Smiling Pizza

Yesterday was an interesting day. Hmmmm, "interesting" is the kind of word you use when a friend gets a new haircut, and you can't tell the truth, and you can't lie. Let's start over. Yesterday was a good day. Of course, that's an assessment of a whole 24 hour period, averaging it out, and taking the good with the bad, the bad got outweighed (although I have moments when I dont think so) by some really nice stuff. But I'll choose to focus on the good, cuz its easier to write about, and the bad wasn't all that bad, just disappointing, and still getting processed, and its that type of bad that one day you laugh about (I think). I made plans to go with a buddy to Prospect Park's Wildlife Center, since they have this tiny zoo with a handful of animals, a cool pond that I knew would have sunbathing turtles, and it's part of my "get out of the house and enjoy your city, dumbass" plan. Still plagued by thoughts about the Statue of Liberty, I'm reading a bit about Hitchcock's Sabateur while on the subway (it's the one where the final scene is actually on the statue, and the villain falls from the torch, I think, to his death). And the subway emerges and becomes an elevated train, and I glance East, and there she is, "Lady Liberty" shining in the bright morning sun. And I just start having those sad thoughts; not scarey fearful ones, but just sadness. Which is not the best way to start a day of outdoor park-going fun. I leave the train at the correct stop, walk through the longest tunnels it seems, still lost in my depressing thoughts, and walk up the stairs to the street. As I get to the top, there's an awning with the words, the name of this restaurant, no doubt - Smiling Pizza - and it just made me giggle, smile, and think "oh, what the fuck, you're about to have a nice day, enjoy it!"

After a few minutes of trying to figure out which "coffee-storelike thing" we agreed to meet up in front of, we find each other, and head off for some really good toasted bagels with melty creamcheese, plus some Samantha brand 4 dollar amazingly delicious juiceproduct. We're on the other side of the park, but the walk is good, and we're chatting about various stuff, and one of us keeps singing some song (hint: it wasn't me), and we find our way to the back of the Wildlife Center, then the front, then $2.50, then about 4 zillion children. Turtles sunbathing indeed, and lots of screaming kids running around, a couple of wallabies retreating in the shade, 2 emus doing the same, a rescued bald eagle, 2 adorable red pandas, and a few others creatures. The baboon exhibit was cool - mostly cuz this group of kids decended upon us, pushing their way to the window, surrounding me, and yelling and making faces at this one baboon, who walked up to the window, snarled, they all screamed and jumped back, then laughed, and came back to the window. It was so unbelievably noisy, and could've been quite annoying, but, hell, they're kids, and they were having a blast! And so was I.

lots of time in the sun, my head is burned red, despite the application of sunscreen early in the day ( I guess it could be worse), some Thai food, a bit of a rest in the park, then homeward.

After being home a bit, I tried Simpsons, I tried a nap, nothing could get me out of this too-thoughtful meloncholy boardering-on-depressed mood. But I'm not one to shun depression, I think it's a good method for sorting things out, so I let it in for a bit, then went to try a nap again. Not working, I grabbed a bunch of clippings a friend had given me the night before.

An ex-boyfriend; when we were going out, he'd often clip stuff from magazines and newspapers that he thought would interest me. I had stopped by his house to get some porno he no longer wanted, and chatted with him and his current boyfriend (the "overlapping" boyfriend, a new euphemism I invented just yesterday for the guy you cheat with - but I'm not bitter). And he hands me this pile of clippings. So, sitting in bed, I'm reading all this stuff about Russel Wright (my fave dinnerware) and Elvis Costello's newest release. I had only heard the one song (which I posted a few weeks back, I think) and had vowed to actually buy it, not download it. So, while reading thru these reviews, I knew I needed to hear my fave album, This Year's Model. It's funny, there are SO MANY fantastic lyrics in that album, the kind you think you can use for titles for your blog, hehe. But then I thought I really ought to get the new album, so I put This Year's Model in the discman, put some clothes on (minimal, it was still hovering around 80 degrees after 8pm last night), and hopped on the bike. Very Cool. That album sounds even better thru headphones. So, pedalling maniac, I run over a few stupid pedestrians (there were hundreds that deserved to be run over, but the crowds in this neighborhood on the weekend are too scarey to dawdle, and I was in a hurry). Sounds was open, of course, I grabbed the disc after handing over my $14.06, and peddled homeward. Wow! What a fantastic album! My first choise as BEST SONG is Dust 2... - it really kicks ass, man! (I highly recommend you CRANK IT) Apparently, Elvis refuses to say he has "returned to Rock N Roll" - but prefers to say he wanted to do something ROWDY - and ROWDY it is - fantasticly catchy rhythms ( my body was doing some really scarey twitchy dance-like thngs), more amazing lyrics, and he just screams and coos and smashes that guitar (and he plays a bunch of different ones on here, but I dont know nuthin 'bout guitars, i just know they sound great) - so, I highly recommend the album. I listened all the way through, blown away by most of the songs, and then had to look up some stuff on the interent, and see that he's about to release a version of Smile (which most of us know from Nat King Cole, I would assume; and his version was used in that made-for-TV movie about a beauty contest; and the music was actually written by Charlie Chaplin in 1936 for his film Modern Times) - anyway, I managed to find it on the internet (as I kiss my computer, it never lets me down) -and its so schmultzy, and so completely different from the new album (nothing like this is on the album) but I wanted to share, since, somehow, like the sign in Brooklyn yesterday, it makes me Smile, just like the pizza sign.