It's Balloon Time, Boys and Girls
Just as I was swiping my pass for the subway, I heard my train arrive at the bottom of the steps. I sprinted down them, but the train carts that were closest too me were already filled to capacity. So, I ran further down the platform until I saw one with enough space for me to jump in, but then I noticed that people were fleeing it and running for the more crowded parts of the train. Finding this weird, but having no time to think since the doors were about to close, I jumped in. I figured I?ve ridden with drunks and panhandlers before, what could be the big deal?

I was totally surprised when instead of seeing a guy mummbling out loud or smelling some foul odor, two dozen helium balloons came floating towards me, whopping me on the head. No, I was not on a circus train with Bozo or Coco the clown and I was not dreaming this. It was either a haggard father or some party planner, trying his best to reel in silver and gold ribbons that held an assortment of helium balloons, which were rapidly engulfing the passengers in the seats. I swear this is true. He held the bunched together ribbons like a bouquet in his hands, wrapping them around his fists. I have no idea how this man was able to stuff all the balloons onto the train before the doors shut on him. Better yet, I don't know how he?ll ever get them off safely. Thankfully none of them popped during my two stops because I know I would have been the girl who screamed and jumped like a freak.

When I got off at my stop a few minutes later, my hair had enough static electricity to jump a stalled car. See, these are the many things that happen to me that make me believe that I?m on some reality show that is unbeknownst to me ;p

News Story: Aww! TKTS Booth Becomes Surprise Wedding Proposal Site

Ashes and Snow
First The Gates, a large scale public art project, overtook Central Park. Now, Ashes and Snow, a photography exhibit, literally sits atop the Hudson River on Pier 54 near West 13th Street. It is also the largest temporary exhibition space ever created in Manhattan.

Built on an abandoned waterfront pier, the Nomadic Museum, a 67-foot-wide by 672-foot-long, privately-funded traveling museum is made of 148 stacked steel cargo shipping containers. Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, the exhibition, Ashes and Snow, consists of portraits taken by Canadian-born artist Gregory Colbert.
Elementary school teacher, Heidi Laudien, 38, said she plans to bring her students to the sight.

?I love the idea of a museum made from recycled materials and I want my kids to see that creative part of the exhibit and how it illustrates the transience of the space,? she said.

The exhibit and the museum will be displayed through June 6 in the 45,000-square-foot temporary structure. Afterwards, it will be dismantled and resurrected in Santa Monica, Calif, then off to the Vatican City in 2006, as it continues on its nomadic adventure.

(Read More)

Link: www.ashesandsnow.org

Odd talents that I wish I could do
* A kartwheel. I never could do one, instead I end up doing one of those wheelbarrow-like flips.

* Know the different cars that are on the roads. My friends Massiel and Jacquie are like 'did you see the s70 blah blah' and I'm like 'um, is that a car or a truck?'

* Tie a man's tie, beacuse it looks so cute in the movies when a wife or girlfriend fixes her man's tie. I know it's corny. I can actually tie them, but only on myself--I went through a brief Annie Hall inspired period or something, lol.

Odd Talents That I CAN Do

* Arch my left eyebrow, up and down, in a very Chandler Bing-esque movement. I love when my friends try to do it and their brows do not even move or just plain wiggle.

* Tie a cherry stem with my tounge. Yup, and as annoying Paris Hilton would say "That's hot!"

* Tell anyone what movie won Best Picture the year that they were born. I'm the year of Ghandi and wish I was a little younger so I could be the Terms Of Endearment year instead.

How about you? I'm talking odd talents though, otherwise I wish I could carry a note and speak several languages too.

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Also the blog A Blasphemy of Sanity had a link to the latest M&M marketing scheme with Star Wars Episode III. Watch the video, it?s very clever and funny:
http://us.mms.com/us/mpire/wm_large.jsp I can't wait to buy the dark side chocolate m&m's!

So apparently I'm dead
Because for some reason no workout machine can read my heart rate.

No matter what gym I go to or how long I hold onto the stupid sensors, none of the machines can read my HR. I've tried the treadmill, elliptical, and stair master and nada--no heart rate. Yet, my friends can use the same machine, hold the handles the same way and get a read out just fine. For me, it keeps blinking messages that read, "hold onto sensors" "cant read HR" or "heart rate, heart rate," etc. Usually after 15 mins of blinking at me, even the machine gives up trying.

A cautionary tale
This cartoon keeps making me laugh, so I borrowed it from my friend Karen's Live Journal.

Not too hard to master
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. ---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster. -- Elizabeth Bishop, One Art Happy 51st Birthday Dad PS: My hosting gig airs on TV tonight here in Manhattan. (read more)