I have a new life motto...

...and it is:

"If you don't have to work tomorrow, then fuck with your neurons."

(My previous life motto, for those keeping track, was "Get the fuck over yourself." It seems I have a penchant for including the word "fuck" in my life mottos. Sorry, Mom.)

Anyhoo...

I realize my new life motto could be interpreted in any number of ways, depending on one's preferred method of fucking with one's neurons. In my case, this evening, I preferred an entirely wholesome, nerdy, intellectual approach to my motto.

I got it into my head, during a brief phone call with my dear buddy Beth, that it would be a good idea to whip out some of the art criticism I haven't glanced at since grad school, to give it another go. My brain is a bit out of practice, art-criticism-apprehension-wise, and I thought it might be illuminating to revisit some stuff I haven't thought about in years, to see if my accumulated experience since grad school has provided me with new and/or improved methods of understanding (others') ideas.

I was a bit scared to open up the cobwebs of my art brain, but then I thought, "Hey, fuck it. I have the day off tomorrow...and I can choose to stay up late trying to understand cryptic art critical text all I wanna. Yeah!"
Party. Fucking with my neurons.

Hence, my new life motto.

And I *did* go through some old photocopied handouts from grad school for my possible reading pleasure, and I settled on "Grids" by Rosalind Krauss, from her collection of essays The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths.

Yep.

It was a tiny bit of a struggle to get through the entire text, but I tried not to let small moments of incomprehension stop me from plowing through til the end. I was helped along by a glass of red wine. Fuck those neurons.

One day late

I have had computer trouble at home, and so I have not been keeping up with posts as I'd like...

But I do want to write a little post acknowledging the passing of another September 11, even if the post is a day late.

(By the way, my sister wrote a very thoughtful 9/11 piece on her own blog. Please note - the Catherine she refers to in her posts is not myself but my 2 1/2 year-old niece).

So, last year, I think partly because I was in the middle of some life changes, September 11 hit me a little harder than usual. In 2001, I watched the towers burn and fall from my rooftop in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In 2007, I found myself thinking about the changes in my life over those past six years, and I had an urge to call the people I loved, just to say "I love you." I was thankful that I had a few people on that list.

This year, the date September 11 did not affect my day or my feelings too much, though I did start my day by listening to some memorial coverage on WNYC.
At the end of the day, though, I did have a moment of reflection. Last evening the weather was beautiful, just the hint of a cool Fall night, so I snuck up onto my roof to enjoy the air. I had totally forgotten about the Twin Towers of Light, which I could clearly see from my rooftop, shooting out the bottom of the Manhattan island. Those light towers might just be my favorite public art of all time. They're beautiful and simple and perfect, and I was glad to have that moment to stand on my roof alone, to take a pause to remember.

The most wonderful time of the year

I finally buckled down and filled out my tax forms tonight. It wasn't too bad...I found the various cross-referenced forms to be a bit annoying, but I was still able to handle it myself without professional help. Had a W-2 and a couple 1099s to deal with this year, as well as my pretty little student loan interest deduction...

So I finished up the federal forms a little while ago. To set a productive scene for myself, I popped the LL Cool J All World CD into my laptop (classics!), and took out my contacts (somehow, being bent over tax forms in the middle of the night looks better to me with glasses resting on the bridge of my nose).

I held my breath as I reached the end of my 1040...I was at the line that reads TOTAL TAX, and I was looking for Box 2 ("Federal income tax withheld") on my solitary 2007 W-2...please, I thought, please let that amount in Box 2 be larger than my TOTAL TAX owed for 2007...

A smile crept upon my face:
I was completely thrilled to find out that, despite a couple worrisome components of my income, I am still due to receive a little refund from the Feds this year. Thank the lordy...I'm getting that form in ASAP now...it always takes Uncle Sam so much more time to issue checks than to cash them, in my experience...

Emboldened, I decided to try to wipe out my New York State tax forms tonight as well. What could possibly follow Cool James in my CD rotation? I chose Fugees The Score CD...it doesn't really compare, but it does have nice college nostalgia associated with certain tracks for me...

I am now *this* close to finishing up the NY forms, but the application displaying the form instructions on my laptop keeps unexpectedly quitting (ack!). I am tired, and I gotta work tomorrow, so New York's gonna wait for now. I'll finish tomorrow. Hell, it's not even April yet, so I'm way ahead of my past years' schedule.

There is nothing like...

...Popeyes biscuits at one-thirty in the morning on a drunk, empty stomach.
Thank you, Popeyes!

I love my neighborhood.