Random Ramblings

I don't know what to say. But I'm bored, and don't know when I'll be able to leach onto someone elses internet access again, so I don't want to waste the time I've ...been given? :) OK, I'm in NY, you only have to go to a Starbucks (there is at least two per block ...I'm not kidding) But it's just so inconvenient! It's amazing how used we get to our own little routines and what is normal and what "should" be. I moved into my Manhattan apartment this week, and I love it. It's cute and old and charming and most importantly it's in Manhattan :) It was built before WWII and the outside of the building is nothing remarkable. But on the inside, the walls and hardwood floors have plenty of character. You can tell that the building is old, but it isn't rundown and I love it! I have an old school heater that reminds me of the one that was in the room where I took ballet when I was little. Ya know, the metal ones that sit by the wall? The air conditioners sit in the windows. One in my bedroom and one in the living room. Not that this is remarkable, but it just speaks to the character of the apartment. The phrase 'if these walls could talk' comes to mind. The walls were put up in a time where heating ducts and central air didn't exist. The walls were put up when it didn't occur to anyone that you might need more than one electrical outlet in the bathroom. I don't think people in the 1930s had to worry about the logistics of where to plug in you blow drier and flat iron and curling iron so that the latter two could be warming up while you dried your hair. The walls were put up before someone thought it would be a good idea to put a shower in the bathtub. The shower was put in later, and since I don't know plumbing mechanics I'm not sure why, but there are four handles to turn on the water. The lower two are for hot and cold water that comes out the bathtub, the upper two are for hot and cold water that comes out the shower. I love it! I love the doors the most. They are heavy and ornate in a way that gives you the feeling of being secure. They are made out of solid wood, and the doorknobs and the latch that pops in an out with each turn of the ornate knobs is little and suggestive of a simpler time. It's not hard to imagine that these are the original doors and handles that were put in when the building originated. I love history. I love architecture. That is part of why I love New York. It is a historical architecture buffs dream. I love to ponder all the possibilities of what the regal walls and buildings have seen. And I love to make up stories in my head about people that possible once lived here and inhabited these great "ancient" walls. I love to think of what they did with their time and what their daily routines might have been. I wonder what they did when they were bored. I would love to post pictures but I'm using the internet at starbucks to post this, and I don't have my camera with me. The person who lived in my apartment before me has yet to cancel her cable/phone subscription, so I can't create a new account. Therefore I've been without cable/phone/internet in my apartment. And since the boxes I shipped haven't got here yet I don't have any of my dvds. So I work, and I sleep, and I window shop, and I walk around the great city, and I run along the water or through the park. Then it gets dark so I curl up in my very comfortable couch and I read. I've read three books since I've been here (4 days). I am not handling being bored very well :) I feel bad for being bored, because I know plenty of people who would love to complain that all they had to do with their time was lay on the grass in Central Park and read a book. Again, it's all about perspective.

Work is good. I love it actually. The people I work with are awesome! On my first day I saw my first trauma and 'killed' my first patient. Twice. I use the term 'killed' loosely. Not that I actually killed them, but they did not survive their trip to the ER despite mine and my coworkers best efforts. I would love to share the rest of the stories with you, but I can't --damn HIPPA laws :) On the way home from work to get on the subway for the ride home I walk through the center of Columbia University's campus. The other day they were shooting a movie on the walkway I use. I try to act cool, like a native New Yorker, but inside I am giddy and grinning from ear to ear. It's like in Sex and the City when Carrie walks into her soon-to-be new apartment and dramatically says, "Hello. I live here." That is me every day. I keep waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up!

Well, times about up at the starbucks, so I best be going. I'll post more later. Stay tuned for pics and better stories :)