2/13/04 Chillin' w/Erin in SoHo; Cold Stone and Bear Antics w/Erin and Aaron:

This street had a certain SoHo shine today, so I took a photo. Erin and I met up to hang out, catch up, and bop around the neighborhood. We went into a kids store for Erin to get books for her job working at Kid's Club on the upper west side. Apparently gymnastics is mixed with various themed activities for the younger camp kids, and Erin gets reading materials that fit their theme.

Erin in SoHo.

In the Evening, we met up wit Aaron, and we got dinner on the Upper East Side, near Aaron's apartment. We actually ran into Aaron's roommate, Niko, in the restaurant, with his group of friends, just by chance!!! Then Erin, Aaron and I decided to go to the Cold Stone on 3rd avenue. I had never been. I was horrified by the tipping arrangement by which the workers sang (like they wanted to kill themselves) with enthusiasm if you tipped them. And, what further aggravated me is that this stupid west coast gimmick was working, even on savvy sophisticated New Yorkers. The tip jars had at least 500 singles shoved into them!

I did love the "Cake Batter" flavor, and I enjoyed watching them put in the caramel, chocolate chips, and marshmallow as I waited. But after about one quarter of the "small" size, I was sick to my stomach and threw the rest away. For $2 it would be awesome if they had a kids size. But to get a small for $4, and chuck most of it, I'm not sure how many more times I'll be going back.

We then went to Aaron's place and just shot the breeze. This group doesn't need an activity to hang out, which is nice. We made fun on our own. Erin is learning about animal behaviors, as that is the theme at her gym this season... so Erin got to talking about bears. For example, in the following photos, Erin demonstrates two ways of dealing with a bear, should you come across one in the woods.

Method #1: Lie completely still.

Result: If in the woods, you might get eaten. If in Aaron's apartment, you might get molested.

Method #2: Make yourself look as large as possible to as to scare the bear.

Result: If in the woods, the bear might run away and you'd have a chance to escape....

... in Aaron's apartment, you'd look silly, and end up chitchatting with Aaron afterwards, having thoroughly enjoyed yourself in the process.

A peep inside Aaron's fridge, reveals the sparseness that Aaron prefers in his life. His room, his desk and apparently his freezer, are all very empty. Aaron likes white space... the void in between the things. No clutter. Many people in my life appreciate this aesthetic whether they follow through with it so well or not: Peter, Erin, Richard, Natalie. Right? As an alternative, I, and others like me, tend to accumulate. My freezer has a few things I bought over a year ago that I've forgotten about and haven't bothered to throw out. You know, the eggos of yesteryear. They're not in the way. They're not rotten. And until I need the space for something else (in which case they will be the first to go), I cling to the idea in the back of my head, however unlikely and unreasonable, that I might USE them someday. For something.