9/12/03 Two days of TV; Mom at work at home; Trombone in Penn; Westivlle w/Brian and his Parents; Brian leaves the West Village; I bike his bike to my place:

My old bed. It's wonderful to live on your own, out of the nest, being self sufficient, and all that good stuff. But when nature makes you feel crappy, there's nothing like that home you left behind for comfort and healing. Thanks Mommy.

There were two pluses to getting sick. 1) I didn't miss work because I don't have a 9-5 job and I wasn't booked for Circle Line these two days. 2) I got to watch a crapload of TV, which I NEVER do anymore. I grew up on TV. Every day, as I kid, I watched hours of TV. Sure I was productive and creative and did a lot of the things that kids normally do, but when I think back on my childhood, I also remember seeing every single lonney toons cartoon ever made, all of the programming on Nickelodeon, and Nick at Night, Press Your Luck, the gameshow, every day after school, The Price Is Right every time I could catch it, all of the episodes Bob Ross made before he croaked from being too relaxed, lots of Saturday Night Live, Dennis Miller, George Carlin, O.J. Simpson trial coverage, the War In Iraq...the first one... (WII I?), tons of HBO, lots of the Weather Channel, which fascinated me to no end for whatever reason, Star Trek of all kinds, Next Step, Beyond 2000, and other budding Discovery Channel documentary programming, Mr. Wizard (reruns), Inspector Gadget, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, and all the way back to Mr. Rogers. I learned a great deal about life and love and the world around me via the television. I value that time to some degree, but in other ways, I feel that much of that time was totally wasted, and it is easy to imagine all the things I might have done, things that were creative, or productive... things that I could have learned back then that I could have been building upon today.... things I never did. So, am I taking a cheap shot at the TV, or do I have serious concerns worth thinking about?

Well, I do know this: When Richard and I moved to Water St., we had to pay for Cable Television. It was decided, among the four members of our suite, that it was not worth the expense, and so we didn't get cable. Justin Monshine, my suitemate at the time, discovered one day while taking out the trash, that the "Cable Room" door was ajar. Justin, knowing that Rich and I were in film school and have some expertise in TV cable wiring and the like, came to us with this information, hoping we could create an opportunity. And we did... we stole the full cable package simply by connecting the wire that had our room number on it to the cable jacks available on the wall. And for the rest of that year, we had cable and it was good.

The following year, our Senior Year, we tried again, but were unsuccessful. Our new room was on a new floor, and the wire that corresponded with our new room had no connector on the end of the wire. So, I went to radio shack and bought a connector, and crimped it onto the wire, and plugged it in, and for a few days, we had cable. But then it went away. And when I got back into the cable room, we discovered that someone had pulled out our wire, and had pulled off my home-made connector. Hmmm. Perhaps they were onto us. And so, we decided to leave it alone.

So, for the rest of that semester, we had virtually no programming coming into my two TV's that I used for editing monitors. And I began to notice a corresponding change in my behavior:

WHAT I DID WHEN I HAD CABLE:

When I've had TV in the past, I would usually sit down to watch it while eating a meal at home. It's totally passive, and goes along with eating very nicely. BUT... not only would it slow down my eating, but even after I was done eating, I would be so sucked into whatever program I was watching, I would often sit and be hypnotized by the TV for an hour or two or three before noticing the passing time and finally shutting it off.

WHAT I DID WHEN I DIDN'T HAVE CABLE:

When cable disappeared, and I sat down to eat, it was, at first, a disappointing experience. Eating time was boring. Nothing to do but stare at the wall. But I began to get clever about it. I began to read. I would go into the Internet and read the news at www.newyorktimes.com. I would read other websites that piqued my interest. And then, when the food was done, I would move on. And suddenly my life became more productive... by accident. I took a 2-3 hour chunk of time and made it 30 minutes. I changed the content I was getting during that time from bubble gum to possibly useful. And after a few months of this, I really recognized the difference and I was amazed... and some of my fears were confirmed... that, yes, I would have been more productive as a child if not for the TV. And I will take this very seriously in my life, and, should I be so lucky, with my children as well. Somehow.

Speaking of being productive... Here's my mom in her "office." She's working with a hair product company and she's a sales representative. She bops around Nassau County, going to salons, and keeping them stocked with her company's product. There's a good deal of driving and some paperwork involved, but at least she's not stuck in an office somewhere. Where do you think I get that need to not feel caged in from?

Back in NYC. Penn Station was alive with the sounds of this band, featuring this very round, very loud trombone player. Click to see a movie of it.

On the downtown platform of the number 1 train (7th ave local), this stairwell has been closed off for over a year. I've been looking at this sign for so long, I remember a time when Spring 2003 seemed impossibly far away. Now is has passed, and instead of opening the new elevator they're building here, they've gaff-taped over the word "Spring." Ha. This is very common. Should they be so myopic to put a due date on their own sign.... add 6 months for a more accurate date for an opening party.

Though I was supposed to take it easy, having just been bed-ridden for two days, I figured a little dinner with Brian at Westville wouldn't hurt. Here's Brian and his parents who came along as well.

I tried the corn on the cobb because I had seen other people having it here, and it looked interesting. But it was dry. I didn't much like it.

Brian's parents are in the city because they are moving him out of his godmother's apartment in the West Village. His time there is up, even though he has not finalized a new place to live. So Brian now gets the pleasure of moving back to Long Island with his parents after tasting, for about a month, the joys of living on his own in the heart of the West Village in Manhattan. Oh boy. He'll be back. We just don't know when. Brian (with the help of his folks, of course) is purchasing real estate in NYC, unlike the rest of us who are so far flushing money down the toilet every month (renting). Good for him. If he can do it, he should do it. If I could do it, I would have, and I've made it a priority for myself to buy a place somewhere in NYC when my 2 year lease is up on December 31, 2004. A lofty goal, but I'm trying. The problem is that buying, especially in a co-op can be an extremely slow process. Brian is lucky he has a place to go. Imagine if your rent lease was up but your new place wasn't ready yet and you couldn't just move back home temporarily? Ahhh!

Another questionable decision: Brian wanted me to ride his bike from his godmother's to my apartment so that I could keep his bike in the city, and so he could keep riding with me before he moves back. So, even though I was sick yesterday, I rode his bike down to my place... slowly... trying not to work myself up. It was threatening to rain, and I was praying that it stay dry long enough for me to get downtown. I found two newspapers at my door... a sign I've been gone for more than a day. I wonder how many they would leave before they took some sort of action? I made it back dry, and got ready for Circle Line tomorrow.