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fredericksUgh. Brain like big fluffy down pillow. Seriously, though. I went to bed maybe around 2? and then ended up waking up around 8:30 when mom came to wake me up. She'd planned a trip to the Botanical Gardens. Normally I wouldn't be caught dead there but she, you know, really seemed to want it and I'm sort of loathe to disappoint her as of late. There was some exhibit she wanted to see, New York in Miniature or something, that she'd caught on the news. After she woke me up she headed downstairs to nap on the couch, and so I was the one that ended up waking up the two bros in the house so they could come along. Mom actually tried to get one of my brother's friends to come with as well. I tried to tell her as tactfully as possible that most young boys don't jump at the chance to see flowers in a greenhouse. He didn't end up coming anyway.
We get there after a long trek (traffic on the Throgs Neck and all) and...okay, my brothers and I, on taking a look at the crowd heading into the Gardens looked at each other and said "Caucasian Overload! Caucasian Overload!" (ala Undercover Brother). Which is always daunting for me. I always become a touch self-conscious when entering somewhere where my race suddenly sets me apart. Odd, because ever since elementary all my schooling has taken place in institutions where blacks were minorities. But this place just screamed "White Upper Middle Class" (or "pompous ass-ity", depending on how you want to look at it), right down to the classical music they had piped into every crevice. It was funny. And I'm sure I've alienated a large number of people on my friend's list, but...I don't care. We (as in my brothers and I) "ooh"ed and "aww"ed less at the exhibit (which was great, but not at all worth the roughly $60 in toll, parking, and entry fees Mom ended up shelling out) than at every black person we saw. But then, a number of those ended up being nannies for their light complexioned charges. The exhibit was cool; I'll most likely get around to putting up some pics I snapped when I can get off my lazy ass and find the camera's USB cable. It was just a tiring afternoon.
On her way back momsy dropped me off at the local train station and I headed down to Brookdale to pick up a form for a summer internship program. One hour, two dollars, and a couple of Manhattan blocks later I picked up the form...and found it was for *graduate* students. The stupid listserv e-mail didn't mention that part. Bastids. So I trek back home, boiled some rice, and eventually fell asleep fully clothed on my bed. A full day.
*
Dad's downstairs wearing what can only be described as a portable EEG reader. Because of the whole seizure incident and his medical history they're trying to monitor him and see if he hasn't been having mini seizures all the time. He's wearing the standard EEG scalp hook-up, which is attached to this machine that probably keeps tabs on some sort of internal PC and may possibly have a camera in it to monitor any potential seizure behavior (my brother ended up having to tidy up dad's room before he went to sleep last night, to make a good impression for the camera - I swear, the fun never stops over here). This plays like an excuse for him to sit in front of the TV and order stuff - he's particularly fond of watching Discovery Channel home and he told me he ordered one of those laser level things...that I'm fairly certain they sell in the mall(s) somewhere. He's also been watching CNN basically nonstop, and has taken to giving up moving sermons on how the people affected by the tsunamis in the Pacific are faring. His speeches usually start out with "Maybe you wouldn't understand" as if any of his life experience has given him the ability to empathize fully with people whose lives were fucked over by massive waves of water. If you take a step back and laugh at some of the things he comes up with, the man isn't quite so infuriating.
Yup. That's my day. Made a sweet new Friend, feel like crap, should do something about it. A-huh. Coherency is a virtue.
We get there after a long trek (traffic on the Throgs Neck and all) and...okay, my brothers and I, on taking a look at the crowd heading into the Gardens looked at each other and said "Caucasian Overload! Caucasian Overload!" (ala Undercover Brother). Which is always daunting for me. I always become a touch self-conscious when entering somewhere where my race suddenly sets me apart. Odd, because ever since elementary all my schooling has taken place in institutions where blacks were minorities. But this place just screamed "White Upper Middle Class" (or "pompous ass-ity", depending on how you want to look at it), right down to the classical music they had piped into every crevice. It was funny. And I'm sure I've alienated a large number of people on my friend's list, but...I don't care. We (as in my brothers and I) "ooh"ed and "aww"ed less at the exhibit (which was great, but not at all worth the roughly $60 in toll, parking, and entry fees Mom ended up shelling out) than at every black person we saw. But then, a number of those ended up being nannies for their light complexioned charges. The exhibit was cool; I'll most likely get around to putting up some pics I snapped when I can get off my lazy ass and find the camera's USB cable. It was just a tiring afternoon.
On her way back momsy dropped me off at the local train station and I headed down to Brookdale to pick up a form for a summer internship program. One hour, two dollars, and a couple of Manhattan blocks later I picked up the form...and found it was for *graduate* students. The stupid listserv e-mail didn't mention that part. Bastids. So I trek back home, boiled some rice, and eventually fell asleep fully clothed on my bed. A full day.
*
Dad's downstairs wearing what can only be described as a portable EEG reader. Because of the whole seizure incident and his medical history they're trying to monitor him and see if he hasn't been having mini seizures all the time. He's wearing the standard EEG scalp hook-up, which is attached to this machine that probably keeps tabs on some sort of internal PC and may possibly have a camera in it to monitor any potential seizure behavior (my brother ended up having to tidy up dad's room before he went to sleep last night, to make a good impression for the camera - I swear, the fun never stops over here). This plays like an excuse for him to sit in front of the TV and order stuff - he's particularly fond of watching Discovery Channel home and he told me he ordered one of those laser level things...that I'm fairly certain they sell in the mall(s) somewhere. He's also been watching CNN basically nonstop, and has taken to giving up moving sermons on how the people affected by the tsunamis in the Pacific are faring. His speeches usually start out with "Maybe you wouldn't understand" as if any of his life experience has given him the ability to empathize fully with people whose lives were fucked over by massive waves of water. If you take a step back and laugh at some of the things he comes up with, the man isn't quite so infuriating.
Yup. That's my day. Made a sweet new Friend, feel like crap, should do something about it. A-huh. Coherency is a virtue.
