Ms. Diaz

I saw Cameron Diaz and her entourage in our store today.

They drove away in a very posh black Tundra.

On the Way to La Strada

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the last stop for this train due to police action at the Bowery Station."

I'm not going to Bowery Station. I'm going to Essex Station. The next one. The one before Bowery. Take me one more stop. Please!

Unload the train. Stand on the platform. Wait.

The MTA worker walks past and repeats the message. So we wait.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. There is not train service at this time due to police action at the Bowery Station. If you want to go to Manhattan, take the B39 bus across the Williamsburg Bridge. If you want to go to......"

Frustration. Cussing. Mumbling. Shuffling. Herding towards the exits and down the stairs to the street.

The B39 is not listed on this bus stop. Where is the B39 stop?

"Where does the B39 stop?" the man asks.

I don't know.

Follow the crowd. Turn the corner. There's the bus stop. Wait while other buses pick people up and leave. Wait.

This is a lot of people who will want to get on the bus when it comes. Can a bus fit a train-load of people? Certainly not.

Here comes the bus. The crowd surges and crams. Not a chance of getting on this bus. Watch it depart, crammed full of people on their way to the bridge. Stifle jealousy. Wait.

Oh look. There goes the J train on its way across the Williamsburg Bridge. I was willing to wait for service to resume. Now it's resumed, but we still stand at the bus stop.

Faced with decision. Do I go back to the station and hope the next train comes soon, or do I wait for the next B39 bus? I wait. An older gentleman trips on the curb and another man and I go to see if he needs help. His shoe came off, but he's okay.

Here comes the next bus into the stop. A little ways across the lot it unloads its crowd of passengers from Manhattan. Painstakingly slow they exit the bus. Then, the bus turns off its marquee lights. Frustration permeates the air again.

What?!?!?!? Are you kidding me?

Start to head back to the station to wait for the train, along with a few other people. Look back. The bus turns its marquee lights back on and pulls forward to the bus stop. Turn around and go back to the bus. Wait in line. Load the bus. The crowd has thinned at this point and there are plenty of seats available. Then, the bus doesn't move. We wait. The bus driver leaves the bus running and gets off the bus.

Oh, look. There goes another J train towards the bridge into Manhattan. Guess I should have gone back to the station. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh....

The bus driver gets back on the bus and we are on our way across the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan.

This was my experience getting into the Lower East Side for a La Strada concert at The Living Room tonight. Was it worth it? Yes. The band was late getting started, so I didn't miss a thing. I even got a seat at a table. La Strada is a band out of Brooklyn and they rock. They use guitar, percussion, accordian, violin, viola and cello in their music. They were the first band I saw in concert after my move to New York. I was glad to see them again. If you ever come to New York and want to hear a good band, I highly recommend La Strada. I'm spreading the word. Their sticker even got a place on the top of my laptop. Here's their website: http://lastradaband.blogspot.com/ They are also on MySpace. Check them out. They were picked by The L Magazine as one of the 8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear.

At The Hospital

Kim is one of our fellow Radical Living residents. She went into the hospital this week with breathing problems, but I'm glad to report that she was able to leave the hospital today! I had a great time hanging out with her and other fellow radicals there. This picture is of me giving moral support to Kim during her breathing treatment.

Below is a short video clip of our fun times at the hospital. Jason and Vonetta are also in the video.

Favorite Quote of the Week

"Hey! Go back to Jersey and litter!"

I heard someone yell this out their car window by Jackson Square Park.

All of My Customers Are Stars to Me

Today a woman came into our cafe, and I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn't place her. I was thinking she must be a regular that I don't see every day. Later I realized that it was Tatum O'Neal, an actress who holds the record for being the youngest person ever to win an Academy Award. At the age of 10 she won the 1974 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Paper Moon. It struck me today that I am having trouble telling the difference between famous people who have come in and just customers who are familiar. I guess my mind just knows that I've seen them before, and it has to take time to sort out where. Anyway, it was a funny thing to me. In my Starbucks eyes, all of our customers are stars. ;-)

Scary Family

I saw this add for an auto sales company on the Staten Island Ferry last week.

Please, no! I don't want my family to be your family.

Some New Experiences

I haven't updated my blog in awhile so I thought I'd share a few stories. First, I'll let you know that my demo art lesson had to be postponed, so nothing new has happened with the potential art teaching position. I don't have a new date for that yet, but they will give me advance notice.

Spring is here and it makes quite a difference in the feel of the City. Trees and flowers and coming alive and people are out everywhere. You really notice the difference when the weather is nice. People seem to be in high spirits and the noise level increases substantially as people get outside more.
The other morning I was walking to work from 14th Street past a great little triangular park in the West Village. It was just getting light outside and I was looking at the magnolia trees that were in the process of blooming. I was thinking, "The City really comes alive and blooms in the springtime." Then I looked at the sidewalk and saw a pile of what I think was bizarre-colored vomit. Such is life here. You get some of the best things, tempered with some of the worst.

I served a few celebrities at work this week. That was exciting. The Village is an expensive place to live and I think a lot of celebrities have homes there. Interacting with the these people (albeit briefly and in making a transaction across a coffee counter) reminds me that Hollywood stars are not so big and they need their coffee ground just like everyone else. But it's still fun to share.

First there was Victor Garber, who played Jack Bristow on "Alias", one of my favorite television shows. He has also been in "Titanic", the play "Godspell", and a host of other shows. He visited for a bit with Kelsey while his coffee was being ground. He seemed nice.


That same afternoon I stayed a little late, and Parker Posey came in. I gave her some change back. Ha. She is one of my favorite actresses. Her characters crack me up. She played the mean girlfriend of Tom Hanks' character in "You've Got Mail" and was in the hilarious mockumentary "Waiting for Guffman".


Today Clive Owen was in the store. He was wearing sunglasses. After work I started second-guessing it was him, but I'm 98% sure it was him. I had some trouble at the register while I was ringing his order up. I hit the wrong button and had to do math in my head. Dangerous. I don't know much about him, but he was in the movie "Children of Men", which is one of the most moving films I've seen (it's very sad and not for everyone).


As I was taking a walk after work I passed a woman who seemed familiar. She sounded familiar as well. She was walking her dog and talking on her cell phone. After I passed her, I realized she may have been a lady who played in "The Station Agent", a film I recently viewed. I really liked the characters in that film. I decided not to turn around and stalk her to see if it was really the same person.

I kicked a rat this past week. I went out with Aubrey (a fellow Starbucks partner who transferred to New York last December) and some of her friends on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last Tuesday night. I was walking to the subway stop late at night and there were rats taking advantage of the garbage on the curbs. The garbage bags go out on the curbs here and are picked up at night in some neighborhoods. It's not unusual to see rats outside at night or in the subways at any time. (I've been trying to think of names for the rats in the Myrtle-Willoughby station- once I saw one run right behind a guy who was leaning against the wall- he moved away from the wall after that) They typically run and hide when I am walking in their direction at night. The sidewalk isn't covered in rats, but you see a few here and there. As I was walking Tuesday night, a rat ran across the sidewalk diagonally right in my path. I'm not quite clear if I was just stepping or actually tried to kick the rat, but my foot hit it ever so slightly and it stumbled but kept running. I yelled an explicitive and then had to laugh at it. It was nasty, though. Thankfully I wasn't wearing sandals, huh?