Lou is Caruso compared to Moby.

A couple of hours in the presence of one of my longtime favorites, punk-legend-turned-crooner David Johansen, at the hair salon.

Thanks. For some reason shopkeepers tend to frown when I wish to try on the latest swimwear, as featured in Teen Vogue. Maybe I'll have better luck with Zoran.

Husband just announced with glee, "My shoes* started up!"

*Adidas 1s


Men will buy anything if you call it a system.

Broken down tow truck on the Beltway this afternoon, causing traffic to move even slower than normal.

An off-board conversation just reminded me of the following:

Utilities companies are generally known for overcharging. At work we have the opposite problem where the gas company, despite continual efforts on our part, is incapable of acknowledging the existence of a gas meter that was installed about a year ago. As a result we owe some £100,000 which they cannot be persuaded to collect.

v

Close friends' house burned to the ground last night. This morning, driving through town, I spotted several front yards festooned with volunteer firemen's jackets, boots and hats, washed clean and drying brightly in the sun.

Waking up to the screams of a local basketcase shouting that "fuckin' fuck, something something fuck something fukcin' shit...", finding rose petals all the way down 1st ave and then taking a left and continuting down Ludlow, as if someone took apart 200 roses or so overnight. Cashier at the Rite Aid, a heroin addict, seemingly hypnotized by the Kodak photo kiosk ranting about how great it is to use it.

Gentrification my ass.

Ork, I really dig your old avatar.

Commuters are inherently surreal. No matter what happens, there's a certain number of them who are convinced that EVERYTHING is just an inconvience regardless of what's actually happening.

Today I boarded my train and, as I was sitting down, heard an announcement from the driver informing us that due to "an incident" the track's electrical current had been cut so we would have to remain in the station for a while. As soon as I heard it, I knew something bad must have happened. All around me, people were tsking, rolling their eyes and making phone calls along the lines of, "Can you believe it? I'm on a train with an electrical fault and it's going take me AGES to get into work. Bloody trains."

These conversations continued in spite of a repeated announcement from the driver that there was nothing wrong with our train, but the track current had been cut and so we couldn't go anywhere. They continued even while the air ambulance was hovering over the station, and only started to peter out when the helicopter actually landed next to the station and its paramedics piled out and started running down the side of the track.

I still can't believe how oblivious people were to the serious undertones of the driver's announcements. Were they just not listening?

I was on a Piccadilly line train over the weekend, which started moving at one station (Knightsbridge? I forget), got five feet, and stopped. Then the driver's voice came on and said "Hello. It's the driver. I'm coming out." He wandered into our carriage (the front one) and vaguely asked if we'd pulled the alarm. We said no. He wandered back. For the next, oh, 20 mins, he and the platform staff alternated between having conversations and coming onto the train, asking if someone had pulled the alarm. We (standing by one of them) were asked about 5 times if we'd done so. No announcements were made -- if I hadn't been both by the driver's compartment and with an excellent view of the monitors at the front of the platform that show him all the train doors, I'd have had no idea what was going on. Eventually we moved on. The train braked every 10 feet before the next station, where it was taken out of service.

Given that for the entire period they believed someone had pulled an emergency handle, it seems that staff can be just as nonchalant about potential emergencies as passengers ...

Wandering all over downtown,buying plants;walking down a very traffic jammed 5th Ave. from the Union Square greenmarket,jack-in -the pulpits in my shopping bag,I see two steel rods suspended across the street at 6th story level.I'm told to get out of the way,or I'll get wet-they're shooting a movie!A drenching rain begins to pour from the rods onto an illuminated corner,where some actors with umbrellas are doing this and that.Very beautiful,in a surreal kind of way.Later on,I'm wandering down East Broadway,with yet another shopping bag,full of jasmine plants;in the distance,at the corner of Rutgers street,I see the signs from the old Garden Cafeteria are up again.Given my real estate rantings,I suspect that this Might be a wishfull hallucination....but lo and behold,they are doing deep demolition on the place,and have uncovered the old signs,which will no doubt be torn down as well.A fun day...

My little garden is at ground level, making it a fishbowl for the surrounding buildings and, too often, a garbage dump. (I've found some very odd things after what we call 'the frat boys' apartment' throws an all-night party.) Lately every time I sweep out there I discover a bunch of pennies, strewn (tossed?) apparently at random.

Yesterday's take: 25¢ and an old subway token.

Friday night exiting Grand Central at midnight I walked through the set of a Lindsay Lohan movie that was being filmed, prompting someone to shout at me. They also had the fake rain thing going. Lindsay was perched on her chair just inside the door, waiting to make her exit from GC into the rain. I guess the crowd was a little disappointed when I walked out instead.

My mail arrived today, and I opened an unmarked package. Inside was a t-shirt, and it said:

I SURVIVED RON JOHNSON'S VISIT

While dining out last night (at Bucks for those of you in DC) with my Dad and a friend we observed the bar tender and wait staff bring in and gorge on a pizza from the take out place next door.

Eyebrows walks in to the house. All excited, having been to CVS. Got a whole bag of goodies for cheap money. Including, for $2.99, La Bella Placenta Shampoo.

Please tell me you are joking?

I wore the tshirt all day yesterday actually. Covered the healing tattoo very nicely.

THis could fit in any number of threads, but I thought this best.

Direct quote from a project manager on Tuesday with a deadline looming next Wednesday and people trying to wrap things up,


"I need to be involved in these decisions. Also, I'll be out Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday".

A friend, a good friend who I thought knew me, I mean really knew me, just asked me if I wanted to go see Duran Duran with him tonight.

I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.

mongomania has members and activity

edit: that link again is

I just realised the small sample sachet of Z by Zegna (the new fragrance of men) which I idly left on my desk this morning looks like a condom.

There will never be another Left Eye.

Riding the N train home yesterday and hearing the conductor apologizing for the 8-minute delay in the schedule, caused by "rowdy youths" in Brooklyn.

Rowdy youths in Brooklyn strike me as being like "leaves on the line" (a British Rail excuse), that is, to be anticipated.

Received a date to appear to protest to parking ticket. Date to appear was three days before the "posted date" on envelope.