i'm supposed to be doing report cards.

wait until the camera sniff at the end

under the sea

From inside my apartment I can hear the cars and trucks driving on the BQE. Sometimes I can imagine that the gentle, but consistent whoosh is the sound of ocean waves coming ashore. When I try to sleep at night, the sound creeps in through a small crevice above the window...where the sash doesn't meet the frame. The sound washes over me as I try to muffle it out with talk radio. The jabber of late night news in an exaggerated monotone, crackling on top of the sea.

Sometimes I can hear children shouting in the courtyard behind my kitchen and I wonder if they are swimming in the water...isn't it late? Are they dreaming or playing? Shouldn't they be curled up in pajamas, teeth brushed, eyes closed?

The backyard garden, in the courtyard, is full of drifting leaves and vines, swaying in the wind like sea anemones, seaweed. Some yards and patios have little rusty grills or white plastic chairs like relics at the bottom of the ocean. If you close your eyes and listen you can hear groups of men bursting out together, cheering, booing. Pirates?

halloween

Halloween in New York is kinda crazy. Not like driving through Chicago, dodging illegal fireworks set off by cops or drifting in and out of clouds of smoke in Humbuldt Park. No, in New York, it is a wildly celebrated holiday - costumes everywhere, huge parades, businesses giving out candy, drunk and bald kids going to raves (yes.....raves! people still GO to raves). We started out the evening very innocently. Dave and I threw together costumes - farmer and engineer- and took the train to Park Slope. I teach in Park Slope and every year there is a parade on 7th Ave. I was like, oh cute...I'll see my students and they'll be all happy that I'm dressed up as an engineer. Dave and I climb out of the subway into a mass of bedazzles and face paint, strollers decorated as little blobby newborns slump over in costume, and giant, awkward inanimate objects, like sandwiches, walking down the street. This isn't a simple, oh-how-cute-parade. This is a major, everyone in Brooklyn, insane, drum circle extravaganza.

Well, ok....where do I go? Down the block? Near the school where big kids are having shaving cream fights? Back home? So I see one of my students retreating with his dad because the parade is starting and it's too loud. Daaaaaaad...he says when they stop to talk to me. Dave and I stand and watch....I don't know why I thought I would be able to recognize any of my first graders. I finally see another student and she is so excited, it makes it all worth it. Her dad captures my first ridiculously happy expression. After spending an hour standing there regretting my totally lame costume, we decide to get dinner.

Let's fast forward to hours and hours and hours later. After dinner and drinks, Lauren's Halloween party and more drinks.... We are standing on a street corner for, what seemed to me to be all night, but I'm sure was only a little while. If I closed one eye and squinted with the other, I could figure out where the cabs were. Here we go. Instantly asleep in the cab, wake up - where are we? The TV in the cab was playing the news over and over again. Mute it. Not home. Wow....I feel really, really gross. Keep eyes closed. It's ok. Breathe. Not a big deal. Wait......waaaiiiittt....Stop the cab! Stop the cab! Open the door.

I'll let you imagine the rest. It was lovely.