Trains, Ferries and Subways...Part 1

So my commute to school looks like this...walk a mile to Train station--->Train to St. George Terminal in Staten Island--->Ferry to Manhattan--->(if they are working on the subway station under the new WTC then a bus first to the Chambers St entrance) Red 1 Subway to 14th St--->walk to Pratt Manhattan.  Reverse for return trip and it's a 3 hour round trip excursion.  Lots of people watching to be had...so I thought I'd record some it.  I know it interests me, I can't be the only person who finds other people interesting.

1/13/11
On the Ferry: A mom with a really neat double stroller, I've never seen one like it...but it has a baby seat in the bottom where the basket for stuff would normally go...very cool if I was planning on having a baby or twins or something.  She sits next to these Russian girls who immediately start cooing when she picks up the baby.  It is such an automatic response, I know...I wanted to coo too but I refrained.  The mom's little girl waved at Lady Liberty as we went past her.  (side note: she is beautiful and I will never tire of seeing her on each trip, the same goes for the city skyline and the view out my living room window of the Verrazano bridge...its all just beautiful!)

A man who was excitedly waving to no one.  Maybe he just didn't want to be alone that day.

Kids were making quacking noise for the whole ferry trip...that was awesome...not.

At the ferry station in Manhattan there are bird chirps that come over the loud speakers...I guess it's supposed to be soothing and actually it is, I like it.

On the subway: A guy asked me for directions...I had to tell him I had absolutely no idea, I was new to the city.  It was in fact the first time for me...on the subway by myself.

A baseball player spent the entire subway ride stretching in the aisle.

The baby next to me decided that he wanted to be part of the conversation and just started yelling, the parents couldn't get him to be quiet...it was very cute.

1/14/11

Not really on a mode of transportation, but worthy of mention since I'm a single girl.  Met a (good looking...unless he's bald under the ski hat) guy named Kyle at orientation in Brooklyn.  Talked for about an hour and walked out of orientation where he promptly hopped on his bike and yelled...see you around campus.  Too bad for him I'm never on that campus.

The 3 old guys who meet  everyday on the ferry home.  They were comparing beer cans.  LOL mmmk

Saw my first rat on the subway...omg they are huge.  I better never have one in the apartment or I'll never stop screaming.

1/20/11

The WTH couple on the ferry--she was a cute asian girl with multi colored hair and funky clothes and lots of piercing--he was a bum.  I'm serious a bum...long long scraggley ugly hair, baseball hat, horrid clothes.  But she was estatic to see him...or maybe it was the really big can of beer he brought her.  I dunno but gosh they were mismatched.

Goofy old guy reading the newspaper...he had reading glasses and a magnifying glass to read the paper and he read with his mouth open.  His tongue working in his mouth and sometimes sticking out sorta licking his lips.  His hands had long nails and were working man formed.  Was he married? I don't know if I could deal with it.

Another thing not on public transportation but it is a warning on wearing low riding jeans in public...I introduce "Crack Man" from Professor Irene's class.  Ugh why did he have to sit in front of me??  I mean if it was a cute ass maybe...but this was not so much...

1/22/11

The only person of note was not a person but a pigeon who flew into the ferry and landed at my feet.  Sorry birdie I'm not the bird lady from Mary Poppins...shoo....shooo rat with wings!!

I did meet a family from North Carolina.  I commented on their point and shoot camera, which had a screen in the front so you can take self portraits.  It was cool.  They asked me about where to buy purses, I didn't know...I only know Canal St and they wanted the actual thing...that and Uggs...  Anyway, they asked why I had just moved there so I told them I was going to school and mentioned Pratt.  Well, apparently they are trying to get their son to apply to Pratt so they asked a ton of questions about it.  It was fun to talk up the school.

I'm sure I'll have more later....Class for tonight was cancelled due to snow, so no stories from today, but maybe on Saturday :)

What I've learned...

*I'm stronger than I think I am...I can do this!  It's like Josh said when told how crazy it was that we had moved everyone across the country to NYC..."Well, she had to do it."

*I thought I was only directionally challenged in game on WoW...but apparently it bleeds into real life.  Thank the Lord for GPS...but since I don't take it with me when getting off the subway the chances that I'll go the wrong way out of the subway entrance are pretty high.

*It only took me 10 min of standing in front of a metro card kiosk to figure out how to add money to my metro card...and I'm in graduate school....I'm not sure what I think about that.

*When Prof. Yockey heard I traveled from Utah in a car with 5 kids and a cat he said I should get course credit for that...should I hold him to that... maybe push for extra credit??

*When living in an old apartment you cannot plug two things into the same wall socket...eventhough there are two spaces and the other thing that is plugged in isn't on...I learned very quickly where the circuit breakers were.

*Also what is the difference between too hot and too cold in an old apartment in regards to the shower...apparently less than a millimeter.  Where is just right?  I feel like a deprived Goldilocks.

*When it snows in NYC it's not kidding around, but WOW is it beautiful the whole sky lights up in the reflection of the flakes...no need for night lights for the kids at night.  Also a Thank you God for 4 wheel drive I'm so glad my Jeep has it.

*What to do when the dryer you own has 4 prongs and the plug only has 3...shoving it in doesn't work and so far neither does trying to get the landlord to replace the outlet so the apartment is up to code...meanwhile I'm almost to my stash of emergency underware...please please Charlie fix the outlet, not the emergency underware...anything but that!

*In order to register the kids for school I need to have a signed rental agreement (check) and a utility bill....ummm I've been in the apartment for less than a week how in the name of all that is holy am I supposed to have a utility bill???  So can I still register my kids for school...who knows?

*Yay there is a Costco in Staten Island...but not a Wal-mart (but I'm ok with that) and everything here closes at 8 pm at night...weird.

*Why are all the windows nailed shut...on the list to ask Charlie when he finally gets around to the doing the walk though with me.

*I am constantly worried that my heating oil will run out, because I have no idea how long it is supposed to last and Charlie still has yet to give me a key so I can check it.  I am almost to a paranoid level.  Please God please may it be like the woman who had a little bit of flour and a little bit of oil and no money to buy more for food.

*Becoming a librarian requires A LOT of reading...who knew?  /snort

Isn't that what everyone would do?

So I'm a single/divorced mom of 5 kids, I've stayed at home with them for 13 of 15 years I've been a mom. I haven't been in school for 16 years and I don't have many skills that look good on a resume.  So I decided  that since I have the opportunity to do so, I should grab for what I really want.  I applied to Pratt Institute, which is primarily an Art and Design School (usually ranked in the top 10) and it has the oldest accredited Library and Information Science program (which is why I applied).  I mean com'on it's in Manhattan!!  You get to have classes taught by librarians in the NYPL and go to Florence and Prague and London.  They have a dual masters program that will give me a MLS and a History of Art Masters.  Plus the Brooklyn campus stands in for the Harvard campus in the TV show Fringe.  Neato!  How could I resist!  All I have to do is get an apartment in NYC, financial aid, and move across the country.  Given the fact that my application was accepted...wouldn't anyone else in my position do the same thing?

So I tried to sell my house...that was a no go and it got rented to some polygamous family from down the street...poor man with like 3 heckling and pregnant wives.  What was he thinking...what were they thinking...but I digress.  I packed up my 3500 square ft house into a trailer (many many many thanks to my best friend and her husband...I don't know what I would have done without them).  I mailed (thanks again to Branden) a bunch of stuff to my parents, who had agreed to let my 5 kids and myself take over their small house for a few months.  Packed my kids and a cat into a Jeep Commander and drove from Utah to Rochester, NY (with a small stop in Savannah, GA just because).  

I had no job (still no job and running on the hope that we'll make it with financial aid) and still no apartment in NYC but my hopes were high.  Living with my parents wasn't at all what I had hoped it would be, but if I had gone there with my eyes unclouded it probably turned out much like most people would expect when you combine two differently run households into a tiny house.  Thank goodness for the YMCA, Cynthia, my Aunt and Uncle, Trinity and Koininia Fellowship.  Three weeks before the term was supposed to start I finally got an apartment in Staten Island.  Packed up the 5 kids and the cat again into the Jeep Commander and too much stuff that the Jeep probably would have exploded if my very kind Aunt and Uncle hadn't let me drop some stuff off at their house.  Drove the 6 hours to the apartment and attempted to move in.  So here we are...I still don't have the kids registered for school and the schools are a bit scary.  I have to commute 1 1/2 hours to school and then back again (up hill both ways in blinding snowstorms all year round...hehe).  I have to fit all my stuff and 5 kids oh and don't forget a cat, into an apartment that is maybe 1200 square ft.  But it's New York City!!!  Think of all the stuff we can do.  I'm sure anyone else in my position would have done the same thing.  Right!??