Bananaducky's resurrection from Vermont's fucking weather

After one more night at the hotel, I am in Durga's very cute apartment (in more ways than one, hehehe). After she and her husband picked me up at Newark at 8 am, we went back to their apartment, hubby went to work in NYC and we settled down. Finally, I got to use dandruff shampoo on my long-suffering scalp. No more itchy, no more flaking. Slathered on moisturizer for my poor face and body butter (blueberry-scented, yummy!) on my skin. NJ/NY weather is also chilly but none of VT's winds. After two hours, we took the bus to NYC.

Since I only had two hours of sleep before I went to NJ, I am, as a result, really, really tired and sleepy right now. Have to take two sleeping pills (very mild, don't worry) tonight to get me back on track for tomorrow. So I'm only providing highlights of today's walkathon around the city:

1) The subway system, when fully mastered, is every NYC resident's/visitor's best friend
2) Don't get freaked out by blacks, ahem, African-Americans, who suddenly burst into song inside the subway
3) Broadway, Soho and Little Italy are charming, not to mention wallet-breaking (not in my case, well, not yet)
4) I have new-found respect for pesto-based pasta
5) I bought Adidas walking shoes that ROCKS! (think brown suede with light blue stripes)
6) As a result, I am thinking of adopting lousy-rock-star-fashion aesthetic (i.e. dinner jacket, t-shirt, denims and aforementioned rubber shoes)
7) Whoever conceived of the Strand bookstore is a sick fuck for really living up the 8-miles-of-books description. Dennis, U and Mykel, if you ever get to visit the Strand, I will guarantee you, you three will either do one of the following (or maybe all):
a) genuflect and contemplate for at least a nanosecond that there is a God
b) faint
c) do cartwheels
d) hyperventilate
e) vomit from nausea as to where to start looking
f) simply walk out from having a lack of strategy

Mykel, I got you: Complete Poems of Anne Sexton. Under $ 10 (to the background of Handel's Messiah)
Dennis and U: will scour through the Strand again under the strategy of 'must not pick every single interesting book you see' and hopefully find your books. Most of them are in perfect condition. I saw Boccaccio's Decameron in hardbound form and with the gold paint at the edges of the pages

To continue:

8) Aileen, after four years of not seeing her, is still hilarious.
9) The behind-the-scenes at a high-profile cafe and restaurant isn't all too glamorous. It's really hard work.
10) Park Avenue can be summed up by three things: tulips, babies in strollers and purebred dogs.

Sigh. And this is the first day.

Later tonight (since it's already early morning) me, Joffin, Aileen and her husband Ed are having dinner and then go to the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe and maybe karaoke afterwards (if we could still manage it). Impromptu slumber party at Aileen's apartment. Yippee!