for the first time, I feel fully happy here

(it probably won't last long, but i'm embracing it while i can)

cheap and delicious Indian food eaten on a stoop off of Houston. old bars whose walls are covered in newspaper clippings since the early 1900's where you have to order two beers at a time and your only options for drink are 'light' or 'dark', which are subsequently brought to you by angry old codgers (who I am convinced have been the same angry old codgers since the 1900s) capable of carrying 8 beers in one hand. new bars whose walls are covered in hootch-inspired napkin drawings and where the same group of friends hangs out nightly. records, typewriters, old books, greeting cards from back in a time when it was socially acceptable to have blackface gags wishing you a Merry Christmas and Playboy was actually interesting.

today started by weaving in and out of the traffic on the 59th street bridge on the back of a yellow 1979 vespa wearing a kaiser helmet and being fully integrated into the Manhattan skyline as I tried really hard not to whack my leg against every taxi we passed. the weather was blue sky gorgeous scarf weather and the air was crisp and slightly chilly and the leaves are starting to fall and every bakery and coffee shop is now carrying pumpkin flavored everything. bodegas and grocery stores have big baskets of pumpkins for sale lining the streets and posing as dangerous, festive obstacles for those of us recovering from hangovers by forgetting to pay attention to the external world.

my job is going well. i work all the time and, while it is still painfully frustrating that i don't know how to do many things that i'm used to knowing how to do perfectly, i'm getting to know the crazy regulars and my eastern European coworkers are starting to open up despite the huge cultural gap that separates our sense of humor. there is one regular who is in his late 60's who talks with me on my break about all our favorite Old Masters and his obsession with physics. he's nicknamed me 'Symmetry', which is the most charming compliment i've received since i've been here, rivaled only by one other given to me by another group of late-60's regulars who get together in the evenings at the cafe to bitch about academia, who all agreed that I had the presence and poise of a modern day Myrna Loy. i get a lot of terrible ones. for instance, last week, two people on two separate occasions said that their favorite color was "the color of my eyes." i mean, come on, brazen males of Manhattan, your pick up lines are lacking and cheesy. take a number from the 1940s, maybe then you'll have a chance.

also i have discovered new things about my palate! turns out i love dark chocolate, but only when it's covered in salt and i love guacamole, but only when i'm drunk. yams and beets are still hated across the board.

"always stick to Bach and the early Italians."

good advice.