Documentation

I began around 8pm on September 22.  Well, actually, it all started in June, but the assignment of this evening was to record all that came before.  To resurrect notebook scrawls and gather up the photos and write a synposis for everything created each day this summer.  The target time was 5:04am EDT, the time of the autumnal equinox, on September 23, the day of my birth.

Instead, I made from the 21st of June through the mid-August, typing summaries and assigning plausible but invented times for each entry.  I love a good equinox but I went to bed at 2am without finishing.  Then I made it to work.

Tap dance

After our phone and computer network was disrupted in the office, Jennie Wasserman showed me a tap dance move called trenches, and Genevieve Stewart taught me a shuffle-ball-change combination.

Characters

I made a mad-dash effort to capture the man on 60th street with the handful of balloons.

I encoded and decoded a message using the rail fence method learned in cryptography class last week.

Ambuchy

I learned my grandmother was in the hospital.  While she's ok, I made a plan to see her.  That's my lady.

Light

I made an important, long overdue purchase that will hopefully fill my living room with the light of the blazing sun.

With Rebecca Bliss, we made a rueda and danced Cuban-style salsa.  Because everything is better in a circle.

In the City

I made a New York day for my Jersey-based mother.  Lunch at 'wichcraft, rehearsal with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and a grocery expedition to Zabar's and Fairway.

Cooking

I took a cooking class at Astor Center downtown and left having chopped celery with optimal knife motions, dissected a raw pepper, trussed a chicken, cut up its limbs, assembled a strata, and made a pan sauce.

Mommy

I transcribed a voice-mail from my mother.

Hi kid.

I’m so excited, I went to that Trader Joe’s on Route 17.  

I had to go through the tolls and everything because it’s a big store. 

And I was so excited, I was so nervous coming back I thought I’d lose my way but it was FINE.

I spent about 89, 90 dollars there.  Ooh, I almost bought the whole shop. 

It’s a nice shop – big -  but I LOVE  the Brooklyn one, the people there are KYOO-ter. 

Ok, bye.

Let It Go

Koko taught me how to say "let it go and it will come back to you" in Armenian.  While the context was around a waitress bringing dessert, it has profound implications.

Phonetically butchered:
torgh gana, yev hed gaga.

Cryptography

I began a 3-part cryptography class at the Brooklyn Brainery and had my first lesson in code-making and -breaking.

Urban Path

I made a new home for a little plant.

Then I forged a path and made notes (first mental, then digital), especially on places to return.
       
I walked east along 10th St., starting on 7th Ave.  Two rules: no photos, so as not to simply capture and scurry on, as I tend to do; second, no purchases.

This is what I saw:
- Jefferson Market Garden - open all days except Monday, from 12-6pm
- children playing in a schoolyard - one with a mohawk, another with a suitcase
- my old NYU dorm Rubin Hall and its cafeteria marketing campaign whose posters allude to its unique ambience
- Brooke Shields and 2 children
- exquisite wooden carvings on the facade of NYU's Center for Jewish Life
- a 1940s reenactment being filmed for a Capital One commerical
- a leafy plant whose foliage was green on top and purple on its belly
- Quintessence raw food restaurant
- La Plaza Cultural, another fenced-in garden on Ave C just below 9th St - open 12-5pm on weekend April - end of October

Didgeridoo

Nancy-Laurel Pettersen taught me how to get sound from a didgeridoo.

Monica Williams led us all in a reading of Chekov's Three Sisters.

Football

Calvin O. Butts V, my godson, taught me how to throw a football.

Collection

I went to Kimberly Faulkner's house; she was watching Project Runway.  I sketched an imaginary collection of dresses, 4 seasons.

5 Sculptures

I began with the intention of making "5 sculptures inspired by modern artists" within a shoebox diorama, but when my first (a Giocametti tribute) wouldn't stand, I shifted to "5 sculptures that might have been run over by a car."

From top to bottom,
in homage to Alberto Giacometti, Nikki de Saint Phalle, Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, and Auguste Rodin.

T-shirts

We took an office field trip to the US Open and watched Nadal and Muller play for 15 minutes until a rain delay stopped them.  We spent the rest of the day on the grounds eating mediocre food until the match was officially cancelled, 6 hours later.  Sopheap Theam, cousin of Van Monak Chhun, taught me a t-shirt folding method (2 fingers, 3 moves) in the stadium restaurant.

How to Cut a Pineapple

With the help of YouTube, I learned how to cut a pineapple using an Asian spiral technique.

Dressing

I made cucumber dill dressing, as Stanzi Allan Pouthier described in her recipe book.  It was thick and more cucumber soupy than dressing-y, so I drank it and went to work.

Fried chicken

Aleesha Taylor taught me how to fry chicken.

Head and Shoulders

Kimberly Faulkner taught me the children's song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in English and in French.

Guacamole

That is what I made today.

Negotiation

Anna Roberts asked on Facebook: "Anyone enjoy negotiation and want to brainstorm with me about how to get to yes in a little situation I'm having?"  And so we did.  I drafted an email for her consideration.  Not sure how helpful it was, but I do love writing difficult emails and wish it was a profession.