Saturday, a time to relax and see the city. A time for breakfast. A time for library cards.
Woke up in the morn at about 8:30am. Caity and I got up and at ‘em and got to the incredible Toms Diner in Clinton Hill, right at about 10am, just early enough to beat a long line that formed behind us. The pancakes were perfect.
As we walked south towards prospect park, we stopped at a sidewalk bookseller. We talked about 60’s rock and roll. Apparently, Jeff, the guy selling the books, used to be a rock journalist and once worked for Bill Graham at the Fillmore East when Jeff was 19. We chatted with him for 5 or 10 minutes. He said that he’d put his three sons through Ivy League schools by selling books on the street. Jeff sold me a copy of Rilke’s Stories of God, and we said our goodbyes and then walked to Prospect Park.
We stopped into the Brooklyn central library and I applied for a library card.
Alas, I wasn’t able to get it because I didn’t have any mail from my current NYC address. Out-of-towners can get a card at the Brooklyn Public Library, for a $50 fee! I messaged our slack channel to see if anyone was at sfpc. My parents had shipped me a box of hard drives, and all I needed was a picture of it to secure my precioussssss library card.
We left the library and Caity bought us hot apple cider at the farmers market across the street. It was so good - I’d never had it.
Cider in hand we entered Prospect Park from its North side.
Pretty nice day, a bit chilly. Lots of people out. Little kids in costumes and sometimes parents to match.
Everyone was outside but it didn’t feel crowded, just lively. Prospect Park is ginormous but also people were in good spirits(mostly - this is New York).
We saw lots of wonderful dogs. Not a lot in costume but still. So. Many. Wonderful. Dogs. A dog is a real status symbol in New York. Nobody that I know my age in NYC has a dog. To live the dream is to be a New York dog owner.
The day went from chilly to warm. There were lots of people at the park playing pick up soccer and flag football. We sat down on a bench, sipped our ciders and watched people play two different sports in two different directions, while simultaneously monitoring and commenting on any and all dog sightings in the area.
At about halfway through the park(it takes maybe 2-2.5 hours to walk from top to bottom), I received a slack message from my classmate, Medhir, who sent me the picture of the box I needed to get my library card.
Caity and I strolled north and in no time, were back at the library. I got my card in a matter of minutes. I felt the plastic rectangle in my jean jacket and held it in my palm like it was knowledge itself, materialized into a swipable, wallet-sized plastic card.
When I came back outside, Caity was sitting on a concrete bench along the steps, taking in the sun. It was legitimately warm now and the sun finally reigned again after swashbuckling in and out of the clouds up until that point.
More pictures of the front of the library - what do all of these symbols mean?
We walked back the way we came - instead of taking the train - and discovered a small record store, Norton Records, on Washington Ave. we talked to the guy running the store about record players. He was super nice, and also told us that the blonde lady who’d been in there chatting with him when we walked in was the stores owner and the first drummer of The Cramps.
Now how cool is that.
The store was tiny, but stocked with so many garage rock and proto punk vinyl delicacies. We need to find Caity a record player and then we are definitely going back.
We made it back to Caity’s place, relaxed, and had a lunch of leftovers.
I made it back to my neighborhood and got a veggie burger to go from a local place. I’m writing this at 6pm from my Airbnb’s couch in Bed Stuy, 2.5 hours before I’m meeting a friend to go to a Halloween party. I’m going to be Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction.
It’s so nice to spend a whole day not worrying about school stuff. I’m going to do the reading for Taeyoon’s class tomorrow while I’m riding to an open house for a cheap room that I’m looking to rent in Ridgewood. Seems like a neat group who lives there: an artist, a feminist comic, and an experimental musician. I look forward to meeting them.
Probably won’t go up to sfpc tomorrow, but maybe. There’s nothing pressing right now, and I probably will need time to recover from Halloween parties tonight ;)
Breakfast: Pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and coffee at Tom’s Restaurant. Gotta take my friend Steve there. Like myself, he’s a diner aficionado.
Lunch: Leftover thai, rotisserie chicken, and quinoa with sausage.