). Then, I went to the Salary Differentials section. The woman giving the presentation (Q & A) at the Teacher Certification section really seemed to know her stuff. She was like a machine. She took any and all questions. She started early, and did not take a break. The woman doing the Q & A for the Salary section, seemed to know her stuff also, but she seemed bored, and disorganized. She started late, and had to beg and borrow from the newbie the salary step scale handout.

After the “workshops”, I returned to the “exhibition hall”. About 1/3 of the exhibitors had left, and there were a lot less people there. I felt more comfortable to explore the different tables without feeling the need to response to every sales pitch from each table. Now that the exhibition was just about over, there was no longer any hard sell pitches. The left the orientation with about a 10 to 15 pound bag of stuff.

On my way back I took the D train. I noticed that the Manhattan Bridge had a pedestrian path, when I get a chance I want to walk across that bridge. I also pick up about 7 or 8 free tourist maps of New York City. Hopefully, I will be able to use them to walk around the city.

I returned to my shoebox. Screamer was in the kitchen. After changing my clothes and going to the bathroom, I went to the kitchen. My plan was to finally make the spaghetti and meat sauce with the ground meat that has been in the refrigerator for about a week. Once in the kitchen, I noticed that Screamer left oatmeal spilt in on and around stove. It looked liked someone had thrown up. My first impulse was to eat out, saving the spaghetti dinner for yet another day. However, I changed my mind. I decided that I would cook around the oatmeal spill.

I started the water boiling for the pasta. I took out the ground meat and put it in another pot to brown. I must have taken my eyes off the meat for about a minute. I don’t know how. I don’t know when. But, somehow, there were roaches in the meat. Not one, but two!!! I was so disgusted. All week, I put off making the spaghetti dinner, now there were roaches in the pot with the meat. Having to throw away the meat really made me annoyed. At first, my plan was to just make the spaghetti with out adding meat to the pasta sauce, but I just no longer felt like cooking. I asked Screamer (in a fairly wimpy approach) to please wash those dirty dishes that have been sitting in the counter for weeks…if she has the time. Even when I am angry, I spend too much time worrying about other people’s feelings. While I am dumping hot water and washing my dishes, Screamer agrees to wash her dishes. She stands about 3 or 4 feet away waiting for me to finish. After about 5 minutes of standing there, she then decides the wait in her room.

I went out to a local grocery store to buy dinner from the store’s hot buffet. When I returned, Screamer later apologized for leaving the kitchen a mess. She told me that she is usually tired trying to keep her room clean because her boyfriend always leaves a mess when he comes back. No comment from me.

Screamer actually did a very nice job cleaning up her dirty dishes, and she cleaned them very fast. I was actually impressed.

About an hour later, Mr. 40 leaves his dirty pan on the counter. Yes, there were roaches crawling over his pan. However, later that evening he did wash the pan.

I need to start looking for my own apartment.

The attached photo is of the free stuff that I received at the orientation.

Post Date - Monday, August 28, 2006 1:32am

August 21, 2006

CAUGHT!!!
I caught a rat. I wish I could have said the rat, but I am sure there are more rats around. This rat was caught by the hole in the kitchen that leads to my room. The hole was already patched up (by the property owner's handyman) before I was able to take a photo of the hole. I am not sure where to start with this blog entry. Let’s start with today.

This morning started around 3am. I woke up early either because of going to bed at one (back to the irregular schedule), or I because I exercised around 9pm. I went to bed at 1 because I had wanted to write an e-mail – I was kind of hoping for a reply by the next morning. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought that I would try. My plan was to go to bed at 12 midnight, but once I got on the internet, before I knew it almost an hour had passed.

Once 3am arrived, I was wide awake. It took a while, but I finally fell back to sleep, only to be awaken by the sounds of gnawing, and screeching in the walls by my radiator. The rats were back. I could also hear them in the kitchen. I think the difference between a rat and a mouse is that rats are much noisier. I could hear the running, the screeching, and the rattling around in the trash. Mice, you really have to listen for their squeaks to know that they are around. Rats just make a lot of noise and seem to be far more aggressive.

After finally, getting back to sleep, I received a knock on my room door about 8am. Screamer wanted to tell me that the rat was caught. Although she told her boyfriend (she later told me) – he brought their cat in to see the rat. I guess since I put the trap down, the honor of disposing it was left to me. I was already in my “too tired to do anything moods”, so I knew I would spend most of the day in front of the TV. About 11:50, Screamer was at my door again; she had locked herself out of her room and wondered if I would help her. I volunteered to call the property owner. The property owner arrived in about 10 minutes; he did his “I don’t think I have the key” speech, but he must have needed to go someplace because he was giving the speech while the key was in the door. As soon as her door was opened, he was out the building. And Screamer? She wanted to talk about about a situation with another young lady upstairs. Apparently, when she was first locked out, Screamer had planned to go to a young lady upstairs, but when Screamer heard the young lady laughing with someone she (Screamer) was not getting along with, Screamer began to suspect that maybe they might have been talking about her. My conversation with Screamer lasted about an hour with her standing at my door.

After Screamer left, since I had not eaten breakfast, I heated up and ate the last of the macaroni & cheese and the spareribs.

On to yesterday (Sunday). I was planning to continue my blog from yesterday, but once I returned to my shoebox, I ate dinner, watched a movie, and rowed about an hour on my rowing machine.

Picking up where I left off from yesterday…

After spending about 3 hours on my blog entries, I left for the mall in Jersey City. Several weather reports said that it would rain, so I was expecting it to rain, but it turned out to be a very beautiful day. I really didn’t do much in the mall, there wasn’t a movie I really wanted to see. I basically just walked around and ate at Panda Express. I also bought a dinner take-out from Panda Express.

On my way back to New York, I took the New Jersey Path train to 9th street. Since the weather was really very nice, I decided to walk a few stations to get to the nearest D train station, so I would not have to transfer. I walked from 9th street to 34th street. There was some kind of Street Fair on 6th avenue from 14th street to 24th street. The weather was very nice, and there were not a lot of people at the fair, I thought it would have been nice to have someone to walk with, but I just continued my walk alone.

On the train ride (both going and coming) I read the John Grisham book mentioned in previous blog entries. So far, the story seems okay. It isn’t anywhere near the level of the Da Vinci Code, but it is okay. It appears to be holding my interest…for now.

While I was rowing, I was watching Batman Begins. I only watched the first half last night. The beginning was a bit soap operaish, but the story started to pick up in the middle. It is now almost 7pm, I have not been off this futon for more than 15 minutes, not a very exciting life. Now that I’ve caught up with my blog entries, I will post this one now, so that I don’t get backlogged too soon. Hopefully, I will be able to get out of my mood and do some rowing. Tomorrow, I really need to start figuring out what and where I’ll be come September.

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I was planning to post this entry this evening, but my computer froze, so I will try again now.

Well, since I am here, I can add a little more.

I did not exercise today. I spent the evening watching “Wife Swap – Meet Your New Mommy”. I did not want to start exercising at 10 or 10:30 because I probably would not sleep well tonight. Tonight, I am really going to try to go to bed by 12 midnight.

Oh, I can hear noise in the radiator in the corner I plugged up. I think another rat want to pick up where his friend died.

August 20, 2006

Yesterday, I had another peaceful night, but I still woke up tired. I think my body has to readjust to normal sleep patterns and routines. This morning (I’ve finally caught up with my blog entries), is the first time in a long time, I have gotten up without feeling tired. Last night, I went to bed at 12:30. I avoided getting on the internet, knowing that I would not have gotten to bed until 1 or 2 in the morning.

Last night, I rowed for a little over an hour. Then, much to my surprised, the bags of sweat were back (pooled around each ankle and wrist). I noticed that none of the sweat leaked out while I was laying out the plastic tarp, newspapers, etc…I decided to risk undressing in the bathroom. I managed (despite having about a half a pint of sweat in my plastic suit), to not lose a drop on the floor on my way to the bathroom. Nothing on the floor even with running back to my room to make sure my closet was locked. When I leaved overseas on a military base (I was a civilian not military), there would often be PSA (public service announcements) about locking up your valuables when sharing living quarters. Anyway, I got into the bathtub, stripped, and washed off my plastic suit (hung it while I showered), showered, washed the bathtub and sink, all in about 30 minutes. I am going to try doing the same thing again tonight. How did I keep the sweat out? I fold and wrap a washcloth around each ankle, holding it in place with my socks. Then I put a sweatband over each washcloth. For the wrists, I put on a sweatband under and over each sleeve cuff of the plastic suit. I know it sounds kind of stupid, but I am still proud of myself.

Oh, while I was exercising on my rowing machine, I watched the second half of the DVD Van Helsing. Baka!!! (Japanese for stupid). The special effects were nice, but the plot and character situations were stupid. The setting was supposed to have been late 1700’s or early 1800’s but the cast acted like it was present day. Not to mention a few plot points that made this movie a good imitation of Swiss cheese. One character gets thrown through windows and against walls 4 or 5 times and survives, but gets pushed once at the end, and dies. The saving graces of this movie were its special effects and monster make-up.

Now, a quick summary about my day yesterday.

Yesterday morning, I went to the coin Laundromat. I managed to arrived right before a crowd arrived, so my things were washing with they walked in. I was also able to get a couple of good machines.

The property owner’s handyman repaired the rat holes in the bathroom and the kitchen.

I went to Canal Street. I wish I had taken my camera. I walked past the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. There is a very nice stone plaza at the entrance. From now on, I am going to have to remember to take my camera, even if I am planning to do nothing but go shopping. On the train to Canal Street, there were some changes to service that left me a bit confused. At 125th street, I changed to the A train only to find that the A train was making local stops and following the N train stations. I changed back to the D train only to find that it was following the F train stations. While on the train to Canal Street, I finished the book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The book was okay, not great. It really felt like a kids story. The Harry Potter books have a similar slant, but those books don’t feel like they are kid books. There are 7 titles in the Chronicles of Narnia series. The Lion, Witch book was one of the seven. The next book in the series is called a Boy and his Horse, the first chapter was included in the Lion book. I think that I might get the book at another time of boredom. Right now, the next book on my reading list is John Grisham’s The Broker. It says that it is a New York Times Bestseller. I bought the paperback edition. Paperbacks are easier to carry.

On Canal Street, I went to a large art supply store. It was like being in a department store for art supplies. It had 5 floors. When I was a kid, I really wanted to be an artist, but I was not comfortable with the idea of being a starving artist, so I took the practical route. I became a teacher. Art teacher? No way! Cluster teacher’s seemed to be treated as babysitter’s. Homeroom teacher’s would often be on their own schedules, dropping their kids off early, and picking them up late. Also, in almost every school I’ve been at, art teacher’s always seemed to be the artistic servants to the school. No matter the program, the first words out of someone’s mouth would usually be, oh, why doesn’t the art teacher do that?” Or, “ I’m thinking of this this and that, maybe the art teacher can make it.” If it is your idea, shouldn’t you be the one to make it. I don’t have a problem with asking the art teacher for help, but really, are art teacher’s only in the building to serve the school community. I told myself that I would never be a cluster teacher. Also, they don’t usually seem to have the same respect as the homeroom teacher or the two titan teachers (Reading and Math).

Let me wrap this up. I’ve been on the computer long enough. I really liked the art store, I did not like walking on Canal Street. Too many people with no place to go:

Groups standing on street corners decided which way to go.
Hawkers selling “real” Rolexes, Gucci etc…
Strollers walking in one direction, but looking (and talking in another)
Window shopping wanderers
Snail Steppers

I did pick up a Chinatown tourist guide, and the NYC Summer 2006 Visitor’s Guide.

Let me go. I’ve been on the computer long enough. It is now 1:00pm. They said it will rain. I was thinking of going to Jersey City Mall to look around, maybe see a movie. And of course, I want to visit the Panda Express in the Food Court.

Well, the day is only half over. Let’s see if I actually do something.

I have about 3 blog entries that I have not posted yet. I am debating whether or not to put them all up like I usually do when I get back logged. This time, I thought that I should only post one entry per day. I thought that if anyone is actually reading these, if I posted more than one, they probably would not read them only skim. Let me get off -- I meant, let me finish on the computer. I forgot that a couple of my pen pals from Japan might still be reading. They may not understand casual expressions.

I attached a photo of the kitchen. Even with the rat problem, Screamer still feels comfortable leaving food out in the open. In the photo, you might be able to see opened lunch meat, cheese, and and eggs. The food was left for about 45 minutes ot an hour.

Until next time… or later…

Post Date - Monday, August 21, 2006 3:54pm

Friday, August 18, 2006

Finally, a restful night. I managed to sleep the night through without the sounds of gnawing, and other rat sounds. I was still a little tired.

I went to my foster father’s place to check my mail. I was supposed to have received my teaching license yesterday. Since I had not received here in the Bronx, I thought that there might be a slim chance that it was mailed to my other address. It wasn’t. School will be starting soon, and I still don’t have any idea about my employment. I went for a walk along 125th street. I decided I would buy the newspaper and read it in the park. Since it was lunch time, I thought that I would also eat lunch in the park also. I went to Burger King. I ordered a whopper. I resisted the temptation to order a value meal. I decided to buy an orange juice in one of the local delis on my way to the park. After reading the newspaper in the park, I took the D train back to my shoebox/cell. I tried to call the Board of Ed, however, after an hour of trying, I was not able to get through. Each time I did not get a busy signal, I would get a 1 or 2 minute recording that would end with the question, “if I wanted to speak to a representative”, then I needed to stay on the line, only to be connected to another recorded message saying the all reps are busy, please try again.

I started painting one of my Paint by Numbers. It is okay, but I will need to go to an art store to buy another brush. The brush that came with the set has a very frizzy uneven bristle head. It is very difficult to paint inside the lines when the brush head does not come to a point. There is a big place on Canal Street that I used to go to many years ago. I’ll go sometime this weekend.

This evening I was planning to make some spaghetti with meat sauce, but Screamer got to the kitchen first. I settled on leftover spareribs, with a precooked rice pack from Japan, and miso soup with horensou.

This evening, I wanted to be finished with my rowing exercises, so I did not bother with the plastic suit. After spending an hour on the rower, I barely broke a sweat.

Well, let me post this entry and call it a night.

Post Date - Monday, August 21, 2006 3:48pm

August 17, 2006

Last night, I had very, very little sleep. I was kept awake by the sounds of rat(s) at play. See, my plan was to put down a lot of poison and have another night like the one previously. Unfortunately, the rat(s) seemed to have been more comfortable to explore and play. They did not stay in the poison area (under my futon bed). I heard sounds under my bed, in the corner by the TV, and near my head in the cube shelving unit. I felt trapped. I really wanted the rats to eat the poison and go, but it felt like one rat invited some friends. I finally couldn’t take it anymore. I rattled my keys, dropped a book on the floor, then I turned on the lights. I heard them, but I did not want to see them. The evening before, I did see a rat in the kitchen on the kitchen counter. I am sure that rat was between 5 and 6 inches (not including the tail).

I discussed what I thought was a rat problem with my neighbors. Screamer’s response was that she did see a rat, did not like it, but continued to leave a mess in the kitchen. she had made tacos leaving meat sauce, shredded cheese, and lettuce all over counter and in the sink including 2 or 3 wooden matchsticks. Not to mention the pile of dirty dishes that have been sitting on the countertop for about a month. She also felt comfortable because she had a cat. Her recommendation was that I should also get a cat.

Mr. 40+’s response was “Oh, you should buy regular rat traps, the kind that snaps the head right off. I asked him if he had seen the big rat hole in the bathroom, would you believe he told me that he had not seen the hole. The hole was right by the door. To get to the bathroom, you have to step up. And…if you are sitting on the toilet, the floor space is about 4ft by 4ft. How can anyone missed that hole. See the attached photo in the previous blog entry.

Property owner’s response – “Oh.” He tapped the walls, then left. Later in the evening, returned with the handyman. I guess rat holes demands a response, but broken electrical outlets don’t. I wonder if the holes would get patched up, or if it is just for show to bring the handyman in.

I did not want another sleepless night, so I went shopping. Sorry, being so stressed out about the sleep (or lack thereof) and the rats running wild, I forgot to take a photo of the items I purchased. But the list is as follows:

4 rat traps
4 rat poison packs
3 bags of metal scouring pads
1 Combat roach killing Gel tube

I patched the holes in the kitchen, bathroom, and the two holes in my room. It was my foster father who had told me years ago how to fix a mouse hole, stuff it with steel wool scouring pads. The idea that we (at that time), or me at this time would ever have to deal with rats seemed unreal. I never thought that I would ever see a rat inside any placed that I lived. I took my foster father’s mouse advice one step further. I put rat poison in the hole, stretched out the metal scouring pad so that I could tie it off on the pipes. I wasn’t sure if rats would push or pull the material blocking their paths, so I wanted to cover my bases. I also laid a glue trap at the entrance to each hole. Now to see if I can get a stress-free night of sleep.

Post Date - Monday, August 21, 2006 1:04am

Rat Party. Not much to write about. I did not get much sleep last night. Either one mouse and one rat, or two rats were having a party under my bed. Details?

All week I’ve had noises coming from under my bed. And each day, the noises have been getting progressively worse. Originally, I thought it was a mouse but Mr. 40+ said that there is a rat in the house (actually two if you count the one he said is upstairs). I know there is at least one rat. I believed we had (or have) a mouse but now that a rat has gotten in, that rat seems to be trying to stake out his territory. I’ve heard in the kitchen cabinets and under my bed the sounds of an aggressive rat fighting and chasing either a mouse or another rat. I attached a photo of a rat hole.

Yesterday, I had had enough. I went to the store to buy rat/mouse poison. To insure that the poison would be eaten, I mixed in some of my salmon (with teriyaki sauce). All night long, I heard the sounds of running, chewing and chasing under my bed. The only thing on my mind was hoping that nothing had the urge to climb. This morning, I checked the poison area. Would you believe that the poison pellets were taken out of the pack scattered around, with barely a trace of the salmon that I’d mixed in with the pellets. It was like they had a party. I collected all of the scattered poison pellets, I was just curious to see how much had been eaten. When I collected all of the pellets and put them back in the pack, I measured the pack with another pack that was not touched by the rat(s); they looked and felt the same. From 9pm to 9am. About 9am this morning, I’d heard the last of the movement under my bed.

I just finished making barbequed spare ribs. Tonight, I will mix in the greasy meat drippings and some of the BBQ sauce with the poison pellets. I really hope that works. I have about a week left before I start working again. I really feel like a prisoner in a cell.

Onto another subject. Today I decided to finally cook the spare ribs that have been marinating for several days. I decided that if I cooked early, then I would eat early. When there are not leftovers, I will usually buy junk food, or eat late. Now, after I post a previous blog entry (sorry, I’ve fallen behind again), I think I will go for a walk around my neighborhood, and then I’ll return to make baked macaroni and cheese. I’ve also been putting off making the Mac & cheese for several days. Today will be the first time I try making about half of what I usually make. I have a bad habit of saying help yourself to the extra food I make, and my neighbors have absolutely no problem accepting my offer. the last time I’d made spaghetti with meat sauce, I had planned to make enough to last for 3 or 4 days, but Screamer (and her boyfriend?) ate more than half, leaving me only leftovers for the next day.

Well, let me post and walk. Until later…

Oh, if my dinner comes out okay, I’ll attach a photo. I might and to this blog entry, but I might not. I really have to stop going to bed at 2 in the morning. Lately, I been procrastinating with doing my hour on my rowing machine, until it is about 10pm, then I would do a blog entry, which would take a couple of hours to do. I have to go back to my 30 minute time limit.

Oh, one last thing. I think I will change the setting on my rowing machine to the next level up. I think my body has gotten used to level 3. Last night (with the plastic suit on), I barely, sweated ¼ of a cup. I miss the pints of sweat that I used to produce. Seeing all of that sweat encouraged me to continue. Without the sweat, rowing is starting to feel like a waste of time.

Post Date - Sunday, August 20, 2006 10:36am

A problem with a mouse. There is a mouse that seems to enjoy coming to my room. The mouse returned, and kept returning. I finally poured bleach into the spacing along the wall between the radiator and the wall. I thought that since they have a good sense of smell, the bleach might affect the mouse, but no, the mouse continued to keep coming back.

Today, I was up and out of bed about 11am. I decided to not eat breakfast, By the time, I boiled to water for the oatmeal and the green tea, it would have been about 12 midday. I would have turned on the TV, and not moved until about 5pm.

My plan was to shop for a small baking pan for baked macaroni and cheese. Since it was lunchtime, I decided to go to Taco Bell to try the new chicken burrito advertised on TV. The minute I saw it being made I knew I had probably made a mistake. But since I had already paid for it, I decided to try it. Since it was too hot to eat, I decided to take it with me (resisting the urge to throw it into the trash). Since it was a very nice day, I decided to eat in a nearby park. I also bought a juice, fruit salad, and a newspaper from a local supermarket. I was right, the Burrito was a waste of money, I ate about 2/3 of it before throwing the rest away. After reading my newspaper, I was about to walk to the big retail store I like to go to (think red bulls eye), when I noticed the top of the George Washington Bridge. I thought (without really thinking), oh why don’t I just take a quick walk over the GWB. The distance was much further than I thought.

When I finally arrived near the GWB, I had a little trouble finding the pedestrian walkway. I was told that only the South side (pedestrian walkway) was open so I looked, but I could not find the north way. I finally located the southern walkway. The walk across the GWB was about 20 minutes one way. Since there were signs saying no photos taken, I was not able to take pictures. I only took two before I thought I better not be seen taking photos on a bridge. I did not want to be mistaken for a terrorist. The first photo was taken at the start of the bridge on the Manhattan side; the other photo was of the view on the bridge on the Manhattan side. After walking across the bridge, I walked back to my shoebox. The entire walk was about 4 or 5 hours.

After I returned from the GWB walk, I went to the store for milk, juice and canned soup. Later, I watched a DVD while I rowed on my machine for an hour. I watched the DVD Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The movie was okay, not great, just okay. I ended up watching the whole movie.

Post Date - Saturday, August 19, 2006 12:25am

I was invited to attend a Burlesque show. The ticket price would be $5.00. I am a little nervous because I am not sure what to expect at the show. I am also not fond of the idea of walking in this neighborhood late at night, not to mention riding the trains. Am I really exposing my nerdy personality?

It is about 2:00pm. I thought that since I was on the computer, I would start my blog entry now. The plan for today is to meet at 6:30 on the lower eastside of Manhattan. We would walk around for a few hours, and then go to the show.

This morning about an hour after I fell asleep (I went to sleep about 3:30am), a mouse that was caught in one of the glue traps I’ve laid down woke me up trying to get free. It was flipping and flopping like a fish out of water. It flipped about 2 feet a couple of times with the plastic tray glued on, there was no way it was going to stay caught. And sure enough, it escaped. I think I need to invest in better glue traps.

My plan today was to cut my hair, do an hour on my rowing machine, then take a bath before going to the evening show. Unfortunately, I got out of bed around 12 midday. Spent too much time on the computer. Now my plan is to just cut my hair and shower.

Gotta go…



I am back it is now late. I will try to summarize as much as I can.

After I finished cutting my hair, I showered. About 10 minutes after I showered, my walking friend (no, not the same as the Staten Island friend) called me; he told me that his ankles were not feeling well, so he wore flip flops. He wanted to meet an hour later. However, I told him that if he was not feeling well, we could reschedule the walk. He told me that it was just his ankles, so I suggested that we only go to the show. He agreed.

The new meeting time was 9:30 for the 10:00 show. I was told that I should meet my walking friend near the F train at 2nd avenue. Since there were two exits, I was told to find the small park near the station. When I stepped out of the station I found a small park, so I took out my book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and read for about a half an hour (I arrived at 9:00pm). At 9:30, WF called to ask where I was. It turns out I was at the wrong place. I was supposed the come out the other station exit. This exit also had a park nearby.

After meeting up at the correct place, WF introduced me to two of his friends that he’d asked to join us at the Burlesque show. WF was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and flip flops. Both friends seemed very nice, and left a very good first impression. One friend was an older guy with a cane. The woman was nice, but a little bit too talkative; she also apologized a little too much. She apologized for conversations she had while walking 3 or 4 feet ahead, or 3 or 4 feet behind me. I couldn’t hear anything she was saying, so it wasn’t necessary to keep apologizing.

Since his ankles were hurting, WF in flip flops wanted to take the bus to the Burlesque show’s location. We were about 10 blocks away. The friend with the cane convinced us to walk. While walking, the Ladyfriend told me that I could find out my racial composition for about $250. I really did not know what the value of that information would be for me, but I just said that was interesting.

Ladyfriend talked a lot in the bar area. She seemed to need to be in each conversation, even if a comment was not directed at her, she would ask, “what did he say?. What did you say?

In the bar area, Ladyfriend continued talking. To be honest, it seemed like it was very difficult to finish a sentence without her changing the subject, or interrupting. She asked WF if he was free to see a video next week, then she asked him to rent the video. When I told her that I’d seen the movie, (it was “Fahrenheit 911”) and thought that it was interesting, she almost insisted that I tell guy with cane about the movie. I thought the guy with the cane was very nice, but it was hard to hear him, Ladyfriend would keep trying to get his attention to hear about the movie that she wanted WF to rent with his video rental card. Later, noticing my book, she asked about the book. “Oh, that’s a kid’s book. I read that book in 7th grade. But, it is okay, a lot of adults read kids’ books. What’s that book (turning to guy with cane) with the kid who studies very hard. You know that kid who is really good…” Harry Potter (said Guy with cane). “That’s it!! A lot of adults read that book.” While we continued waiting, someone who was making the rounds to talk up his burlesque show in September. The advertiser (with an Elvis wig on) kept the Ladyfriend occupied.

The doors opened at 10:35 (more than 30 minutes late). The first thing Ladyfriend said was that “she was not paying 5 bucks for that show”. Guy with cane paid first, WF paid next. I was last to pay for my ticket. The doorman let Ladyfriend in so that she could ask someone in her group to give her the money. Ladyfriend asked the other two guys for a loan (I am so glad she did not ask me), then argued with WF in flip flops for not giving her the loan. Guy with cane eventually paid for Ladyfriend’s ticket.

My impressions of the show.
Basically, following the expression, you get what you paid for, I would still have to say that I enjoyed the experience of going to a burlesque show, even though I was not comfortable with women standing on a stage to take off their clothes. Over-all, I would have to say the show came across (to me) like a burlesque show for poor men. I didn’t really give my opinion about the show then and there. WF seemed to really, really enjoy himself. He seemed to be a really big fan of the show. He knew all of the performers. He commented on how good this show was because of the curtain. According to him, the curtain added some mystery to the show. I sat behind WF (and Guy with cane). Although WF is around my age (40), he looked like a kid seeing Santa Clause in person; he looked mesmerized by the performers on stage. I really didn’t want to say anything bad about the show.

Just a few observations. I think all of the “performers” fishnet stockings were torn, worn or had holes. The “performers” did not really have “stage bodies. One was very tall and very skinny. Another was a full-figured lady. There was a bit of cottage cheese served up with several of the “performers”. The stage hand/performers assistant had a bit of a belly.

I know. I know. Someone with his own issues with a spare tire, not to mention being told more times than I care to count that I am not attractive, I really should not be speaking about the ladies’ appearances. The only reason I am mentioning the appearances is because the basic premise of the show was the “ladies’ physical attributes”. As far as burlesque goes, I think that this show was basically a watered down strip show. I do believe the women were very professional (no pun intended), and there was no sleaze factor. I think the ladies really did their best to give a good show. I thought my money was spent well (relatively speaking). I don’t think I wasted my money. I was happy to have been invited to the show.

So, what was the show?
The bar had an occupancy rating of 74 people max. There were two rooms (not including the bathroom) the front and the back. The front was the bar area, and the back was the theater area. In the theater area, there were about 20 to 25 seats. The stage was very small, maybe 5ft. by 10ft. The show was about an hour in length.

The show opened with two “performers” who were cousins (according to their opening dialog) deciding who would host the show, so they had a dance-off. The tall skinny lady won. There were 5 performers (not including the guy who was taking the role of stagehand/ ladies’ helper/ cousin somebody or other. Sorry (although I am very visual), I should have been able to remember the characters’ names, but I didn’t. Except for one!

The performers:
The mafia princess – (the only name that I remembered) her most memorable act was the encore she did, where she did a routine to the theme of the Sorpranos’ theme song. A bit ironic that that was the routine where she was putting her clothes on. She had prop guns to go with her act. I thought her act was cool, I was just annoyed with the gum chewing. I know it was a part of her act (princess- get it), but I really did not find anything sexy with a 20-something blowing bubbles with her gum.

Tall and skinny – Sorry, I forgot her name. She did a routine inspired by the Tonya Hardin scandal a few years back.

Red something – Sorry, I forgot her name. She wore a red wig. Her dance was to a song about being evil. I actually really liked that song. She was the full-figured dancer.

Bling Bling – Sorry. Oh, you know. Her dance was with a rap/R&B song about money. She had the nicest body of all the women. I think she was the only one in a stringed thong.

There may have been one more performer, but I can’t remember anything about her or her routine.

The audience.
I think the front row was mostly plants or guests. They were also the loudest. They were also the tallest in the room. In the front row: there were a couple of woman shouting often “take it off”, an older man taking pictures with a flash, the guy with the Elvis wig, an MC from a previous show (according the WF in flip flops), and an old guy on the aisle with a camera. One of the bar people approached the man with the camera, I am assuming to tell him to not use flash. The rest of the audience was made up of what seemed to be regular everyday people, couples, and women. I really got the impression that there was not anything sexual about the experience, even though the show was about woman taken off their clothes. Or maybe I am misinterpreting the meaning of the burlesque show.

As I mentioned, the show was about an hour, towards the end, there was a raffle. $1 per ticket. The prize was a pink bag with a porn DVD, and a book about a woman (or woman’s issue). The winner, someone everyone seemed to recognize as winning several times. No, I did not buy a raffle. After the show, the “red” character with her top hat (along with the other performers) greeted the guests at the door on the way out. The top hat was for collecting tips. I didn’t mind putting in a dollar. I wasn’t comfortable sitting there watching woman on stage taking off their clothes, but I liked the experience of going to a burlesque show. Unfortunately, I was a little annoyed with the after show activity.

After the show, we went outside, took a few steps, stood, and…started to drift. WF (in flip flops) announced to the group that he had a call on his cell phone. Guy with cane stopped to admire the architecture of the buildings, and Ladyfriend complained about the show because there were no guys in the show. They were like tourist from a “no crime” town in the Midwest. Only when a stranger approached us asking for money to “get home”, did the group snap out of their daze. We walked to the corner, and there…the group drifted again. Guy with cane seemed focused on getting something to eat (he noticed the Dunkin Donuts), Ladyfriend wanted to take a walk to Cooper’s Square, and WF (flip flops) talked about what it might be like to have one of the performers for a girlfriend. Then, ideas (about what we should do) started going back and forth. Finally, I spoke up. I said that I did not care what we did, as long as we did something. I told them that I was not used to standing on a street corner looking lost in the middle of the night, to which Ladyfriend replied, “oh, you’re scared, aren’t you. It’s okay to be scared”.

The group decided to sit in the small green area park in front of a church. On our right was a group of 20-something talking and laughing a little loud. On our left was an old man reading a newspaper (later joined by another man, and they talked quietly). My group was between the two. Very symbolic wouldn’t you agree?

I really did not want to be the first one to leave. I wanted to show that I could hang out like everyone else. However after a while, with Guy with cane walking around the church admiring the architecture, and Ladyfriend (with her fingers in her ears) trying to sing to us, I gave up. I shook everyone’s hand, thanked WF for inviting me. I left. After going the wrong way for about a block, I was able to find 14th street. Once on 14th street, I switched back to my survival senses. Keep an eye on your surroundings, walk with a steady pace, stay alert, etc… I walked from 1st avenue to 8th avenue. I took the A train to 125th street, changed to the D train and continued home to my shoebox.

So over-all assessment? I really did enjoy the show. I enjoyed the experience of being out after dark. I realized that plenty of normal people are out after dark.

Post Date - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 2:51pm

After Midnight, and I suspect it was Mr. 40+’s ladyfriend ringing the doorbell (which is one bell that rings throughout the first floor), banging on the front door, then again on the back door. I was in the shower at the time. I don’t mind if I am up and available to answer the door. Even so, Am I really being so old fashion to believe that a woman (or a man for that matter) should not be making house calls at midnight?

As for Screamer, she is doing less screaming, which is very nice. Oh, I made a mistake, the cat’s name (the one her boyfriend gave her) is “Kitty” (same as the stray cat that she adopted, but later ran away).

Today, I really was not in a good mood. I did not get out of bed until around 1pm. I ate about 4 bowls of cold cereal for breakfast. I made some iced green tea (no sugar like in Japan).

I received an invitation to go to an evening show tomorrow. What I found interesting about the invitation was that it was one of two on the same day. The first invitation was for drinks and chicken wings to meet and plan a walking trip. I’d told him that I was not comfortable with meeting in the evening. The truth is I am not really a party person. I usually keep to myself. For most of my life, I’ve rarely been out past 9pm. And living here in the Bronx also didn’t help much. About 30 minutes after I took a pass on that invitation, I received another invitation to go see a stage show at 10pm. As soon as I finished my “no thank you” reply, I began to think about how quickly I say no without really thinking or trying new things. So, I decided that I would go to the show. It should be interesting. We will meet tomorrow on the lower eastside. We will do some walking for a few hours and then go to the show.

Today, I spent most of the day in bed. Later, I went for a walk. I needed to buy some razor blades. Since the weather was so nice, I decided to walk to a big retail store (think red bulls eye). I went to buy some razors to shave my head after I cut my hair. After seeing the photos from yesterday’s walking trip to Staten Island, I see I really need a hair cut. The woman was very nice, but I really had trouble getting her to understand that some people should not have close-up photos taken (I am one of them). I kept telling her that I really don’t like having my picture taken, but she continued to offer (and taking “natural” non posed close-ups). Later, I think I hurt her feelings when I refused to have my photo taken.

Once in the store, I just wandered the aisles. I always check out the DVD section first to see if they have any DVDs on sale. Since I bought a few DVDs a couple of days ago, I wandered the book section. It has been awhile since I last read a book. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The DaVinci Code were the last ones I read (last year around this time). I loved both books!! A one two great combination! I was hoping for a repeat this time when I purchased the following:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Broker by John Grisham

I also bought another paint by numbers. Why? After looking closer at the one I bought a couple of days ago, I thought I should try a real easy one. The first one requires paint mixing, and “touch ups”. The one I bought today, I only have to fill in the spaces, no paint mixing.

Returned to my shoebox, I ate leftover chicken with wheat toast. I also had miso soup with horensou mixed in (horensou is Japanese for spinach).

I have to stop. It is almost 3:00 in the morning. I really have to start back on my “school time” schedule.

Post Date - Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:51pm

I am back from my daytrip to Staten Island. I am going to type as quickly as possible to try to get down as many details I have not already forgotten.

My day started at 3:00 in the morning. That is the time I went to sleep. I told myself that I was not nervous about my meeting with the only person who replied to my second ad in the personals (where I was looking for a walking friend). The meeting time was 11:00am at Trinity Church near Wall Street. I arrived at 10:30. Since the woman was not familiar with the two suggestions (statues in Battery Park [a navy memorial or the Korean War Memorial]) that I’d made, I agreed to meet her at Trinity Church.

A little background information…

In my ad, I was looking for someone who liked walking and enjoyed the “touristy thing” (visiting places that tourist would visit).

The response I received from this very nice lady was that she “loved to walk”…”not a tourist, but wanted to review the city”…wanted to “meet at a specific location near Battery Park” to visit Staten Island.

Unfortunately, I misunderstood what was written. She wasn’t interested in “touristy things” because that is boring. She had a camera, but didn’t take many photos. I think she only took 3 photos (and two were of me). The following is a conversation between the Walking Friend (WF) and me:

Since WF did not know about the memorials in Battery Park, I thought it would be nice to walk along the Battery Park promenade to see the memorials. The navy memorial was the one that I recommended in my e-mail, I also included two photos of the memorial (one close-up of the eagle statue in the middle, and the other a wide-angle view taken from the promenade that showed the whole monument area [including the buildings in the background]).

WF: Oh, this is interesting. Please take my picture here. I have a camera. I like black and white pictures something about the images.

She takes out a nice (but old) non-digital camera with the attached 6 inch lens.
Me: I’ve never used a camera like this.
WF: Oh, it is easy. You hold it like this…You focus like this…when you compose the picture you push this button.
Me: I really don’t know how…
WF: Oh, you are a photographer. I’ve seen your pictures on your web site.
Me: Those were taken with a digital camera. I take 50 pictures to get one good picture.
WF: Oh, it is easy. You are in control. Do what you want to take the picture. Just do the same thing you did to take the pictures on your website.
Me: Those were taken with a digital camera (explaining about using the digital camera’s screen).
WF: I know how to use a digital camera. I’ve used a digital camera before.
Me: Okay, I’ll take the picture. As long as you know that the photo will not be the same…
WF: Wait. You need to get down on one knee. I want the buildings in the background.
Me: Look why don’t I take a picture with my digital camera, so you can see what the picture will look like.
WF: Okay.

After my digital picture is taken.

Me: See. Did you see how I took the picture? How I turned the camera sideways? Your camera is more complicated…
WF: You can do it.
Me: Okay. Again, as long as you understand that ….
WF: You have no confidence to take the picture.
Me: I’ll take the picture. It won’t be the same. I move back. I rotate the camera sideways to get the tall buildings into the picture.
WF: Nevermind. You have no confidence to take the picture.
Me: I’ll take 2 or 3 pictures, maybe..
WF: No. No. No. Forget it.

I forgot about film. I have been taken digital pictures for so long I’d forgotten about wasting film. Well, this dialog (as best as I can remember) took place at the beginning of our trip to Staten Island.

There were about 5 or 6 similar kinds of conversations throughout the day, but I won’t repeat them here. But here are a couple of samples:

* Occupation – she is a “generalist”. She said that if she told me what she did I would be confused.

* Hobbies – she has many, but as she grows older they will change. Oh, photography is not one of them Taking pictures is something she does because she wants to. Later, I found out that she has done a lot like scuba diving.

* I misunderstood her pronunciation (that was my fault) of “main”. What sounded to me like “…that mens idea” (Men like woman who can talk a lot and have a lot of conversations). I commented that many men would probably not like women who are very talkative. She clarified for me. She wanted to say that it was her main idea that women should have a lot of things to talk about. Be able to discuss many topics.

* When I was asked to discuss my feelings about various topics (reincarnation, parentage, the “most important thing”, etc… I mentioned that some people are just not introspective and I was one of them. I confused her into believing that I was saying that people don’t change. People stay the same. She was correct when she pointed out that people can change. Somehow, “some” got confused with “all”.

* Picture taking. I give a 5 count before I take the picture (in the past, I’ve been told that 3 is enough, but 5 is more comfortable for me). I mentioned that some people don’t like having their picture taken (I am one of them). Her position was that natural pictures (without warning) are better.


Again, the lady was a very nice person. I just misunderstood what we were doing today. It took her awhile to get relaxed; once she did, she was very nice person.

Back to my day.

I was so excited that someone replied and showed an interest in walking that I did not ask the necessary questions. I just showed up, willing to play follower the leader. I was content to do any activity WF wanted to do. I had no demands and no requests. I also had no idea where we were going, or what we would be doing (other than visit a museum on Staten Island).

We arrived at the Staten Island Ferry terminal. I was very impressed, it had changed quite a bit since the last time (maybe 15 years ago) I was there.

1. New building. Smaller, cleaner, and easier to use. I remember having to walk what seemed like a mile down corridors to get to the ferry.

2. It’s now free! It used to cost a dollar one-way. Wow, something actually costs less not more.

Before today, I’ve only been on the Staten Island ferry once or twice. Both times, it was just to ride over, and ride back. I did not go out of the terminal. I was excited about exploring Staten Island. The information booth even had maps and activity guides on what to do on Staten Island. WF’s main goal was to go to a Tibetan museum on Staten Island. I wasn’t really interested in going to a Tibetan museum, but I didn’t complain. My main goal was just walking.

The ferry ride was nice. The bus ride to the museum was long, but nice. Staten Island is much bigger than I thought. When we arrived at the bus stop near the museum, we next had to walk ¼ of a mile up a hill.

The museum?!?! The museum turned out to be a room in a house. No picture taking was allowed inside (only outside in the garden). Museum description? A rich lady (I am assuming is rich) collected a bunch of things and put them in a room. The room was the size of a medium sized living room. 2/3 of the room contained Tibetan artifacts. 1/3 of the room had enlarged photographs with various Tibetan themes taken in 2001. Wow.

WF walked in first. My shirt got caught on a screw sticking out of the front door, causing me to get a minor cut. I also needed to change my sunglasses to my regular prescription glasses, and I had to get my wallet out of my pants pocket not really designed to hold a wallet, at the same time I am hold a 1 ½ liter of water. What does all this mean?

I was fumbling. I was also usually nervous in new places. The woman behind the desk said to me, “oh, I can see that you are very organized. I know you are organized. Very organized.

The museum cost was $5.00. The woman made change from my $20 and gave me the change, then said:

“Okay. This is for you. Put it away. Make sure you put it away. I know you are very organized. I was married. My husband was just like you…VERY organized. Now, you put this away. Put it away. Go ahead put it away.”

I’m slow (mentally [and at the moment physically]). I was trying to get myself together, and trying to put my bills in sequential order with smallest denominations in front (portraits facing forward), rotating a couple of bills that were upside down. While I am putting my money in my way, the elderly woman is still speaking (to an almost 40 year old man) as if I was a child. She said, “Put it away” in that sickenly-grandmotherly voice at least 4 times.

The woman then turns to WF (who is not a native English speaker):

Woman: Can you take him anywhere?
WF: Huh?!?!
Woman: He’s so organized. Let him follow you. I used to be married.
WF: I don’t…
Woman: It’s a joke dear. fake laughter.
WF: Oh, good joke. Hahahahaha…fake laughing.

A whole lot of things went through my head…after I was out of the room. See, I am slow.

We are escorted into the exhibition room and given a tour guide. Yes, a tour guide for a room.

We’re given two options (self-tour or guided tour).
I let WF choose. She takes the guided tour.
The guide gives a 5 minute lecture. WF is wondering where is the rest, but politely asked questions like where were the other items? What else was there to see? Etcetera… Another 5 minutes, she is ready to go. Being the cheapskate that I am, I felt that since we spent our money, we should get as much as we could. I read every caption, asked as many questions as I could. 20 minutes later, WF seemed bored. We spent about 10 minutes in the garden and then we left. We had spent more time getting there than being in there. WF made the comment that she thought the museum was going to be bigger than it was. I have to admit that I found it an interested exhibition. I hated the old lady behind the desk, other than her, I enjoyed the museum.

I learned:
Yak milk has many purposes.
Tea bricks were a form of currency
People were expected to carry tea cups. Or was it soup bowls?
Stuff about gods and enlightenment.
No bible. Prayers were written on hanging clothes so that the prayers could blow with the wind.

WF asked me if “there was anything else I wanted from Staten Island. I lied. I said no. I knew (or should I say I believed) WF would not have been interesting in exploring other places on the island. We had free tour guides, we did not look at.

To be honest, I have to say that WF seems like a very nice person, I just thought we had different ideas of walking and exploring. Also, I had to work too, too hard at what should have been a relaxing and easygoing experience. I carried a 2 ½ liter of water all day, since WF did not have anything to drink with her, I did not even open my water.

At the bus stop, WF decided that we should take the same bus we came on (S74), ride it to the last stop, and then change to the S78 “so that we could see the whole island”. A quick look on the map, it is easy to assume that the S78 would take the scenic route along the eastern coast of the island, but if you look closer, you can see that it is not scenic. I have to be honest; I jumped at that thought (without thinking). The ride back to the ferry was 2 hours and 15 minutes.

I noticed that WF fidgeted with her telephone a few times, I think she had plans. Back in Manhattan, WF seemed to be in a hurry. She did give me a nice good by handshake, with a promise to mail me the photos she will develop. I thought that was very nice.

Back on my own. I decided to walk to my station. I stopped to take a picture of the Wall Street Bull. It was moved to a strange location (on a small island where Whitehall Street merges into Broadway). Tourists were walking into traffic to get a picture. At times, the island was so jammed with tourist that some were standing in the street waiting to get their turn. Other tourist would just jump into someone else’s shot. I waited about 12 or 15 minutes, but I managed to get a photo without anyone in it.

I walked 1 mile to Canal Street. I brought a couple of paper fans. I had two which I never used and threw away before I left Japan. I threw away the paper fans, but I keep the two pair of chopsticks. Strange.

For years, I never used the fans because I thought it might make me look effeminate. I would carry a piece of cardboard to use as a fan. However, when I did not have my backpack (like today), I did not have the cardboard. But paper fans are (of course) foldable and really do work. Well, now I have my paper fans. Now, will I actually use them? Well, on the Grand Street station platform, I wanted about 10 minutes before taking out my fan, but the train came as soon as I did.

Oh, I almost forgot. The only thing I had eaten today was cream of wheat for breakfast. While I was on Canal Street, I ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I ordered beef with broccoli on white rice with a side order of vegetable soup. I also had an English speaking waitress. I was the only one in the “eat-in” area. Usually, I would just order take-out and eat at home. But I wanted to eat before I returned to my shoebox so that I could exercise when I returned.

Unfortunately, when I returned to shoebox street, I bought a cake (ate it), and decided that I wanted to write my blog entry before I forgot most of it. It is now 12:40, too late to exercise.

Post Date - Tuesday, August 14, 2006 12:34am

Getting older and moving slower. I was proud of my morning. I managed to wake up early, something I have not been able to do for the last couple of months (being on vacation). This morning, I ate cream of wheat cereal (apples and cinnamon favor). Since I did not have any tea left, I drank a mug of hot water (I forgot this morning that I did not have any more teabags until after the water was boiling).The kitchen was as messy as usually. Although, I am happy that I did not hear the mice noises in the cabinets, I know it won’t last for long.

After breakfast, I went food shopping. I had a taste for baked macaroni and cheese, so I needed to buy the ingredients. I also bought milk, orange juice, green tea bags, spareribs, oatmeal cookies, bread, etc…

After returning, and watching a little bit of TV, I made a simple lunch. I had sardines and toast, with glass of water. I wanted to eat some of the leftover chicken, but I knew that I would be eating the chicken for dinner. After lunch, I fell asleep. After my nap, I decided to do a little bit of shopping. Originally, I was only planning to buy a mouse pad and a sleep mask. A couple of days ago, Mr. 40+ replaced the burnt out hall light and took off the shade. I went to a big “irregular shop” store. This store sells mostly merchandise with some irregularities. I bought a couple of short-sleeves shirts and a pair of slacks.

I am falling asleep. I will have to finish this tomorrow….

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It is now a couple of days later, yesterday I spent my evening writing about yesterday, so I did not get a chance to finish this while I remember what I wanted to write about. It is now 3:00 in the morning, and the longer I put off posting this, the more I will procrastinate about the other entries.

I am just going to try to summarize.

I went to a big irregular shop to buy something for my walking trip to Staten Island. From there I continued walking to the big retail store with the red bullseye logo. See the attached photo. I bought:

DVDs
Team America World Police
Super Size Me
Batman Begins
I bought the Batman DVD on an impulse (or should I say a bigger impulse). The price was only $10. Once I got home, I realized why the DVD was cheaper than the regular $19 price, it is only the movie without an special features.

Other items
Listerine pocket mist (I liked the strips better)
A mouse pad
A pre-paid phone card to add 60 minutes to my cell phone.
A spray bottle for ironing
A paint by numbers set
A sleep mask (with ear plugs)

It is now 3:18 in the morning, and there are still people partying outside.

Post Date - Sunday, August 12, 2006 3:25am

This morning, it sounded like there were mice (rats) in the kitchen having some kind of party; there was a lot of noise in the cabinets, and later behind the refrigerator. Also, the trash was torn up. I wasn’t in the mood to see a mice (and definitely not a rat), but beyond that, I pretty much just accepted that as long as I live here (with neighbors that can’t let a day past without leaving food for the mice, rats, roaches and flies.

What about the job front? I still have not heard from any of the places that I wanted to teach at. My plan was to maybe do the substituting thing again, hoping maybe someone will call. However, today I’ve (almost) come to the decision that if no one calls with a job offer, I will probably just get a full-time teaching assignment in public school. And with my luck, the minute that I take a teaching assignment, a call will come. That is what happened last year. After I left Japan (about a week after I returned to the US), I received a job offer. If I do take a full-time teaching position, then I know I won’t quit (no matter how much I will want to) to take a teaching assignment elsewhere. It just means I’ll be stuck in public school for a whole (school) year. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky and end up in a very good school where the kids are not running wild. Anyway…
Not much to write about today. Again, I stayed in all day (except to get the newspaper). Tomorrow I am determined to go do something. I don’t know what, but I do know if the TV comes on, I will be sitting in front all day. I do know that I need to go shopping at least. I need milk, bread, etc…

Today, I wore my plastic sweat suit (which is starting to fall apart). I did not sweat as much, also the last couple of times I wore the suit, I noticed that I am sweating a little bit less each time. However, I seem to be going to the bathroom more. Today I was on the rowing machine for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but I only sweated about half the amount I usually sweat. Although, there was still a sweaty mess to clean up. I also noticed I am not dying of thirst after a workout.

Finally, what is the photo attached? Originally, I thought I had nothing to write about. I thought I would only have 5 or 6 sentences to write about, so this evening, after I finished cooking my dinner, I took a photo to attach to my blog entry. I made bake chicken, yellow rice, and green beans. The blue cup is my summer mug; it is about a quart in size. Today, I filled the cup with water. I used to fill it with juice, but all that sugar was not helping me.

Around 3:30pm, I decided that if I went out for a walk (like I was planning to do), I would end up buying something outside like KFC.

Well, before I go, I just remember that I might go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. On the news, there was a report about a big giant “stink” flower. Unfortunately, I missed the report. But, I do remember the promo mentioning Brooklyn. I’ll just assume they were talking about the Botanical Garden.

A quick entry before bedtime. I need to give my stomach time to digest the popcorn. I tried not eating anything tonight, but I got the munchies. I settled on making a bowl of hot popcorn with no butter or salt. I also drank a couple of glasses of water. That managed to fill me up.

This afternoon I went to the Laundromat. I really don’t like going to the Laundromat, but when I am down to my last pair of clean underwear, then I can’t procrastinate any longer. Unfortunately, I went to the small coin laundry in the next building. After I put my clothes in and started the machine, I realized that the machine was not filling up with hot water (for my whites). The lady working there offered to wash the clothes again in another machine; I thought that was nice. However, I did not feel like waiting for my clothes to go through another wash cycle.

I also washed my plastic exercise suit at the coin laundry. Since I had to air dry my suit, I did my one hour rowing without my suit. Although I did miss my suit, it was nice to not have to spend 20 minutes cleaning up a lot of sweat.

Well, it is late. I am going to end this for now. I am going to try to go to bed at 1:30. All summer I’ve been developing crazy sleeping habits, but I need to start getting back to a normal sleep route. School will be starting in a couple of weeks.

My vacation time is just ticking away. Today my plan was to go to the Laundromat and go to a mall (in Jersey City). But what did I do? Mostly, I slept and watched TV. I started off the day by uploading another group of photos to my other web site; that took about 2 ½ hours. Midday, I watched TV and made some popcorn. I had a can of sardines and toast for lunch. Lately, I noticed that I’ve been getting up later and later, with my day starting at 12 midday. And dinner around 6 or 7pm. Recently, my spare tire has returned. I used to think that eating only 2 meals a day would help me lose weight, but I’d forgotten that the body starts to store fat when it thinks that hardtimes are around the corner. Besides, when I only eat two meals, dinner is usually over the top in terms of portions and sizes. Starting today, I am going to try to eat 3 meals a day, even if it is a lite lunch like today. I should also start making more onigiris (rice balls) as a healthy alternative to snacking on junk food.

Having spent the last few days with a total outdoor time of about 10 minutes (only to get the newspaper), I really wanted to do something (remember my original plan). However, I had to settle on a quick walk around my neighborhood. I went food shopping for a few items, and I bought dinner from the grocery store buffet.

Back in my shoebox, my plan was to watch one of the new comedies that I bought a few days ago, but as I was trying to decide which comedy I would put into the DVD player, I realized that I hadn’t seen 3 DVDs which I’d purchased months ago. Sometimes, I am not good with money. The DVDs?

1.Van Helsing
2.Resident Evil
3.Constantine

DVD 1 and 2 were pre-viewed copies from Blockbuster (about $7.99 each). The Van Helsing was a new copy, but it also was on sale for about the same price. I like to buy (or rent) legal copies of movies. The illegal ones don’t have the special features.

I chose Constantine tonight. My plan was to watch the first half of the movie while I was rowing on my row machine, but I ended up watching the whole movie. I liked the movie, it started off a little slow, but I enjoyed it. I liked the alternative ending better than the one shown with the movie.

Well, it is late, so until next time…

More Photos uploaded to my other web site. These are the ones from a couple of walks I did around the Wall Street area (21 photos in total).

New Photos finally. I finally stopped procrastinating at uploaded the photos from my solo walk in the New York Botanical Garden. Since my computer is old and slow, it took much longer to upload and attached the photos. Also,changing the pages colors also added to the time delay. For my Wall Street photos, I am hoping that I will be able to load those photos faster if I put them into cut and paste identical page (where I won't have to change any colors.

I took about 25 photos in the Botanical Garden. I put the photos on my other web site (more space for photos over there than here). No comments needed, just visit if you feel like it, if you don't, that is okay with me.