'time to recognize it'

woohoo, my first cold of the season. ugh. i am at the stage where i can blow my nose approximately every 17 seconds. this will soon be followed by the stage in which i can not bring a kleenex within an inch of my nose without wincing.

my NY insurance has finally been straightened out and i am attempting to find a doctor, dentist, and womanly-issues doctor. it has been a mid-range pain in the ass so far. i'm not used to all this union stuff, and it has taken a bit to figure out who pays for what. like, insurance pays for visits to my PCP but prescriptions go through the union pharmacy. i have been using the provider search online and have some weird criteria. for example, i would prefer not to have a jewish doctor because jewish holidays are days off from work that would be convenient for me to make appointments. also, i want doctors to be within a 10 mile radius of my apt. also, i just don not think i can have a gynecologist named "dr bush." that might just be too much for me.

the village halloween parade last night was amazing. the event is even included in the book 100 things to do before you die, if that gives you any indication of its eminence. my favorite costume was a set of three people – one as pac-man and two as ghosts (pinky and blinky, maybe? and how come sometimes the last ghost is named clyde, and sometimes it is sue? or am i just making that up?* hm). anyway. the costumes alone were fantastic, but my favorite part is that within the parade, all of a sudden pac-man started booking it after one of the ghosts, and the other ghost started sprinting after him. everyone in the crowd went nuts. other good action included two priests who stopped to smooch every block or so. i also saw the burger king…king…whom i realized might frighten me more than clowns do.

i went to the parade with jill, and we ended up spectating with a fella by the name of frank. he was funny and kind and nice and a couple hours later as we said our goodbyes asked if we would be interested in hanging out some time. it was a little weird 'cause it wasn't clear if he was attempting to pick me up or pick jill up, so there was this awkward moment. jill has a boyfriend, too, which is further complicating, but i did not want to assume it was me he was after so i ended up giving him both our numbers. uncomfortable!

after the parade i am in such total feel-good new york mode – not that i haven't been most of the time!- where i just lovelovelove this city and know i made the right decision to move. for all the parts of my life that aren't quite perfect right now, my setting is just right. i can walk a block outside and have an amazing view of the statue of liberty, for goodness' sake.

i am really attracted to the image from jarhead of jake glyenhaal naked except for a santa
hat,
although i don't know that i find him superhot in general (military men aren't really my fetish). and i'm not quite sure how i'd react to seeing him get it on with my fantasy object heath ledger (who lives in brooklyn, by the way!) in the gay cowboy movie although i did hear that if any male-male coupling could do for women what it does for men to watch 2 chicks get it on, brokeback mountain has got it.

* in my dedicated research i discovered that the orange ghost was clyde in the original pac-man, but sue in the ms.pac-man game. you can read about that and about a million other obscure details here, if you'd like.