Amber & Peppy Penguins

I'm not the only one greeting the new year with optimism.

Amber & Emergency Evacuation

My commute was two hours long this morning.  WTF, MTA?  I switched to the F at 49-50th Street only to have it stop in the tunnel.  For 30 minutes.  The automated robot voice kept saying we were stopped "while the train crew is investigating track debris."  But then the real live conductor came on and told us that there was a problem with the emergency brake.  I didn't pull it.  I swear.

Anyway, about 20 minutes into the stall, they announced we could leave the train through the front car and walk along a little ledge onto the platform at 42nd Street.  This was a scenario I had not planned for. I mean, I am ready if the Cloverfield monster comes, but I am not ready to go meet those little bug guys on their turf.

Luckily, after this traumatic experience, which also involved me discovering one of my significantly-located shirt-button-holes was too large and was venting my chest on its own, I had my new Eileen Fisher catalog to comfort me.  It's 72 pages on lovely over-sized paper with close ups of fabric.

Thank you, catalog porn.

Amber & See? It's a GREAT idea.

Erl (aka Isaac) sends this proof that getting a Petey is the best idea I ever had.



Well, maybe just barely as good as getting a gorilla.

Amber & Short Term Memory, Long Term Dread

Q: Mr. Owl, how many days does it take for a cat to forget a very bad thing that happened to him?

A: Let's find out. One...

Two...

Three...

Exactly 754 days.  This can not be a good thing.  But, golly that surgery was great for him and healed super well.

Amber & Walking the Cow

I woke up to this song playing faintly in the other room.



Apparently, Pickles's butt was trying to send me a message as he sat on the laptop.  But what was it saying?

Amber & A Cautionary Tale

A concerned friend, sends this to warn against acquisition of a Petey.

Where others see danger, I see opportunity.  For compelling blog content.

Amber & Seeking, Finding, and the Uncanny

Yesterday after yoga and over a plate of green and creamy huevos rancheros, Diana described the experience of finding a hat that she hadn't realized she had lost in a train station.  She turned and lo!  There was something that she loved and nearly lost forever, returning to her.  The experience was, as Diana described it, wholly unheimliche, like seeing a part of you separated from yourself.

(photo by James)

Diana found the hand of fate in the story, that fate was punishing her for having been careless and making bad decisions by giving her this near-loss experience.  I don't think that's how it works really, but I'm glad fate was lenient and only issued a warning rather than a full time out.  And, I was glad Diana happened to look the right way, or else her head would have been cold.

On the long, long (long, long) A ride home, I was thinking about finding things you didn't know you had lost and the importance of being alert to whatever crosses your path when my new bestie, Joe Pug, described a different encounter: of having faith in finding what is missing and the relief of recognizing when you do find it. "Before we met, I knew we'd meet," Joe sang.

And, I was glad for everything that has happened to me up to that moment.  I was glad for working at MTI to meet Hillary who introduced me to Jeff who gave me the gifts of CRD and Amy Bee, and I was glad for liking the Pixies so that I would have something to talk about with Kevin so that down the road I could meet Diana, and  I was glad for Jimmy's lousy roommate in 3rd Avenue North so that he moved into the Brittany and years and years later we could take a bus to a mall in Madisonwisconsin where I would live and meet Nick.

(photo by James)

I certainly didn't know I was going to meet any of the people who are so special to me, but I certainly hoped it on some level.  People are like a box of pieces from an infinite number of different puzzles.  We never fit together quite perfectly, but some fit together really well and the patterns we form are abstract and complicated and beautiful and something quite different from what we were on our own.

And that made me think of this song.



And somewhere in the middle lies the truth.  You might not even know that you want to find what you're missing, but sometimes you get exactly what you need if you're looking in the right direction.

Or something like that.

Amber & Checking for Updates

Could we please make this...

...the new this...

...?

Amber & New Career Paths

I just signed up for ice skating lessons!  On Mondays at 7:00 pm, I'll be refreshing my on-ice skills and, I hope, developing new ones.

Now, I just need to get my mom to make me one of those outfits over the weekend.

When Kevin gets back from his doctor's appointment, I'll break the news to him so he can start finding my replacement.  Nick told me the shocking news that Ice Capades are out of business, but I think I will make a great Princess Jasmine.



Or, I could be the skating alligator, like in my second favorite ennui comedy.  (Wait for it.  It's in there.)

Amber & A Post for Jimmy

Jimmy, this one is all yours.

Amber & The Namesake

Peter, whose signature style involves colorful pants, striped shirts and slip on shoes, sends this recon from the street. Peter Loopted it thusly: "It is on 9th and Sixth, next to Citarella's and in the former E.J.'s Luncheonette space."


But the question is: what is it? It could of course sell the named resin itself in jewelry form, but I think it's unlikely that merits an entire retail space. The logo looked like a restaurant to me-- maybe a place that should serve pitas or wraps or smoothies? But hardened tree sap isn't really a very appetizing name for a food establishment.

Turns out, after some research, it's a whole chain of pan-Asian restaurants. Web reviews are mixed, and I am disappointed.

I hate this use of my name. But, maybe it will make people remember me more? Or, maybe it will make them associate me with overpriced raw fish.

Hmpf.

[Apologies to all the Jhumpa Lahiri readers who accidentally Google themselves to this post. It's a good book, though.]

Amber & BART

What if... the BART strike started right now and they took us all
hostage?

Amber & Cat Worry

I worry about the well-being of my animal buddies. From thinking their legs are falling off to bringing Ginger into the vet on a hot day because he was panting, my judgment in the realm of the health of kitties errs on the side of paranoia.

So, imagine my concern today when what had appeared to be a puffy black spot on Woody's nose fell off and left an open sore.


You can see there's still some black scabbing inside the nose and the center of the sore seems sort of white-ish. Is it an infected pimple? A bug bite from the River House? Sasquatch Cell Carcinoma which is, I read on the Internet, very common in middle-aged cats? I think a call to Dr. Schaubhut is needed.

Even more worrisome is the other symptom my boy is presenting: spacial disorientation.

He seems to think he can walk on walls.

And yes, Virginia, those are tiny scraps of paper towel all over the floor. Another roll savagely hunted and shredded by Ginger & Pickles.

Amber & Weather Patterns

I have this theory of weather that I learned from a friend. "Tomorrow will be basically like today but maybe a little hotter or colder and a little sunnier or rainier." This summer, that theory has failed me in a big way. Many a day have I been caught bare-toed in freezy breezes, or besweatered in sweltering sun. But, imagine the comfort I felt when I checked the 10-day forecast today and proved my theory to be true.





Tomorrow will be basically like today, but maybe a little more T-Stormy or Scattered.

Amber & Friends New and Old

While doing my aforementioned laundry at Splashing Laundromat, my old friend TMJ headache returned from his brief trip elsewhere. He was pretty mild, and has since departed again with a little help from my other old friend prescription-strength anti-inflammatory.

But, while I was out on the sidewalk, seeking quiet from the very loud music in Splashing, I felt a little paw gently patting the top of my flipflopped foot.


It was this guy!Here is what I know about my new friend, who I call Mopsy. He is smaller than Woody, but his head seems a little bigger than Ginger's. His teeth, which he very gently let me examine, seem very young. He hasn't been neutered. His eyes look healthy, and he's not too skinny which makes me think maybe he lives at one of the business next to Splashing like the coffee shop that is never open or the beauty parlor which is always crowded but no one ever seems to be getting their hair done.

I asked a variety of people if he was their gato, but everyone told me that he just lives on the street. Or maybe they said he lives on that street, like in one of the shops? My Spanish isn't so good for those subtle distinctions.

He has pretty yellow eyes, and a pink nose, and these cute little white "milk drops" on his face.

When I was done with my laundry, he started to follow me home, but wouldn't go beyond the travel agency shop door. That made me hopeful that he did have a home and was afraid to stray too far. It's true that I make friends with alot of neighborhood animals, and that often they are orange tabbies (remember Penny, my Madison neighbor cat?), but this guy seemed really special and extra friendly. I am torn between wanting to see new friend again next laundry day and hoping that he is kept indoors with his owners henceforth. My old friend, Mr. Headache, can stay away.

Amber & Cat Science

Nick brought my attention to this bit of scientific analysis.

I totally could have been a vet. (You can click on it to go to the page to see it bigger.)

Amber & Relatives

One of the really great things about being a citizen in the Facebook Empire is how large its dominion actually is. In addition to friends from elementary (Hi, Valerie!) and high school (Ralph, how come you never wrote me back?), folks from D.C. (some of whom just got into Harvard Business School!), and people I totally don't remember at all (who are you?), there are Amberclan relatives a'plenty!

Of course, I was in touch with my sister, Princess Leia, before Facebook. But, I'm been able to become Facefriends and catch up with my cousins Jenifer, Lori and April, my uncle Wayne, aunts Delores and Gail, and a bunch of second cousins (or cousins once removed?) I haven't seen since they were infants.

This weekend, I accepted a Faceinvitation to be Facefriends with a man named Dan who shares my lastname. I don't think we're related, but my paternal family is so large we could be and I just wouldn't know. We have alot in common, though. We both blog, like pickles, and have Twitter feeds. His Twitter profile also says he is a botanist, which is funny because I totally worked at that Garden place. He seems to be a musician, which I am not.


I wonder if we are related. He doesn't seem to share the Amberclan mid-section thickness, which might rule shared DNA out. But maybe. Facebook is so mysterious. We do seem to have the same nose, but I thought I got that from my mom's side.

Amber & Pre-Patty

Yesterday, James marched in the Park Slop Saint Patrick's Day parade with the all-stars from the NYU pipe band. Someone other than James took this photo of James with two Lady Horse Officers.


James reports that Our Favorite Brooklyn-ite Amy Bee saw him marching and piping, too. Maybe when Miss H gets a bit bigger she'll want to take up the pipes, too?

Amber & Shirley

"Good luck needs no explanation."

Boy, oh, boy was Shirley Temple right. Kevin brought to my attention that, as part of their timely series of economy-in-the-toilet-related films from the Other Great Depression, Film Forum is showing the classic Shirley Temple film that started my personal obsession with the Little Princess.

STAND UP AND CHEER(1934, Hamilton MacFadden)
The President names Broadway producer Warner Baxter “Secretary of Amusement,” a new cabinet post created to “put smiles” on the faces of Depression-plagued Americans, but it’s toddler Shirley Temple who steals the show with “Baby, Take a Bow.” Plus cartoon, Confidence (1933)! Monday Feb 9; 6:00, 9:00

Now, you may or may not know that when I was a little girl I wanted to be Shirley Temple. I don't mean that I wanted to grow up and be a famous tap-dancing darling of the silver screen. I mean I thought that if I could learn to tap dance and somehow get my chronically flat hair to pin-curl and wear puffy pretty dresses and pout just so, I would turn into Shirley Temple. When my mom explained that I would always be Amber, but, with practice, I could be Tap-Dancing Amber, I sobbed for hours. She made it up to me by buying me this doll.

I immediately had my mom take pictures of me holding the doll while wearing my polka dot dance recital costume. I don't remember ever seeing the resulting photos, but in my mind's eye, this is what they looked like.
You know where I will be on February 9.

Amber & Spoilers

No spoilers, people! I am not watching the inauguration until tonight, so don't tell me how it turns out. I want to be on the edge of my seat.

This t-shirt says it all.

Yes, we can wear novelty t-shirts (but not to work)!