lornagrl

Beyond frustrating...

For nearly a week now, I have been calling the management office trying to find out if they have approved the application of the young couple - who are eager to take over my lease.  Each day they tell me "call back at noon tomorrow" and when I call back at noon, they still do not have an answer for me.  It has taken almost three weeks to process this application. I am supposed to move into the new apartment on Sept 1st. If this application is not approved, I cannot wait another three weeks.  This move is going to cost me every penny I have and then some.  I cannot afford to pay rent on two apartments.

I am starting to wonder if it's worth it. 

But I want out of here so bad. 

Shopping in the depths of Brooklyn

Yesterday I wrote about my friend Cindy who had made a trip out here with some friends to see the new flea market in Coney Island only to arrive at a dirt patch.  I've been a little excited about this.  I love flea markets and it will be nice to have one in the area.  I hope someone is selling incense because it's kind of hard for me to get incense these days.  I never seem to be able to find the incense street vendors anymore (where did they all go?) and the store I go to in park slope doesn't sell the brand I like anymore. 

I walked over to the flea market today and there wasn't a lot of people out there yet.  I think it will probably pick up later in the summer.  I've thought about setting up a booth and sell some of my photography.  Maybe make some postcards.  But I want to see if this flea market will take off. 

I did go to the Lundy's grocery store a few times and I'm real excited about that.  They carry Nancy's cottage cheese, and the prices are surprisingly reasonable. They sell my favorite Fage yogurt for $1.99 a container (it's as high as $2.50 in other supermarkets.)   It's possible that the prices will go up later after they get some loyal customers.

I'll probably be shopping here from time to time.  I often get off at the Sheepshead Bay stop and walk to Brighton Beach in the summer time for excercise. 

Snakes have feelings too....

I met with some friends in Coney Island today.  It was kind of an unexpected meeting.  My friend Cindy was going to the flea market with some people but when they got there, there wasn't much going on.  There were only a few booths.  So I suggested (as a cheap attraction) the freak museum where you can see a two headed cow, a two headed turtle, and a replica of a two headed baby.  All for the bargain price of $3. 

For some reason they had a cage full of python snakes. I have no idea why this would be included in a freak museum because I'm always seeing people carrying python snakes on the Coney Island boardwalk.  We got to this attraction early, and I think they had just opened because there was a guy cleaning out the python cage...well it wasn't a cage exaclty it was a plexi-glass aquarium.  The hatch in the back was open, and I noticed that one of the albino pythons was slithering out, while another one was following right behind him.  

Hey, I think your snakes are making a break for it.

The guy went to the back of the aquarium, and slapped the second snake, REALLY HARD.  I gasped, because it was quite brutal and I was a little surprised that the snake didn't just bite him back.  He struggled with the albino python (who had pretty much made a clean escape) before putting it back in, and then closed the hatch but not before smacking the other snake one last time. 

I know snakes are not soft and cuddly and it's not what one thinks about when they think about animal cruelty but snakes have feelings too.  Also, the cage looked very small for the number of snakes that were in there. I am seriously thinking about calling the A.S.P.C.A.

Lundy's (now a grocery store)

On Saturday I walked over to Sheepshead Bay and stopped by to see the old Lundy's Restaurant to see how the grocery store construction was progressing. It seems like on this grocery store forever and I've been kind of looking forward to it's completion.

I'm not sure how much shopping I will be doing here because it's not exactly close to my apartment, but I do like to walk around the Marina on the weekends and who knows?  Maybe I can pop in here for a real over-priced bottle of olive oil. 

I asked someone inside if the store was going to open soon.  The guy told me Tuesday (that's cinco de mayo)  Not sure if that actually happened since I probably won't be able to stop by and check until next weekend. 

BTW...You can read some interesting tid-bits about the Sheepshead Bay/Coney Island area here..

Spring has sprung...and bounced...and flipped.

I was exhausted from work this week, and spent this past weekend doing...well not much of anything. Except play on Second Life. I did go out for some air on Sunday. Saturday was miserable and raining. Sunday (Easter) was sunny but very, very windy. There is a Jewish center on my block, and maybe because of the holiday, or just for the heck of it, there were one of those inflatable castles that they have at street fairs. There were about 8-10 kids inside, all under the age of six, bouncing up and down and laughing with glee. I peeked inside as I walked past and smiled. It looked like so much fun and a part of me wanted to go in and jump around with them. 

When I reached the corner a felt a gust of wind, and for some reason I looked behind me towards the castle...that's when I noticed that the castle had been flipped over on it's side.  The wind was so strong that it picked the castle up and turned it over.  I could hear the children screaming and crying and before I realized it, I was running back toward them. 

Now as dramatic as all this sounds all was well by the time I got there.  The mothers had pulled their children out very fast which was a good thing because the wind had pulled the castle away from the air pump and was quickly deflating.  I looked at a little girl who was sitting with her relieved mother and asked  "was that fun?"  She timidly nodded yes. 

Gregory & Paul's, Coney Island, Sans Rocket

It's going to be very strange living out near Coney Island with Astroland closed. Gregory & Pauls has been around ....forever.  Many don't know this but it's actually open all year around (weather permitting)  I have often grabbed a cup of coffee when I walk on the boardwalk in winter.  It's expensive and terrible...but it's CAFFEINE. 

When they took the rocket down and noticed it was closed I was a little worried that Gregory & Pauls was closing as well.  But I noticed it was open the other day.  

It's going to be an interesting summer.

..You would never know...

I had my monthly shot yesterday, the one that puts my ovaries to sleep.  There are a few perks from this.  Mainly, no more monthly visitors and believe me when I tell you that I don't miss those.  Nope.  Not one bit.

 

Last year, one of my doctors (a man of course) told me that I might want to think about having my ovaries removed because "It's going to be a pain in the ass to come in once a month for that shot."  Oh really?  And the raging hormones, major surgery, mustache growth, weight gain, crying for no reason, permanently chopped up and scarred (as if I NEED MORE SCARS)... rendered permanently infertile...that would not be inconvenient at all...would it now?

(Did I mention raging hormones?)

I must point out that he was right.  It is a major pain in the ass, (and quite literally because that's where they give me the shot) to do this.  And it's time for me to just admit that I hate going back there.  I hate being weighed, I hate getting my blood pressure, I hate the smell of the doctor's office, I hate seeing bald people, I hate being reminded of all of it..and I wish I didn't have to go there at all, much less once a month.

But I go because I know that if it does get to be too much, I can just stop, and things go back to normal.  If I have my ovaries removed, I very well can't put them back in.  Can I?  Plus, the estrogen that my ovaries produce, just might fire up them cancer cells...and we wouldn't want that..would we?

It's strange because aside from these shots, I would never remember that I was so sick, that nearly two years ago I truly thought I was going to die.  Now I have a new job where nobody knows I was sick, and my hair is getting long, and still curly.  A few co-workers ask about the curly hair.  They ask if it's natural.  I tell them it is.  It's been well over a year, and is showing no signs of growing straight. 

Speaking of hair, I'm getting my second hair cut post chemo today. I get my hair done in a salon in Brighton Beach.  The first time I got my hair done there was at least six months before I got sick.  I had been keeping my hair fairly short but had decided to let it grow long so I didn't get a hair cut for awhile.  Then I got sick, started chemo and all my hair fell out.

Two months ago I walked into the same salon to schedule my first post chemo hair cut.  The Russian girl behind the desk (after first trying to speak to me in Russian) asks me if I want my hair done by Josef because he did my hair last time.  "Well is he good with curly hair?" I ask.  She looks at me incredulously "He's done your hair before." to which I replied, "Yes, but I have since had cancer, had chemo, lost all my hair, and it's curly now.  It wasn't curly before".

Awkward pause..

"He's good with curly hair." she tells me.

Drunken Bart Simpson in Brighton Beach

Lazy Summer 2008

This has been an awful summer weather wise.  It seems to rain almost every single day and because of this, I'm afraid to go out with my camera so I haven't been taking too many photos lately.  Plus, I desperately need to get my camera cleaned and I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.  It's been a very lazy summer.

However, I did get out this weekend to take some photos of the sandcastle contest in Coney Island, which was picked up by Kinetic Carnival and I grabbed one good shot on Surf Avenue that was picked up by Gowanus Lounge.

At last a quick swim...

We got out of work at 2pm yesterday so I went out for my first swim.  (I'm not counting the martini addled dip I took on my birthday.)

I am not thrilled with living way out here for a lot of reasons but one of the nicest perks is that I'm right across the street from the beach.  All I have to do is put on a swimsuit, wrap, and flip-flops and walk across the street.  I can do this after work or early on a weekend morning before the beaches get crowded.  In the summer, it truly feels like I'm on vacation.  I didn't get to do this too much last year and the weather has not been cooperating this year.  It seems that every time I have an opportunity to go to the beach, it rains. This happened to me last Saturday.  After helping a friend move, I set out to take a quick dip but as soon as I got into the water I noticed a lightening bolt hitting the water in the distance. Hopefully I will get to do some more swimming this weekend but It's supposed to rain  according to the weather reports.

Have a nice 4th of July everyone!