Stacy Horn

I’ve noticed that whenever I look up, no one is ever standing in those balconies that adorn so many buildings in the city.

And on my desk at this moment:

– A copy of Infinite Jest.  (When I’m finished with my current book I will give this a try.)

– Another book called Swan Song (from Howard).

– A picture of Maggie Gyllenhaal, because when and if I get my eyebrows down, hers are what I’m shooting for.

– A map. To look at periodically so in case someone ever asks me to point out Iraq on a map I will be able to.

– A bowl of cats toys.  So when the cat start acting evil and I’m trying to work I can throw things to distract them.

– A file of recipes. Ha.  Yeah. Dream on.  But there was this blueberry swirl pie thing! 

– A pile of pages torn out from magazines which include: an article about non-invasive things you can do to your face like IPL and LED, an article about a restaurant I want to try called Ilili, an article about a fitness test I should take and where to get meds if you don’t have that insurance prescription option and pay full price.

That reminds me, I rarely have to buy prescription drugs, but last year, when I did, I freaked out because the drugs were WAY expensive.  I looked into adding that prescription drug option to my insurance, and I added up what I was going to spend on these VERY expensive meds for a year, and what I would spend monthly for the prescription drug option and it was still cheaper to pay full price for the meds.  I called the pharmacist back and said nevermind, I did the math and I’d be paying full price.  He said, “I wish more people would do the math.”  Meaning, you really have to spend a lot every month to make that thing worthwhile.  I suspect as I age I will be, but for now it doesn’t make sense.

I mean, look at this.  A pretty little terrace, probably a nice place to sit, but look at the rest of this building.

That brick!  Or siding, or whatever the hell it is??  What do I know??

And this on top of a 99 cent store.  You know, these stores might be fun to shop in. I should shut up and go inside,  I’ll bet it’s like the 5 and 10s of my youth. Okay, I’ll go to one and report back.

There’s a block fair on Bleecker right now, as I type, and usually I am never tempted by anything sold at these things, but there are the prettiest, prettiest tie-dyed tshirts down there right now and I WANT ONE.  The colors are gorgeous, and the tie-dye pattern very subtle and understated.  Not Grateful Dead-y at all. (Not there’s anything wrong with that. I’m a Dead fan.  But fashion-wise, they were not a good influence.)

I think I might shower and shop. Hmm. Shower and Shop. Should be a title of something.

Howard gave me a bunch of time travel movies on CD not too long ago, because he knows I love time travel movies, and I’ve been slowly working my way through them.  For some reason I watched The Sticky Fingers of Time last.

It was the best one, it turns out.  At first I hated it, and almost stopped watching it. I thought it was going to be too hip for words, but thank GOD I kept going. There was something very different about it, something that made me keep going, I wish I could put my finger on it.

I don’t want to say anything else because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone and you should get a hold of it and watch it. The shot above is a still from the movie.  Good job everyone associated with this movie!

I used to actively avoid 14th Street.  If I had to go east or west around there I’d take 13th or 15th. Those blocks are prettier.  14th was mostly 99 cent stores, or bargain clothing stores, or bargain luggage stores, and with few exceptions, not a lot of great architecture. I just thought it was ugly and depressing.  

At a certain point I stopped avoiding it, and while it’s still not pretty and it’s still mostly bargain stores, it doesn’t depress me anymore.  Plus, my bargain gym is on 14th.

So I’m walking home just now and I think, okay, there are pockets of prettiness, a nice building here, a nice doorway there, like this one.

I looked up the address when I got home and freaking Marcel Duchamp lived there from 1942 until he died in 1968. How can that be? We had him that long, and so close (to where I live I mean)??  I had no idea.  According to Wikipedia he died in France though, but did live in a Greenwich Village studio for many years.  So maybe he didn’t die here, but he lived here a long time and produced his last work of art here, years after everyone thought he had stopped making art.