Keys to apartments and art installations

I picked up the keys to the apartment last night (and yes mom and dad I took pictures).

Apartment Photos

I set up a time to meet the superintendent and pick them up from him. He was a nice guy. Showed me around the building, going over all the details of life at Leonard Court right down to where to put the garbage and recycling, how to turn off the valve for the faucet and how not to lock one's self out of the apartment. The doors are tricky.

I took some measurements to be sure of which furniture could go where and then headed back to Park Slope to meet Karishma for dinner.

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We walked around trying to find a place where I could buy flowers for my short term roommates to thank them for letting me stay and then, we ate an Indian restaurant called Amin which kicked. For many reasons. Yes, the food was good but they also played the same Bollywood instrumental CD that India Palace in Greensboro, NC plays...the one they play all the time because they have no other music. It was nostalgic, to say the least.

After we parted, I took the subway home, grinning most of the way as I felt the new keys in my pocket. I live and work in New York City. It's good. It's such a great city. I'm starting to get the hang of it. Right down to knowing which subway car to get on so that when I arrive at my stop I'll get off across from the station exit. Or finding out that if you want a less crowded car, walk to the end of the platform. Also, I've just about memorized the Times Square/42nd Street subway station with all it's twists and turns, so that I don't wind up walking the wrong direction or taking the long way around because the signs are confusing.

There's a whole slew of subway musicians that are actually fairly decent to really good at what they do. At the very least they're entertaining. Here's a rundown of the best I've seen: the guy in all red clothes and a Philadelphia Phillies hat who wheels his way onto the train on a motorized wheel chair, carrying a guitar amp with a microphone and an iPod plugged in, playing "Love is just like the baseball game" while he heckles all the New Yorkers about losing to the Phillies, god knows how many years ago. The musical saw lady, the classical cellist, the 8 year old kid playing classical piano on a casio keyboard, and even, the blind violin player playing the Godfather Theme.

And then the city surprises you with one of those quirky things you've heard about but never seen. Just before coming above ground on the Manhattan bound N train to cross the Manhattan Bridge, I see it. I've heard people talk about it but I never knew where it was. Out the window of the train there's animated art along the walls that you can only see through slats in the subway walls. It animates the way a flip book does as the train is passing it. It's not just graffiti that some brave soul perpetrated in the dungeon of the subway tunnels. It's lit up on purpose to be seen, a sponsored art installation. All I remember was obscure shapes passing by until eventually, I saw a jelly fish animate and swim off. I had to smile. No one else on the train seemed to notice it.

Then, as the train surfaces and begans to traverse the Manhattan bridge, I turn to see the city lights and the Brooklyn bridge to the south. And I remember that I'm in New York and that it is, in fact, cool.