BrokeBack Apple

Day 5 - Yesterday, I went to the New York Public Library. There, I saw one of Guttenberg's first Bibles, a page Thomas Jefferson copied of the Declaration, a letter written by Picasso, some original notes of e.e. cummings, and a book Charles Dickens had written all over.

After that, I went to Forever 21 and bought three dresses... I know, it doesn't seem very New York-y to buy dresses from Forever 21, but it is as hot as a mug here and I felt like I was being boiled alive in the subway stations whilst wearing my jeans. I feel considerably better now... although not-so-great about the need to shave.

In the evening, I went with Roxanne and her husband to Bryant Park for a screening of Marilyn Monroe's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I was pretty excited. We got there at 6 p.m. and the lawn outside the New York Public Library was PACKED. Then the announcer came on, telling us all that the movie would start at 9 p.m. I fumed. I had promised my father (who is obsessed with Liam Neeson's performance in Taken) that I would not ride the subways late at night. If the movie started at 9, it wouldn't end till 11, which would put me back in Brooklyn at midnight... not a big deal if I were staying in Park Slope, but Aunt Jean's hood is no Park Slope. I heaved a huge sigh of exasperation and returned to Brooklyn by 9 p.m., leaving Marilyn Monroe behind. My mother suggested this morning that perhaps I could poll people in the Big Apple to see if is REALLY as dangerous as Dad seems to think to ride the subway at midnight. I did this, but got no conclusive information either way.

I returned to the House of a Thousand Cats to find that the plumber had finally fixed the toilet, but that he had not touched the shower. It was still full of dirt and mud. In a misguided attempt to fix it on my own, I took a plunger to the drain. I think I made things considerably worse, because now not only is it absolutely filthy, but I know it is also full of toilet germs. Finally, I gave up and took a "hooker bath" as Liz calls it... sponging off and spritzing perfume to cover one's stench.

Exasperated, I held my nose and filled up my air mattress. The brand new air mattress I bought has apparently sprung a leak. If filled up right before bed, it will be mostly flat by morning. I don't really care, it's just par for the course, and in the general scheme of things it seems a minor inconvenience.

Today, I went to my first catholic mass, and discovered that I am not, in fact, Sicilian. You can imagine my shock, as my parents have been telling my siblings and I that we are Sicilian for quite some time. No, Aunt Jean assured me that my great-grandmother was from Naples and my great-grandfather was from Rome. That's why I have green eyes instead of brown. I'm pretty sure AmyRose and Lindsay are going to be devastated. Ryan won't care. Anyway, most of the people at the Tuesday mass today were 90-year-old Italians. I kind of stood out.

After mass, I took my laptop into the city, where I had drawn up a plan for the day's travels: go to the places in the East Village where my NYC tourbook said were worth seeing, and then go to Barnes and Noble to do my homework. I probably should have planned a bit better... one of my first stops was "The Strand," a NYC bookshop full of three floors of new and used books. In fact, their claim to fame is that they provide 18 miles of books. I assume that's if you lay them all end to end. I cannot resist books, and spent the rest of the day lugging a huge bag of books around the city, in addition to my laptop. I expected my back to break, but then my feet started hurting and that provided a nice distraction.

Other stops of the day: I went to Kiehl's. I don't really get it, but the guidebook said to go, so I went. They had a bunch of really overpriced lotion. I don't get the hoopla, but I bought some because, geez, I'd traveled all the way there. Then I bought a t-shirt at Zara's, not because it was a particularly awesome t-shirt (although it is purple), but because that's where Princess Kate shops, and dammit, I want to be a princess. Finally, I arrived at Barnes and Noble, only to discover that in NYC, the B&N's consist of 3 floors of solid books with nary a chair in site. Exhausted, I took the Brooklyn-bound train to a restaurant Liz and I had discovered: Beet. I sat there and ate dinner by myself, reading one of my many new books. Liz thought I was quite independent.

Perhaps my favorite purchase of the day is a book I got my dad (or more likely, my sister because dad won't read it): "The Complete Manual of Things That Might Kill You." AmyRose is always falling apart medically, and Dad always thinks he is, even though he isn't really.

The only thing I didn't do today is homework. Still not sure when or where to do that.