stern-faced

I asked two women walking in the village for directions to traders joe's yesterday.
They didn't know.
Then one asked, "did you go to stern."
I said "not at all," thinking she meant NYU's Stern and wondering why she would ask.
Then I reevaluated the question - "Stern College or Stern School of Business?"
"Stern College," she clarified.
"No, neither."
"I teach there."
I thought the whole exchange was odd. Had she mistaken me for a specific indiviual she had taught or just thought I looked the part?
With tongue fimrly in cheek, though in a very friendly tone, I said, "We all look the same," to which she laughed rather heartilly.

Now, if someone ever accused me of making a they-all-look-the-same mistake I think I would be embarassed, no? *

Well, whatever, I just thought it was odd. Just goes to show I have a reason to be self-conscious about wearing socks on my head every day.

*Insert rant about how only certain priveleged identities get the benefits of political correctness...

the best is yet to come

i said so to a fiend of ours who got married the other night (an easy prediction when someone is getting married b/c, not only is marriage happy, but the person has also, presumably, been engaged, and thus definitionally unhappy, for many months...), and it echoed with this in the back of my head, thanks to tiki. Today, i heard the same line from a law professor, with a slightly different feeling.

but anyway, hi tiki!

the new yorker

Seattle was the first time I had to answer "New York" to the question "Where are you from?"
Before getting married, I would answer "Boston, but I live in NY," or some other confused hodgepodge that threw in Chicago too, depending on my mood...
Since we got married, we've been to Boston, where everyone knows where I''m from and asks "Where are you living?" to which I have much less trouble saying "New York" b/c I am, in fact, living here... We also went to our friendly local Bergers in Buffallo, but there most questions centered on our connection to Zev, and hence on Chicago, not New York. (Once the Chicago connection was established, the questions "where are you from?" and "where are you living now?" got asked separately...)
But in Seattle, I couldn't give my Boston Shpiel, b/c Oren's not from Boston and we were usually being asked as a unit. I settled into an answer that partitioned "originally" and "now" for both of us, but still, to be "from" New York. I don't know if I can handle that...

look ma, i put pictures online!

to see pictures of aforementioned mountains, marmots, etc, go here.

vacation musings...

This morning we returned to the Hot Smelly City (henceforth: HSC) from a week at a Randomly Chosen Western destination (Seattle and related WA places...). I don't have much to say but it was very very good.

some random highlights, because i know you really care:

we saw two big mountains. amazing in different ways.

i learned the meaning of "subalpine meadow" and we climbed through clouds (which gave the whole thing a fairy-tale mistiness) on a trail recommended by Josh (thanks!).

animals encountered (as we invaded their habitats by car, foot, or kayak...):

~seals
~coyote (oren thinks it was a fox. i'm actually not sure, embarassingly enough...)
~chipmunks (lots, and not your wimpy subirban ones either...)
~chinook (king salmon)*
~marmot (outside of city limits)
~blue heron (official state bird, no less)
~lots of butterflies

We played the last-minute-planning game and for about half the trip made reservations half an hour before we showed up at our lodging for the night, bringing us to some nifty B&Bs that felt (especially the first one) like Martha Stewart had met vintage Americana...and gone on crack. Seriously, people who have Obsessive Decorating Disorder have apparently found their perfect profession.

We were hosted by some former Chicagoans (this was random - we were set up by the shul, but it was neat) with two cute children and two cats for shabbat. I suppose it was lucky I forgot to mention my cat allergy because it turns out I seem to have gotten over it. (yay!)


As our last activity, I locked the keys in the car and we sat around for an hour listening to some punk rockers practice their drums in what had otherwise appeared to be a very quiet residential neighborhood.

*for the punsters, we watched the salmon in a fish ladder at the Ballard Lox Locks**

**To give credit/blame where it's due, this pun was, unshockingly, not mine originally...


I leave you with the following question: Why do fish jump? I always knew the song said they did it in the summer, but (deprived pseudo-city girl that I am) I never saw it seriously occur until this trip. What's it all about?

?!

i was disturbed to find out that i may have some competition!