Tag: #NYC

  • The Joy of Growing Lima Beans

    Remote learning for kindergarteners is pretty hard. I feel very fortunate that we have a great teacher for the kid. She makes the best out of this awful situation we are all in, and the kid really has taken to her. Hopefully, one day, we will get to meet each other in person.

    One of the projects that the teacher has assigned was growing a lima bean in a plastic cup. There was a kit I had to go and pick up at the school, which contained the cup, seed, and dirt. All the kids kept the bean in a wet paper towel until it sprouted roots, and then filling the cup up with dirt, they planted the bean. Weekly, the teacher has the kids bring their bean plant to class, so they can measure it, and keep track as scientists. The kid loves this project, and she gets very excited when she gets to show off her plant.

    The other side of this project, is that I also have become excited about this it as well. Every morning, I open up the curtains so light can come in, which leads me to move the bean plant around the apartment for maxim photosynthesis. I check the leaves to make sure they are healthy, and touch the soil to make sure it isn’t too wet, or dry. I even get excited on the mornings when I see the bud of new leaves starting to pop out.

    I have discovered the joy in keeping a plant alive.

    But I need to watch myself, to make sure I don’t take over this project from the kid. I have even started to think that I might want to plant my own lima bean. Or maybe get a planter box this Spring, and plant my own mess of beans? From working with the kid’s bean plant, I want to have my own experience of growing, of each day checking in on the progress the plants make. I am sure that this has to do with giving each of my days a purpose, which can have a beneficial result.

    In that sense, I would like to try my hand to growing gourds.

  • Where’s My Covid Vaccine?

    Now, I know that you should never use social media to compare yourself, let alone use it as a gage of current news.

    But…

    It sure as hell seems that just about everyone I know is getting vaccinated. It stated to make me wonder if I am doing something wrong.

    Now, the truth of the matter is that a great number of my friends are in the teaching profession, so clearly, I’m seeing them, as a priority group, all getting their shot.

    So, I just went on the New York State Covid Vaccine page and tried to see if I am eligible. After answering a bunch of questions about what I do for a living, and asking if I face the public, I was informed that I am not eligible. Looking a little deeper, I see that healthy people in their early forties will be up for a vaccine around Summer.

    Five months. Me and the wife could have about five months to go. Wow, that’s, just a bit more time than I thought…

    Again, the logical part of me knows that NY state is only getting so much vaccine a week, and we are a big state, and I live in the biggest city, so it will take some time. I also know that the more people in front of me in line who get vaccinated, actually will help make everyone safer through herd immunity. I know all of that.

    But I am getting anxious, and that is based in fear of getting sick, and also I am getting worn down with being restricted at home. The fatigue is getting to me, and I feel like we are starting to see the beginning of the end of this thing.

    I just gotta stay patient.

  • Covid Guilt: I’m Doing What I Can

    I’m ran the kid through her reading drills, and now she is in her remote class, working on writing words and sentences.

    I guess this is now normal for her. I wonder what she will remember about all of this? At what age will she look back and say, this was a completely messed up time to be alive? I can hear her wonder aloud one day, “How did three people stuck in a tiny apartment in Upper Manhattan survive this? How did we not all go insane?”

    I don’t know the answer to that. I’m not sure if I will ever understand how to answer that.

    The other night the wife asked me if I had an exercise plan. My answer is that I’m not planning on working out until the kid gets back into school, and I’m not going to feel bad about that. I am the primary care giver for the kid; parent, teacher, partner in crime in playing around the apartment. It takes up just about all of my time. To carve out an hour a day, three to four times a week, is just about impossible. And I’m tired of beating myself up over it. I’m putting the kid’s wellbeing first, and that’s good enough.

    None of this is normal, but I keep fooling myself that I should be able to get it all done. Some days I can do it all, but most days I can’t. Just making it to tomorrow, happy and health is a victory.

  • It’s Another Snow Day!

    And it’s the fat fluffy flakes that are falling.

    The kid is beside herself, but we do have school today, and that has put a damper on her.

    But!

    We bought a sled yesterday in anticipation of the weather, and hopefully, we will get to use it tomorrow.

    Now, we did get to go out in the snow this morning. See, I learned the lesson from the last major snow storm that hit NYC; Buy a Snow Shovel! And we even got one of those snow brushes/scrapers for the car. So, as the snow was piling up, I knew that I needed to head over to the car, and start the process of cleaning it off, and getting the windshield wipers up, so they don’t freeze to the car. If I was going out into the snow, the kid had to go with me.

    And she was cute as could be. When we stepped out in to the storm, I would have to say that it was almost blizzard like, she giggled with excitement with being pelted in the face with snow. There was a stiff wind, and heavy snow, but we made it over to the car. The whole walk over there, the kid kept reaching down to make snowballs, or to walk in the drifts. Snow is just too tempting for the kid, and I don’t blame her, but she wanted to go sledding. The storm was just too bad., so I had to tell her not today. She wasn’t happy with that decision.

    We made it to the car, and I let her use the snow brush to knock the snow off. She had fun drawing pictures on the snow dusted windows, before she brushed them off. We made the best of the situation we had, before it got too cold for us and we headed back.

  • A Story of Living in New York

    In the spring of 2017, I don’t know exactly when, but I know it was warm out as you still needed a coat. I left work a little early and was walking down the west side of 6th Avenue, between 15th and 16th street. My intention was to get over to the 14th Street 1,2,3 station, as I needed to get uptown in a hurry, and trains on the Red line get rather stupidly packed at rush hour.

    I was lost in my own thoughts, as the company I worked for was nearing bankruptcy and I had the job to try and stop that from happening. (It didn’t end well, so you know.)  As I tried to puzzle out a solution, I looked down 6th Ave and walking up the street toward me was Fran Lebowitz. She was just walking, dressed how Fran always dresses, and passed me without a glance.

    That’s it, that’s my story.