just home from a "day at the racetrack" (never gets old saying that) i was inspired to make a quick post. first to say thanks and happy birthday to j + j. i missed last year's jam, but these guys have a way of putting the group into some superb outer borough action. today we went to the aqueduct track in queens.
i knew going there not to expect southern belles in jewels balancing a mint julip as they walked down the steps to their box. i knew that this was a down and out type of track. but i was really pleasantly surprised - for a few reasons. yeah it's seen better days, but the people there are having a blast. english is spoken but not like i do. crazy accents ranging from all over nyc, to the islands, asian and spanish too. of note, the place is all dudes (except for the lovely ladies we were rolling with).
it's got all of the vices of any other gambling establishment (i can reference casinos, jai lai - an old connecticut thing, and those dumpy off track betting places all over town). expect to breath a lot of tobacco smoke, fuel up on greasy over priced food, and watch guys drink out of celebration and defeat. either way a percentage of the winnings comes back to the house bar...or does it?
the aqueduct doesn't charge admission and the security was light. you drink and smoke pretty much wherever you want to. and you can sneak in booze too (sadly we didn't). it sounds simple but these little bits of lawlessness in a town that's always under such surveillance and colored coded fear reports...these little bits of lawlessness made my heart sing.
we (the guys in skinny jeans, dark rimmed glasses, campers, and pata-gucci coats) stuck out big time but no one bothered us. we bet one dollar at a time, once every twenty minutes, and it felt good and safe. usually gambling places put me on edge. i even managed to pay for my $10 chili dog and a beer by betting on #8 Alexandro in the sixth race. (note to parents, whenever a horse shares your kid's namesake...let it ride!)
the other non parents in the group were headed home for a nap, then east village dining, then LES drinking. amazing what those youngsters pack into an evening...party down, my friends, while your biological clocks are silently being wound up inside you.
anyway. what a day. what a city. where else but nyc could you hide a racetrack, a bunch of horses, indoor smoking, a thousand locals, and a few hipsters?Photos courtesy of j. nordberg on flickr
i recently found out that our president elect is a smoker - i was probably the last to know. the news came to me when i heard michael kinsley on brian lehrer this morning:
political columnist kinsley just wrote a piece in the washington post titled "let the guy smoke" like the title implies he thinks that if obama needs smoking as a crutch while he leads us through war, recession, and whatever else the times throw at him then no biggie. he also wonders how obama gets away with smoking when mccain was predicted to croak because his skin cancer might return. is obama still in a honeymoon period with the media? why not give him hell for smoking? isn't that what we do nowadays as part of the nicotine fiend witch hunt?
i speak from experience.
i think it was my 12th birthday when my mom quit smoking for me. i'd always given her a hard time (as much or more out of my own embarrassment than out of concern for her health and longevity) for her smoking. on again and off again quitting ever since (back on as of the thanksgiving break) it sounds like obama and my mom may have something in common. apparently obama has never said he didn't smoke. he honestly answers questions about it and talks about chewing nicorette gum and sticking on patches - my mom would do the same. but i somehow doubt (as does kinsley) that obama is really going to quit. seriously, if you had been a smoker on a regular day would you find inspiration to quit while running a fierce campaign on little sleep or food without your hypocrisy police (michelle and the kids) nearby?
so when i say it bothers me that obama smokes is that bother out of concern for his health? or is it a concern for the image (weakness in failing to quit) that his smoking projects on him as leader of our country? how can the guy talk about installing a basketball court in the white house when he's blackening his lungs? to say nothing about my concerns for his ability to crack down on the tobacco biz. kinsley warns us not to worry about obama's health. he points out that the odds are in favor of obama dying of assassination (u.s. presidents don't have a good track record) not smoking. as if that wouldn't cause you to light up to calm your nico-nerves!
so to obama (and my mama) while i wish you'd quit you should know that my concerns are likely more for my health than yours. take my scolding with a grain of salt (as if you weren't already!) and i'll try a little harder to just 'let you guys smoke.'
a week ago lori and i suffered the accusation of "accidental parenting". whereas sears and brazelton keep an open ear to family beds, forced naps, sleep in a stroller, laisez faire, whatever works for the parents AND baby. the baby whisperer don't play. one night crawling into bed at 4am after giving a bottle to AOW - lori had bottle duty the night before, and I the night before - I said, "wait a minute we don't give the baby a bottle in the middle of night anymore." lori was up an hour later with AOW, this time for good. she pulled out the baby whisperer and that's when we got the bad news - we were accidental parenting.
i read the chapter on toddlers and took in the sobering news too. this little girl had taken advantage me...very cutely i might add.
so we took to undoing the damage blaming the move downstairs of 2 months ago on AOW's acting out. like the guy who took his kids to Venezuela in the book we opted sleep on the floor when she would cry for a few more nights. talk about suckers. it worked but i couldn't help but feel like she had one up on us again. so last night i got alpha with her. after a discussion about how it was time to sleep, laying out her lovey, and setting her constellation turtle to green, i locked eyes with her. she looked away, looked the other way, looked at me around the way, then we locked eyes again. repeat 2 more times and then she came crashing down face into her lovey for 3 more hours of sleep. game on.
we'll see what comes next, until then i'll just be wondering in anticipation, anxiety, a bit of fear. not so alpha of me...
after a family run last month we came across a giant american flag in prospect park. the same site where i saw a makeshift political circus the month before. these are key reasons why we hover around this park several times each weekend. it's always the same place but with ever changing events.of course we wanted to know whose flag it was (never did find out). we've all watched this symbol get reduced to the size of a lapel pin and here it was as big as a parachute. a huge parachute. about a 100 park goers would rotate around its edges yanking it up into a bubbly tent while kids of all ages raced around underneath it.most significant were comments overheard about how as liberals 'we really weren't too bothered by the flag anymore.' i had to agree. after 9/11 the republicans got to the flag first and together with yellow ribbons started the 'support our troops' movement. sitting on the other side of the aisle the lefties were left wondering how to politically oppose the right. to not love the flag? to not support the troops? we were made out to be unpatriotic. and here, watching these kids - too young to remember 9/11 or to be caught up in any movements - were just playing around it. and in spite of all of our nyc cynicism we actually are pretty wrapped up in this year's presidential run. i am excited for obama's chances on tuesday in a way i never thought possible for a presidential election. i won't be pulling the dem's lever as the ok choice but as my favorite choice.listening to the press commemorate the 2008 presidential run today on the radio i couldn't help but wonder back to this family run in the park and these photo ops. after a 7 year break up with this symbol it's nice to have it back in my heart.
yesterday osita and i were both home sick. sicks days certainly take on a different tone when you have to take care of a little one and yourself.
where in another life i might have flopped on the couch, watched movies (ferris beuller's day off?), and sipped gatorade cocktails yesterday morning found me out and about at 8 am with the baby girl making doctor's appointments...planning our day. like ferris beuller calling me up out of my sick bed, it was clear that alexandra, smoker's cough and all, had bigger plans for us than lying around in the house.
9:40 daddy/baby nap? nope, dr's appointment in brooklyn heights. turns out she's got the croup cough.
10:30 nap time? nope. text message from lori to come by cobble hill high for some visiting. one way too pleasant of a walk through brooklyn heights (how does that neighborhood do it?) and we arrived at school. we had such a good time with the kids and seeing the little learning room lori has made for her kids that we stayed for over an hour! lori said it made her week and it was one of the better points of mine too. apparently the kids think the baby is a cute and that i'm hot. awesome.
12:30 nap time? nope. cheesy organic hot dogs for lunch (would see them later).
1:00 a bottle later and it's, at long last, nap time. down she goes and i barely make it to the bed before i crash too.
1:15 lori calls and inadvertantly wakes me.
1:20 baby wakes...please go back to sleep.
1:30 not going back to sleep
1:40 i call lori and explain that she's not sleeping but is throwing a tantrum trying to get to sleep...head in blankets, etc. lori suggest rocking.
2:00-4:00 and rock we did. normally i'm more of a shush pat in the crib guy but today the rock was what alexandra had cooking for us. together we would nap. sweet babe in my arms and be snoring with my neck snapped back over the back of the rocking chair. these are the moments i know i'll recall a long long time from now. 2 hours later and lori home from work i had to tap out - my neck was so sore from being stuck in that rocking chair.
4:01 alexandra is crowned snuggle champ by outlasting me. she rubs it in by continuing to snuggle with lori.
5:00 off to ikea. you know you've got a little ferris bueller magic working on you when, your sickness cured, you muster the strength to take the ikea bus to red hook. by the way that's the subject for another post.
5:40 $5 meatballs. see also organic hot dogs for results. what was i thinking?
8:00 back in the apartment arms heavy with ikea booty. baby to bed.
9:45 daddy to bed.
what a day! probably not exactly what the doctor ordered. today i'm totally wasted. but amazing how a little girl's spirit can move you. i don't know if you remember the part where ferris rolls back his sick day chart as principal rooney's assistant watches in disbelief. but i could definitely use a hand from him now. zero sick days left in the bank! at least i went out with a bang. love you osita!
who is this mythical creature? why none other than sarah 'pan' palin.
lori and i watched a youtube clip of s.p. playing flute last night. cross eyed with concentration and playing a fairly elementary piece of music, she was trying to score her way to the top of the miss alaska pageant.
i've seen better flute played, but as palin performances go it's teh best i've seen so far.
we'll see what tonight's vp debate holds in store for her. there's lots of talk about how we will 'meet' palin for the first time tonight, but i must say biden's been pretty quiet lately too.
i can't wait for the kick off tonight. i think to add dramatic effect i'll watch palin while imagining her as our first woman president (sorry for any jinx mccain, ditto obama...you're still my man). picturing her man as 'first dude' and her litter of kids and theirs. reality tv never looked so promising!
Photos courtesy of j. nordberg on flickr
