The unreality of reality
What a weekend for catching up with friends--my feet are still aching. Last Friday I met up with Jackie near Columbia University's campus, and it was surreal to be walking in a student area again! Seeing students congregating by the famous gates and meeting up with friends almost made me wish I could see Georgetown again. We had to stop by the student center for an ATM run, and both of us were casting wistful glances at the announcement boards and flyers. Free movie screenings! Free access to museums! Discounts to Broadway shows! Why is it that these perks were only available to us when we were students, yet we never had time for them because--oh, I don't know--we had to actually study?? Seems almost tragic, in retrospect. Oh, I made it to the Kennedy Center a few times in my undergrad years, and even explored a bit of DC's fun neighborhoods like Adams Morgan, but could I have done more? Most decidedly yes.
Then, further defying my general anti-social outlook in life, I met up with AD last Saturday night. We explored the bars around Union Square, and since I need to start living up to my background as a New Yorker, I have two new bar recommendations! The first is Heartland Brewery; it has branches both in South Street Seaport and Union Square. I chose it as my own way to belatedly celebrate Oktoberfest, but all year round it's a great place to sample their house beers, six or seven of which are usually arrayed on nifty trays. They have more golden, honey-colored beers than the darker varieties (the expresso one looks and tastes like Guinness and I did not enjoy that one), so I liked their selection. Then the second recommendation I have is Flatiron Lounge. It's not exactly a bar one would go to in this time of recession, but on the flipside, you could approach it with a 'meh, life is short' attitude, like me. Great cocktails and a classy, 1920s ambiance.
Before I go off into my next book, because not reading for an extended period of time is sadly making me cranky, I think I'm going to start a new blog routine: my favorite book quotes, once a week. I dog-ear too many pages and forget about most, so it'd be more of a way to keep track of passages that I can read over and over again. In honor of the Jazz Age mood I'm in (or the drinks I had? lol), here's my favorite passage from The Great Gatsby that describes young, teenage Gatsby:
But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious embrace. For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing (105).
I love how F. Scott Fitzgerald treats each sentence, each word like a broad, sweeping canvas.
Then, further defying my general anti-social outlook in life, I met up with AD last Saturday night. We explored the bars around Union Square, and since I need to start living up to my background as a New Yorker, I have two new bar recommendations! The first is Heartland Brewery; it has branches both in South Street Seaport and Union Square. I chose it as my own way to belatedly celebrate Oktoberfest, but all year round it's a great place to sample their house beers, six or seven of which are usually arrayed on nifty trays. They have more golden, honey-colored beers than the darker varieties (the expresso one looks and tastes like Guinness and I did not enjoy that one), so I liked their selection. Then the second recommendation I have is Flatiron Lounge. It's not exactly a bar one would go to in this time of recession, but on the flipside, you could approach it with a 'meh, life is short' attitude, like me. Great cocktails and a classy, 1920s ambiance.
Before I go off into my next book, because not reading for an extended period of time is sadly making me cranky, I think I'm going to start a new blog routine: my favorite book quotes, once a week. I dog-ear too many pages and forget about most, so it'd be more of a way to keep track of passages that I can read over and over again. In honor of the Jazz Age mood I'm in (or the drinks I had? lol), here's my favorite passage from The Great Gatsby that describes young, teenage Gatsby:
But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious embrace. For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing (105).
I love how F. Scott Fitzgerald treats each sentence, each word like a broad, sweeping canvas.