I Should Know Better

Looking at pets for adoption is agony. It’s painful. So why do I always go to look at them?? I was walking through a street fair and passed a stand with a bunch of animals up for adoption. I wanted them all. It kills me to talk away.

Puppies

Adoption

Please for the love of God renew So You Think You Can Dance

It’s my favorite show on tv. With all the great shows on tv, it is still the one I look forward to the most. It’s the one show that can neutralize awful news like heartless clerks in Kentucky and republican candidates who don’t “believe” in evolution. It’s a thoroughly decent show celebrating people who work hard to excel in an art form that is insanely entertaining and uplifting.

Here is a routine from the finale. It features the guy I wanted to win, Jim Nowakowski, with another of my all-time favorites, Alex Wong. I’m not the first to say this, but perhaps if Jim had gotten at least one routine like this during the competition he might have made it to the finale. I honestly still think Gaby would have won, not because she’s a better dancer, or a more likable person, but she clearly has broader appeal. More people like Edward Hopper than like … Johannes Vermeer (although Vermeer is extremely popular too) or listen to the Beatles over Palestrina (again, Palestrina is very popular as well, but you get my point). Which is not to say Gaby didn’t deserve to win, I love her too (and Hopper and the Beatles)!

People who are making this decision: please, please, please, renew So You Think You Can Dance. I’m begging you.

Do you think you’re tone deaf?

Someone tweeted this test to see if you were tone deaf. It was so insanely easy I googled “tone deaf test” to see if there were others. I came across another easy one.

And then I found a hard one! At first I was confused about what was happening so my first few answers are wrong. I want to take it again, and try harder. I did okay, but not great.

If you decide to take it, before starting take a deep breath and listen carefully. You’ll be played a small snippet of music twice. Then you must decide if the two snippets you just heard were the same or different. Some are quite complex (to me anyway) so listen carefully. I didn’t until I was a third of the way through.

It’s Fashion Week here in NYC, and of course I won’t be participating in it in any way. But lots of well-dressed people are walking around my neighborhood. There actually always are a lot of well-dressed people in my neighborhood, but of course there are more than usual. I love this look. Chunky boots on bare legs.

These boots are made for walking, New York City

Syria

Read this, please. It’s short, it’s mostly graphic, but it will give you a stark, horrible picture of what is happening in Syria.

Fuck the tyrants and bigots like Kim Davis and Donald Trump. This is what we should be paying attention to. And we should be accepting more refugees, from so many places. Oh God, the state of the world. Our problem isn’t illegal immigrants, it’s that we aren’t accepting enough immigrants.

My comparatively easy life. I sat outside taking pictures while doing the laundry this afternoon. Two dog walkers stopped to chat and there was a predictable tangle.

Dog Walker Tangle, Hudson Street, New York City

I Didn’t Do Anything on 9/11

I went for a swim in the morning, came home, and then I never left my apartment for the rest of the day. Part of it was I was tired. I’d worked 16 hours straight the day before. I’m a poll worker and we had a small, local election. I left my apartment at 4:30am and I didn’t get back until around 10 or 10:30pm. Exhausting! But my fellow poll workers are great and I love people who bother to vote.

What did you do for 9/11? Anything? Perhaps watched a bit of 9/11 related tv coverage?

Someone put up this tiny birdhouse on a tree along the West Side Highway. This is near where we held up thank you signs to the rescue and recovery workers, making this a kind of 9/11 picture. If I had moved a little bit to the left 1 World Trade would have made it into the shot.

Birdhouse, West Side Highway, New York City