Month: December 2008

I got this map of the muggings from Gothamist. But I’ll tell you what’s even scarier about this quote from one of the girls who was mugged at Bleecker and West 10th Street.

“There were two guys – one had a hood on and a bandanna over his face. He grabbed me from behind and put a gun to my head. I was crying. I was agreeing with everything he wanted me to do. He said, ‘Don’t even think of f- – -ing screaming. Don’t f- – -ing scream. Don’t f- – -ing scream.”

After feeling sorry for this poor girl, I couldn’t help but notice that this is two blocks from my apartment.  But then I realized, the 6th Precinct is on that block!!  Those guys did this within yards of the police precinct!!  The 6th Precinct is on 10th between Bleecker and Hudson.  I had been thinking about how these muggings were all within blocks, all around me, and I didn’t remember until just now how close they’re doing this to the 6th Precinct, too.

The police were out in force last night though, as I said.  I believe they’re doing what they can to address the problem.  I have to say, when I was out last night, I didn’t get the sense that a lot of the girls walking around read or watch the news.  I’m not saying anyone should hide out, but definitely be a little more aware of your surroundings when you know someone out there is specifically targeting you.

So I was a little bit productive.

Got somewhat caught up in email, organized here and there, started a few projects that needed starting. I have one more should-do task and then I’m done.

Oh!!  I’m doing one fun thing I highly recommend. I went to hulu.com and searched on … I think “Christmas,” but it might have been “holiday.” Then I narrowed the results to full tv episodes, and now I’ve got a selection of holiday tv episodes from my past.  I plan to watch one a day.  

I was a little afraid they wouldn’t hold up, but I started with Barney Miller and I laughed all over again and enjoyed it as much as the last time, however long ago that was. Sigh.

The picture is of Christmas lights on 11th Street, where I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures, feeling safe and protected by the NYPD, who were sitting packed in a small van about 25 feet from where I was shooting.

They were out strolling the streets of my neighborhood, they were parked here and there.  They had us covered!  It was really nice.  I felt safe!  That’s an NYPD vehicle on the left hand corner. (I think it would be fun to drive around in one of those things, whatever you call them.)

So, I have nothing I absolutely have to do today.  I can do … nothing!  Go to a movie! Whatever!

A beer sitting on the table at … Oh God.  I don’t know where we were to tell you the truth. After dinner we went somewhere for drinks.  This is a picture of somewhere.  I wasn’t fond of somewhere, but I loved the company.  And in somewhere’s defense, the waiter brought me a glass of water at the exact moment I had a burning desire for a glass of water.

Tonight it’s a birthday party.  Sunday rest.  Monday I was going to go to a Handel’s Messiah Sing, but there’s yet another party, where I’ll see some old friends so I’ll probably do that instead.

Thanks to my friends Jackie, for googling and figuring out what the problem was, and Hadley, for repairing the database tables.  Thank you Jackie and Hadley!!  

Last night the moon was bigger than normal.  From NASA’s website:  “Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others and this Friday’s is a whopper. Why? The Moon’s orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other … making it 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we’ve seen earlier in 2008.”

I have to be honest, had I not known this was happening I never would have noticed.  But when I stopped to take pictures, I loved that everyone around me knew this was going on.  A girl walking by said “the moon, right?” when I pulled out my camera, and a small group stopped to watch behind me while the most knowledgeable among them explained to the others what was happening.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to get a shot through the Ginkgo trees because the moon looked more dramatic that way and I just read this on the NASA website.  “For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects.”  But they said watching it when it’s low to the horizon is the most dramatic, that’s when you would get the full, larger, effect.