This Week's Top Ten

My current favourite things:

1. The new trains on the L and 6 line. They have the clever little electronic map that shows you where you’ve been, where you are, where you are going and what lines you can connect to. Perfect if you are drunk, feeble or me. With that said… I still went the wrong way on the L, and was half-way to Brooklyn before I realised it. The upside is, I was able to enjoy the sleek, only partially tagged train on a journey back to Astor Place, following my travel back to where I should have gone to begin with.

2. The Astor Place station. Most ironic around…and not because it's the only one where you tell someone, “It’s between the two Starbucks.”. Add to that distinction is the wonderful copper exterior, now in a patina green, pushing out of the ground in the middle of the park. Inside, it’s lush, with the name of the station spelled out in well fired tiles. The old, heavily carved ‘Men” and ‘WOMEN’ bathroom doors now bracket a snack stand…The irony comes in the huge tiled beaver made to honour the wealth started in the pelts of this animal...I'd hang out in this station if I were a hooker....free advertising...but, it's across the tracks that makes you take your breath in perfection of perfection of perfect ironic places...a K-Mart located in the station named for a man who was once America's wealthiest man. Bliss.

3. The 8^th Street Station, land of little brass art. No matter my mood when I dash from 14^th street over to the 8^th street side… I become happy. How can you not feel that way when you see these clever bits of glee peering at you from the most unexpected places? My favourite are the two who hide behind a concrete post, with a saw. I see people scurrying past, without a second look, and I want to shout at them to stop and examine these bits of work… it’s like the 5280 propellers in the outbound tunnels at Denver International Airport, work created by William Maxwell. How many times do I hear people talking of them, and thinking they are some kind of ventilation system, when they are a painstakingly installed work of art, put in over a few days by Billy Maxwell and with help from Deb Sophia Henson, who battled rats, standing water and other dark things to provide this interactive project. I have a work of Billy's, who died a few years ago…a bird’s head made of autumn leaves. It’s one of my favourite pieces of art, his concept was to create extinct species of birds from the Amazon…mine is a peach headed parrot who ceased to exist in 1760. He was genius.

4. Hot and sour soup. Good hot and sour soup. You can't get it delivered.."Ten dollar minimum on delivery.", but, you can pick it up in a matter of minutes, and both the local place and the plethora of locations near my workspace make amazing hot and sour soup. I’m living on it because it’s cheap, and I spent too much money on new jeans that I needed because I lost weight and my old ones don’t fit. With this diet, the new ones will be too big, and the process will repeat. Clever, I’m not. Addicted, I am.

5. Back streets of SoHo. You meet the oddest people... the woman who came up to me, and told me far too many things about me... that I'd just moved here, that it was the best thing I could have done... that I was growing too comfortable in my P.A. job, that I worried about my youngest son, that I had been ill, but, I would be better if I made sure I dealt with my current niggly issue....to let go of the issue that was hurting my heart. It would break me. I had given enough. To mend fences, to remember God loved me. To work on my spirit... and she smiled at me and walked off.

6. The lights of the City at night in the Spring. The air is so clear, they grab you and take you home.

7. Chinatown. I told a friend that I love how the smells of it cling to you, so that when you come home, and are sitting there, reading or watching TV, a wiff rises up from your hair, and you are transported back...you feel as if you are in some ancient Chinese apothecary shop. Rich, tasty, deep, colourful scents. Delightful.

8. My roommate. I will miss him so much. Last night, we sat and watched TV and ate pizza... turning out the lights, figuring out that if we didn't see the food, the calories didn't count. He makes me laugh so hard, I have tears. This man, this man is a delight to the world.... how dear he is in my life. If he were straight and anywhere near my age, I'd marry him. If he were straight, I'd marry him. If he were near my age, I'd... well, you get the picture.

9. Stuyvesant Town. I'd love to move there, if it wasn't such a rent gouge. I am particularly bemused by those who are in rent controlled apartments, and rent out both bedrooms for $1000 each, and sleep on the couch. Greed rules. Still, I love the area... and have to think, it would be miserable to be drunk and try to find your way home.

10. The lure of real spring in the city. Can you taste it in the air? It really is pastel here... pale blue sky, spring green grass, flowers popping though.... I'm ready.