I apologize for my absence from blogging, but I have spent the last week under a pile of boxes, trying to create a cohesive apartment from a pile of CaCa. My boyfriend and I finished hanging the wall decor today, so after 8 days, one late-night wall-painting session, many bent nails, and another huge bookshelf later, we are about 90-95% "there." When the apartment is all put together (still waiting on a wall painting and some cleaning/final organizing), I will of course post pictures. I do have to say, even more so than the other place, this apartment feels like a "real" person apartment.
This whole process has been a nightmare, though. First there was the crazy move-in, and my freaking out a bit when I found out some of my furniture was nic'd up from it. Then the slow progress made putting everything in its place and organized, having to clean boxes and boxes and boxes out of the apartment, getting a new (HUGE) bookshelf because my boyfriend is a library. I think this move was harder because we were combining both my boyfriend's stuff and my stuff, instead of mostly my stuff plus some of my boyfriend's clothes, so there was a lot more crap to wade through. But in the end, it does feel more like "our" apartment, which is nice. I of course was stressed beyond belief the whole week. My mother, to her credit, raised me in a pretty much immaculately clean household. While I am not as fastidious as my mother, I do thus tend to have a higher clean (or at least organized) standard, so living in chaos is very personally stressful for me. I was not happy. I am now happier because our apartment now actually looks like one.
The neighborhood we are in is interesting. Only a few blocks west is cutesy Andersonville, with many little boutique-y stores and restaurants. Andersonville is also apparently Chicago's "little Scandinavia" (or what is left of it), so it will be an opportunity to get re-acquianted with "my people" (Norwegian Pride, b*tches), with a splash of some Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food places. And yet all the way there, and a fair ways south, is apparently "new Chinatown," which is really more like "new Chi-Kor-Viet-town," with some random Italian restaurants dotting the whole way. So, in a weird way, its almost like where I was in New York: Surrounded by Asian and Italian food. Except Chicago is, ya know, cleaner. So I am looking forward to exploring and getting to know the 'hood.
That's pretty much it for today. This really crappy week is behind me, and I am calm again. In conclusion: I hate moving.
Speaking of New York, I will be in New York in less than a week, and then back there again less than a week after that. I got some callbacks from OCI, which definitely also helped calm me down, as for a while it was either radio silence or rejections from the firms, which kind of made me feel like a tool. So hopefully despite being real whirlwind trips, the callbacks in New York will go well. It would be super sweet to be in New York again next summer. And since the firm gigs would be paid, and my boyfriend's job is a school-year thing, maybe he could come hang out in the city with me as I sublet a place or something. So will keep my fingers crossed.
Got to go now: now that the place is finally together, we are actually cooking dinner, rather than eating out or getting takeout. Yay!
Actually, the whole move process has been hell (as per usual, I have been made to understand). So this is why I have been lame in updating lately. Again, I am not dead. Actually, the move story is kind of great/awful, so when life has finally returned to normal, I will entertain you all with its absurdity.
In the meantime, I found the following on Amazon.com, as my boyfriend and I were looking for a new bookshelf to replace the ones that got destroyed-ish in the aforementioned move (on the bright side, one of the bookshelves was free, and the other inexpensive). I won't say any more, because this product review really doesn't need an introduction. Mad props to a Mr. Brandon May, the author of said awesomeness.
The Worst Shelf In the World and a Life Changing Epiphany... August 10, 2009
By Brandon May
This is long but stay with me. I am not an unreasonable man. Most would consider me a semi pleasant person; I love puppies, enjoy Judd Apatow comedies, and find babies mildly amusing when they aren't pooping, vomiting, or screaming. However in spite of my generally jovial disposition I have a seething, nay crippling hatred for this shelf which may be the geographic center of all of the world's evil and the root of all moral decay. Now in my afore mentioned passionate hatred of this festering pile of evil do not want to overstate it's faults and thus do not want to lightly throw out the term worse than Hitler but it's certainly worse than Mussolini (the George Castanza of WW2). I know this may seem a reach to you who have not experienced "the shelf" but allow me to explain and maybe change your mind.
First the good part it was packed securely. Shelf wobbles in a cartoonish way similar to a Dr. Seuss cartoon which entertains small children and slow witted teenagers. Okay that's all the good parts.
Now the negatives which I could literally fill a library with, seriously after putting the abomination together I was ready to move to Montana and write a manifesto but I digress. Firstly I'm color blind and I can see that this is not black, it's red, and when they can't even get the color right you know you are in trouble. However if you place this in a dark room it darkens like all things placed in a dark room and given it's tinker toy like construction might I highly recommend a dark room and Styrofoam books. Secondly it's not made of wood it is made of MDF (medium density fiberboard aka crap) which is wood in the same way a drag queen is a woman, it is given the appearance of wood by a veneer which is fancy talk for a sticker with wood designs on it. Yes, high quality indeed. Next much like a middle aged man with a fake tan and a Corvette it's hardware is simply too short to be of any real use, the fun part of this is it gives the shelf an air of excitement similar to that of crossing a 100 plus year old rope bridge that leaves you wondering...is it going to hold the weight or collapse. The suspense would be entertaining if it hadn't A) cost me $[censored] and B) wasn't holding my $[censored] Blu-Ray player.
The assembly is nightmarish and I am a person who is reasonably handy. Now let me clarify the steps themselves aren't difficult but step 1 should really be the last step and you will have much fun with the all too short hardware as mentioned above. Of particular joy was the fun of trying to drill the two center pieces that hold the shelves in since; one, MDF (crap) is prone to splintering and two, veneer really highlights any flaws it makes trying to drive ¼ screws into "wood" that was barely an inch thick a real treat. I especially enjoyed the part where my left arm went numb and the vein in my eye burst leaving me blind and with alight slur to my speech for several days. Good times! Now as part of the assembly you are given some trim to hide the poor construction and all of the ugly parts, using my drag queen metaphor think of this as the scarf to hide the Adam's apple, this trim will drive you beyond the point of insanity. It continually pops off, due to the short hardware, and is very difficult to get on straight which again with the wonder of MDF and veneer your assembly ineptitude and poor construction is highlighted as sort of a scarlet letter that sort of screams "hey look at me I'm cheap furniture!" Once you have dealt with the trim and decided life truly has no meaning you will be confronted by the back covering which at least gets credit for a semblance of honesty. See the back has abandoned any pretense of being wood and is honest to god cardboard with a front side covered with the wood sticker veneer. I, who at this point had moved to an Apocalypse Now level of insanity, decided I would not stoop to putting cardboard on my furniture and maintain what little dignity I had remaining but the problem with that is the cardboard holds the adjustable shelves in place and is the only thing that keeps them from sliding out of the back so pick your poison, your dignity or shelves on the floor? Speaking of the adjustable shelves, they rest on tiny plug in things and are not secured at all this again adds to the rope bridge suspense factor I mentioned earlier.
Here is the synopsis combined with a diatribe about our low expectations. Many people say "you get what you pay for" but the fact is that the price of this shelf is nothing to sneeze at, this is a crisis of our being conditioned to expect poor quality. In 1983 my ex-girlfriend's mother bought a 1,400 square foot brick house on 3.75 acres of property for $43,000 I don't think I'm asking for much to get something made of actual wood (one of the most plentiful supplies on Earth) for the price I paid (they censor dollar amounts I'm not being purposely coy) a mere 25 years later. As consumers we have choice and while some people's reviews on here are shrugging 4 star "it is what it is" type reviews I'm asking that we start demanding quality not just in furniture but in all products, break this cycle of being conditioned to get hosed out of our money and save your money for something better than this. There are great craftsman and builders everywhere (in your own neighborhood even) who could build you something from real wood for a marginally higher price that could be an heirloom piece of furniture you could pass down to your kids when they go to college. This thing likely won't make it a year. As much as I loathe this horrible shelf it inspired me to demand better and I am now building a book case (told you I was handy) that is 72 wide by 38 high and is made of solid 2x12's and the real wood for this enormous shelf only cost me 1/3 the price of this shelf at Home Depot plus nail gun rental, 1/2 gallon of black paint, and a few dollars of sand paper. So for about 2/3 what I paid for this insult to American craftsmanship and a few hours of my weekend I am getting something that not only can I be proud of but something of great quality that is still going to be standing strong 25 years from now. Sorry to get sort of serious and manifesto-like here in this last paragraph but I guess I just miss not only getting but expecting quality for my hard earned money.
Sir, I cower in your genius. That was one of the greatest bits of dry humor that I have read online. And yet also quite profound.
PS: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr. May gave the poor shelf a 1/5 stars on Amazon's rating system.
I imagine that this is not the most mind-blowing statement ever made, as I am pretty sure that every person at some point in their lives realizes this fact. But it is really, really unpleasant. I have moved before, but packing up a dorm room is very very different than packing up an apartment that includes all crap from said dorm room, plus many many other things picked up over the year that are needed for an apartment. Like furniture. And an entertainment system. And a piano/keyboard thing. Plus in addition to all of that, there is even more stuff, because we have all of my boyfriend's stuff as well. We have kind of been leisurely about packing (although I imagine that will change starting tomorrow, as D-Day is Thursday), so the apartment basically looks like a tornado went through it. Or a bomb. You get the picture. As someone who grew up in a very clean home, and tries to keep things at least somewhat orderly, I find this actually very distressing. It's like no matter what I do right now, I can't make the apartment look better. Or habitable. This for me is probably the worst part of moving.
And the packing just generally. Mostly because I am so sick of packing. Not two weeks ago, I had to pack up my dorm room in New York, including two boxes I had to ship ahead. Before that, I had packed, unpacked, and packed again to visit my parents in California. I feel like I spend my whole damn life packing and unpacking shit. And I am *so* over it. I suppose it is the nature of the point in my life that I am at, but this whole Bedouin-like existence of always being on the move is kind of getting old.
And yet I also miss being able to travel around. While the experience itself was kind of a mixed bag, one of the things I really miss about study abroad (I went to France during my junior year of college) was the fact that essentially, every other weekend I could hop on the high-speed train, and within a few hours, be somewhere entirely new. I didn't have to stay in one place; I could experience new fabulousness, new experiences so easily. This traveling and moving around though, is all kind of mundane. And just annoying. It's like I am settled in but not. It's funny-- right now I am going through OCI, which if I go down that path would both pay exceedingly well, but also really settle me in. Other than the fact that I haven't gotten any callbacks so I probably won't happen, if I do go down that road, I will be a long ways towards settling into a very stable life. Finally. But I am also not sure I want that kind of stable life at this point. When I came to law school, I did so with visions of working in a legal field that allowed me to go new places, experience new things, meet interesting and important people, engage in an active and worthwhile employment. I thought I'd spend my third year abroad, getting a joint degree from a foreign country's law school. All that seems kind of far away now. I guess I am feeling like I am too young to be boring. Curse you, Season 1 finale of How I Met Your Mother (my boyfriend has gotten me watching courtesy of his Netflix streaming account).
Well anyways, for now it is on to bigger and better things (and by that I mean a nicer apartment. With a ceiling fan, apparently). On an unrelated note, I am feeling really guilty that I haven't yet signed up for a PAWS volunteer session; but, I am moving... and OCI...so just, no. :( Also, I finally finished my last project from work (clocking in at 94 pages, bitches)!! So I can finally say I am a free woman...for about two weeks, until classes start. Oy.
No, fearless readers, I am not dead. I know I haven't updated my blog in a while, but truth be told, once I touched down in Chicago last week, it has pretty much been 0-60 in about 3 seconds. From the moment I got home, I have been absorbed in sorting out the myriad of details pertaining to the move to the new apartment, which will be happening one week from today. Plus, I am *still* trying to finish my last project from this summer's work, which at this stage is clocking in at about 90 pages. And I feel like a tool that it is taking this long. And as of Tuesday, the one major ritual that all rising 2L law students go through has begun: On-Campus interviews, also known as OCI.
Ah, OCI. It's kind of like the sorting hat from Harry Potter in that the purpose of it is to place students in Summer Associate positions at various large firms next summer. So everyone interviews with between 15-25ish firms, and through a long process that takes several weeks of interviews and callback interviews, people are *hopefully* narrowed down to one (and not none, i.e. they can find a job). OCI is actually rather important, because the job a law student holds during their second summer, unless they suck really badly, often becomes the job offer they will have upon graduation and passage of the bar exam. So, it's kind of a big deal.
The OCI bit is what is going on now. OCI is basically sorority rush for grown-ups. I don't know how many of you all reading this have been in sororities and have gone through rush, but it is literally the same set-up in most aspects: over a week or two, students go interview with the firms that they received interviews with through a lottery bidding system. Every day there can be several interviews of 20 minutes, depending on your schedule. Reps from different firms are sitting in a bunch of different rooms, and students go from room to room, having many conversations. The major difference being that instead of rah-rah pants and matching T-Shirts, we are wearing suits. So, who knew the skill of being able to go around having short conversations with complete strangers multiple times a day would actually come in handy in the real world? And, also like the "rounds" of "parties" during sorority rush (excuse me, "recruitment"), if the shorter interview/conversations go well, and you meet their requirements, you will be "asked back" to a few firms for a larger, longer interview process at their office.
Over the next couple weeks, I will have interviews with 18 firms; so far, I have had 5 of those 18, with 3 more coming up today. The thing with OCI, however, is that you can't just go into it "blind;" it is expected that you actually researching the firm and your interviewers ahead of time, so it actually takes up more time than you might think. Plus, thank you notes. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens. About 2/3 of the firms I am interviewing with are located in NYC, the other 1/3 are DC firms. Unfortunately, I learned during one night of pre-OCI-induced insomnia, this whole process can take like 6 weeks, as firms are kind of on their own manyana man schedule about when they get back to people about any callbacks, and then about offers after callbacks. So I may not know what is going on for a while. But obviously, will post updates.
And so another spin of life's roulette wheel has been turned...
In other news, I started my volunteer work at PAWS Chicago, which is a no-kill animal rescue organization in Chicago. Had my second training session yesterday evening, so now I am ready to sign up for shifts, which I will be doing 2x/month. I probably won't be able to sign up for any shifts before September, however. Between OCI and moving, my August is pretty shot. But, I thought it would a good thing for me to have something going on that is in no way related to law school-- so I can have a well-rounded life. Plus, doggies make me less stressed as a person, and these animals really do need good homes; since at this stage in my life I can't adopt my own doggie, I am happy to do what I can to make sure that other doggies find their forever homes. The organization does really great work: since they started in 1997, they have reduced the number of euthanized dogs and cats from something disgusting like 47K in the Chicagoland area, to under 18K in 2010. Unfortunately, sometimes animals are too sick to save, but that is the vast minority of cases. Most animals that are killed, are done so just because of overcrowded shelters, which is just so sad and a real tragedy. So the other good thing that PAWS does, is provide education about spaying and neutering pets, which is really at the root of the problem. They also provide free and low-cost spay/neutering to people who can't afford it, including a mobile "spay van," which has really helped reduce the number of unwanted animals.
More information about PAWS Chicago can be found on their website. If you are considering getting an animal, whether you are in Chicago or elsewhere, please adopt from a shelter or rescue group. There are a lot of perfectly wonderful animals in need of a good home, and you will be helping to solve the problem, not encourage it through the use of puppy mills.
In honor of my new volunteer group, here are a couple cute animal videos (also since OCI really isn't conducive to the use of mixed media...)
So, that's basically been my week back in Chicago. More news as it comes.
Well, the day has finally arrived. In T-minus 9 hours, I will be on a plane out of New York, heading back to my "real" life in Chicago. New York, it has been real. I had a fabulous, and very eye-opening, experience, and would not have traded it for anything. Am sad to see the summer come to a close, but as that Semisonic song goes, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." And so it goes, time marches forward.
For my last day in New York, I decided to head out to Coney Island, and have a "real" summer day. I love theme parks, I love rides. I love the beach and the ocean, and I love when those two things are combined into one experience. I grew up going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, so summer was always equated with at least one trip to a theme park, usually the Boardwalk. It just wasn't summer without. So now I finally can say that I have had a full, "real" summer.
Coney Island was pretty interesting-- about what you would expect: rows of carnival-type booths with games and food and other side-show type stuff, with amusement park type rides interspersed. What was interesting though, was that unlike the Boardwalk I was used to, this wasn't just one theme park. Rather, it seems like a couple different companies had their designated space along the boardwalk, with their own rides, and the tickets were not interchangeable. Luna Park is the most major of the companies, and has the most rides, split up between a couple of different locations. They also apparently control The Cyclone, apparently one of the oldest wooden coasters in the country (and it is looking its age). I got there about 1PM, and to my dismay, right as I walked up to Luna Park, they were closing it down for three hours so that a camp of about 200 ten-year-olds could have a run of it. So that was annoying. Luckily, there were the other companies' rides, and I was able to go on all of the major ones as a pay-as-you go thing. And eventually, at 4PM, I was able to go to the real Luna Park; it only took about an hour to get through the rides I actually wanted to go on, and in the end it was probably better for my sanity that I wasn't fighting through a million kids to get on the rides. So, all's well that ends well. I just felt bad for the other groups of campers (there were several) that were getting kicked out at 1PM as well, to make way for the one camp.
I definitely carvinaled it up, and did most of the throw-up rides (I am pretty intense about my thrill rides and coasters, and will do pretty much anything. I do, however, draw the line at rides that dangle-- not flip-- but dangle people upside-down for a few seconds. Just hate it. But other than that, bring on the speed!). Also dug into a traditional dipped ice-cream cone which was melting faster than I could eat it, so I ended up having to actually run to the ocean (it was closer-- and probably cleaner-- than the bathroom) and use the water to clean off my sticky, gooey hands. And I even played some carney games. Yes, indeed I felt like I was ten again.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the day. Actually was a good beach day, as it was warm but not hot or too muggy, and partially overcast but also bright because there was some sun. So the gods were with me today for my last in the city.
View of Coney Island as I left the subway station
Apparently one of the more known (or at least older-- circa 1920) attractions at the boardwalk. I did not go on
View of the Atlantic coast and ocean, from Coney Island boardwalk
View down the boardwalk which, to my surprise, is still made out of boards (or, wood planks anyway)
Stuffed toy I won for breaking 2/3 dishes at a ball toss. Apparently, I have a mean right throw
Oink! Won an Angry Birds piggy in one of those watergun race things. That game was always "my game" growing up. Nice to know I still got it!
After I got back, I showered off and got ready for my final hurrah in NYC: Dinner at Butter, the restaurant where my favorite Food Network celebrity chef, Alex Guarnaschelli, is the head executive chef. My boyfriend and I are huge Food Network nerds, so stumbling upon this restaurant during the second week of my trip was like a godsend (had no idea where it was, but apparently in SoHo, close to where I am/was living). So I had planning to come to this place for my final meal in New York-- seemed like a fitting, fancy end to my journey here. I was prepared to spend a fortune, but was pleasantly surprised to find out when I got there tonight that thanks to Restaurant Week (more like restaurant month) NYC, there was a pre-fixe menu of three courses for only $35. It was a very good deal; the food was superb, I got to foodie-geek out, and yet spent less than I have spent in the past, for a lot "more" of an experience. The only thing that could have made the evening perfect, was seeing the chef-in-chief herself (and getting a picture; alas, neither happened). I felt a little silly being alone there, but I figured that I was also eating there for the boyfriend, since he could not experience it with me, and I knew he would want to.
Anyway, pictures below.
On the ground in front of the door. Tried to get one of the door, but the lighting was too poor
Swanky waiting area for Butter
Regular menu for Butter. I ate off the pre-fixe menu, which was on the other side
Executive chef Alex Guarnaschelli! (you know she went to Barnard before becoming a chef? Who knew)
First course: Corn chowder with chives and bits of shrimp meat. Delish. Just how you would want corn chowder to taste, with just the right hint of seafood from the shrimp. Also, not too thick and not too thin. A great soup
Second coure: flatiron steak with scallions and a sauce. I am not sure what kind of sauce it was, but it paired very well with the meat. I think it had red peppers in it, so some of that cooked-pepper smokiness came through and really added a nice depth to the meat, and played off the savory, meaty flavor of the steak. Ordered steak medium and it came just perfect, nice and juicy. Only complaint of the whole meal was that the scallions were a little stringy and thus hard to cut, but this did not interfere with an ability to eat them, or their deliciousness
Third course: Gingersnap and vanilla ice cream sandwich. Ice cream had a nice rich vanilla bean flavor, and the ginger cookies were hearty without being brittle (I am not a brittle cookie kind of gal. I like things more on the chewy side). All I can say is, yum!
And with that, my grand adventure is over. As a final hurrah, I have compiled a bunch of music videos set to songs about New York City, since that is where my heart is right now. And with any luck, I will be back next summer, and eventually, permanently. I ordered them to kind of show my "journey" through the city over the last couple months. Until next time, keep it real New York!
Thanks to all who compiled these videos. Note: I did not make, or claim any ownership, to the songs, photos, or videos contained herein.
Oh, and I finally did find out what "Manhattan" means, since I had always kind of wondered. "Manhattan" comes from Manna-hata, a term in the 1609 logbook from Henry Hudson's yacht identifying the surrounding area. It translates to "island of many hills." Fair enough.
So, I made it to the Bronx Zoo today, and despite some mild shadiness in the two-and-a-half blocks between the subway (actually, really El stop, since halfway through the Bronx the subway stops being a subway) and the entry to the zoo, it was actually fine (something I have learned about New York: have an I-am-pissed-off and unpleasant face, and people will leave you alone. Good defense mechanism). And I am glad I went. I am always a sucker for animals, if you couldn't tell from this blog, and this place had quite the selection, way more extensive than the Central Park Zoo, and surprisingly not much more (at least if you got the general admission ticket. With some of the add-ons, or the "full experience" ticket, it could start to get up there price-wise). Anyway, it was a nice afternoon, although now I can barely move from stiffness brought on by 3.5 hours of non-stop walking. But it was worth it. Rather than me blabber on, I am just going to let the animals do the talking, since they are the stars of the show.
Entryway to the Bronx Zoo from Boston Ave. in the Bronx
The first animal to greet me, were camels. Camels are silly animals. They do a really exaggerated chewing motion, and it is entertaining. I actually went on a camel ride around the ring. I am glad I didn't get spat on
Don't know what kind of bird this was, but it looked suitably exotic. Something from Asia, since that was the section of the park I was in at the time
An Asian species of crane, drinking from some skeezy-looking water
Big Kitty (aka Snow Leopard... no, not the OS) taking a silly nap
"Ugh. I gotta learn to lay off the weekend parties. All those rum-and-cokes make for a really unpleasant Monday, ya know? What, you thought all those drinks in those commercials were "soft?" How else do you think we get through 30 takes for a 30-second shot?"
Polar bear totally flaked out. Don't blame him. The North Pole New York in the summer is not
Tee-hee-hee. Polar bear bum. He's being silly. I thought this was absolutely adorbes
A baboon of some type. They are kind of intense in person, actually
Cheekeh monkeh!
Some Ibex (Ibi?)-- which are basically Savannah goat-type animals
So, there were like, all these peacocks, just chillin' all over the zoo. Not in enclosures, just allowed to roam free. Is this normal? They didn't give a shit about humans being there, either. I think they excepted us to move out of the way for them, in typical peacock fashion
Some kind of Savannah deer-like animal. From the "African Prairie" habitat enclosure. Many different species of animals put all together in one
Including lions. I have always wondered how like zoos, when they put predator-type animals and prey-type animals together in the same enclosure, prevent the predators from, you know, eating the prey, when clearly that is not the goal...
King of the jungle, man. That dude is not to be trifled with
When I first saw the lions, that old familiar song popped right into my head and, well, I can't resist:
Now good luck getting THAT out of your head for the next two hours :)
Peacock sighting number 2
Giraffes. What to say, other than that they are pretty bamf animals just generally
Freaking peacocks, again!
Some exotic-looking white bird
No trip to the zoo would be complete without seeing the pink flamingos
You know there are more plastic pink flamingos in North America, than there are actual pink flamingos in the world? That is sad, both for what it says about the status of pink flamingos as a species, and for what it says about the tastes of the American public
Lemur! Silly lemur, eating food while hanging upside-down
...Because this isn't terrifying at all. Nile crocodile, looking like he is going to eat you
Ring-tailed lemurs just chillin'
Another cool looking bird. Don't know the species
Tortoises native to Madagascar. I always thought tortoises were bigger
C'mon, lil' dude. Don't be shy, some say "hi!"
Some cute red-tailed mongeese(gooses?). Cute, that is, until they take down an MF-ing king cobra...
Some red lemur-like animals hanging out behind a mini waterfall
I got to watch the sea lions get fed fish. They were very excited to get fed. It was adorable
Another sea lion hamming it up for the onlookers
PENGUINS!
Not sure what he was, but this guy was a handsome looking fellow, so I took a picture. Some kind of sea bird
Puffin!
Another regal-looking bird, I think in the crane family
The stork. Poor guy looked kind of lonely in his habitat by himself. I felt bad for him
Vultures...are frickin scary birds. You should have seen the wingspan on this thing. Not surprising that they are descendants of freaking velociraptors
Bald Eagle, aka 'Murica, aka USA! USA! USA! Seems appropriate since it is Olympics season
Grizzly bear was hiding behind a fallen tree, trying to cool off in his little pond
Can kind of see his head peeking up from behind the log
Getting up-close and personal with a tiger. Thank god there was glass
Hands-down my best picture of the day. And a fitting end to the day, as well
And again, on that note, because I can't resist:
And with that, there was my day at the zoo. Very fun, but also very tiring. I hope you enjoyed viewing these pictures of the animals, as much as I enjoyed taking them.
If you are interested in visiting the Bronx Zoo, you can find the information at the zoo's website.
The Bronx Zoo is located at:
Bronx Zoo 2300 South Blvd Bronx, New York
There hours are as follows: March 31-Nov. 4, they are open Monday - Friday 10:00AM-5:00PM, Weekends & Holidays 10:00AM-5:30PM. Fall/winter hours are: Nov. 5 - March 29, daily 10:00AM-4:30PM.
This is family-friendly entertainment. Bring the kids!
And finally, lest you think I didn't do anything Sunday, I did in fact go out and explore Chinatown a little more in-depth (sad, considering I live on the edge of it). I wandered around the (very) crowded streets, and even managed to pick up a few things I had been wanting, namely: some steel chopsticks, some of those ceramic Chinese soup spoons (which are far superior to regular spoons for things like soup), and a Chinese tea set, ceramic. Which, considering that was a fair amount of stuff, did not set me back too much. Chinatown prices I guess. You know what was ridiculous, though? My boyfriend has been wanting a real cast-iron wok to cook with (he is a foodie, and a pretty intensive cook). So I thought, New York Chinatown: logical place to find such a wok, I will look there and have an authentic one shipped back to Chicago. Damn, you would have thought I was looking for the Holy Grail. I only found one shop that had them, and then they were ovepriced. I talked to the BF about it, and we both decided we could get a better one for less online. It was just sad.
Anyway, here are some shots I took down some of the streets of Chinatown.
The unfortunate thing about Sunday was, it was super hot and super humid. I kept drinking fluids, mostly water, but just could not keep up. I think I got pretty peaky and dehydrated, in the end. After Chinatown, I went over to the Antiques Garage Flea Market in Chelsea, but I really only could stay for about 20 minutes before I literally had to find an air-conditioned Starbucks, and just sit for awhile. Otherwise, I was getting very parched and a little light-headed. But, I did manage to find a cute decor piece for the apartment before I had to abandon ship. So not all bad.
Still can't believe tomorrow is my last day in the city. It's gone way fast. I had a blast, and I am sorry to see it go. But, on to the next thing. Can't beat the clock, in the end.
