The whole reason I live in NYC is to burn the candle at both ends and never ever stop doing things I can only do right here, right now, that will never be replicated again. In other words, I liked the Eno doc.
Today started uneventfully, as it usually does.
I rode to LIC, stopping to admire the mysterious New York Terra Cotta Works building (est. 1892) en route.
Stopped by Remix Market, which had a lot of very cool, surprisingly affordable, nonjunky secondhand stuff. If you need any vintage chairs or Broadway memorabilia, check it out.
I took the ferry to the city so I could finally see this yearās Mmuseumm exhibit. Unfortunately, the heat was unbearable in this tiny room, and so I didnāt feel compelled to stay very long. But I enjoy contemplating the phrase āFrom where we came will kill us,ā donāt you?
Somehow, I managed to bike to Tribeca to Soho to Chinatown in many fits and starts. It was thrilling to bike in new areas, but it wasnāt what I would consider to be a pleasurable journey. It was hard for me to make sense of where I was going due to the lack of numbered, gridded streets in this area.
I did eventually make it to Fong On after reading about their tofu pudding in the Sweet City substack (among many other places online). Just as their website will tell you, it is the oldest family-run tofu shop in NYC (est. 1933). Iāve been obsessed with tofu/grass jelly/red bean/boba desserts ever since ordering one at Mala Project almost a year ago. This was very good and a generous size for the price. Sweet and cold like ice cream but without the meltiness and the weighed-down feeling afterward.
Then I hopped on the Dream Boat and went home.
Loved.
CT summer vacation: pt. 1
I quit coffee, kayaked once, biked a few times, drove a golf cart, walked to the beach every day (occasionally dodging the rain), watched impromptu neighborhood fireworks, went to a lavender farm and got life-changing fresh mint ice cream afterward, dug up tons of mushrooms, gawked at all the cotton-candy-colored hydrangeas, communed with an oriole, went to the farmers market, and enjoyed the AC very much.
How I spent this muggy, stormy weekend. Feels apt, as rain = mushrooms.
Meant to look up ādenouement,ā but found this instead. I feel this a lot.
Two-steppinā times in ATX
SO FUN
On Sunday, between a picnic catchup with one incredible friend and an early dinner with another, I decided to get lost in Central Parkās Ramble.
If you ever feel the urge to go forest bathing, this is the place to do it. Even for a holiday weekend and a spectacular weather day in the literal center of New York City, I found complete stillness and total solitude here. Communed with the birds, squirrels, and even the turtles.
From the Central Park Conservancyās website: āOn most of the Rambleās trails and paths, itās hard to tell where exactly you are going and what you will stumble upon. All the paths are winding, and you cannot see any buildings or other landmarks for orientation.
"In restoring these paths, the Conservancy connected to the original intent for the Ramble, which, in [Central Park designer Frederick Law] Olmstedās words, was to āaffect the imagination with a sense of mystery.ā Wandering along these paths and trails today is a continuous experience of wonder and surprise.ā
It reminds me so much of Chatfield Hollow, the park/forest I grew up playing and exploring in.
I love The Ramble.
Please somebody stop me from moving to Sunnyside immediately. Had the most romantic little farmers market/cafe/shop browsing day here. New Saturday morning ritual.
Super cute signage and pecan-cherry cookie c/o ACQ Bread.
Mulberries are imminent!!
āIn countless ways, our lives seem, for good or ill, ours to manage; in countless other ways, including those related to many of the things that matter most, they feel maddeningly out of our hands. The only thing we know for certain is that, if the universe really is deterministic, its gears or gods are hidden from us. We are not like Laplaceās demon, possessing perfect knowledge of the present state of every atom in existence and therefore able to see how all subsequent events will unfold. For that matter, even if we did possess such knowledge, it might not make a difference. Plenty of contemporary physicists think that the universe is indeterminateāthat even an intellect gigantic enough to comprehend all the causes in the cosmos would not be able to correctly infer the effects and thereby foretell the future.
"Either way, suspense still reigns supreme. As long as the future remains opaque, it will also remain frightening and exhilarating, the repository of our greatest fears and wildest dreams. This is perhaps the most important way that real-life suspense differs from the fictional kind: in books and movies, we do not necessarily care if the outcome for which we have been waiting is good or badāour primary concern is that it resolves the feeling of suspense in a satisfying way. But in life we care about those outcomes desperately. We want our fears to prove unfounded and our dreams to come true; we want to be spared lifeās many possible devastations and gratified by its revelations and resolutions. This is, perhaps, the tenderest and most hopeful definition of suspense: it is the passionate wish, in the face of omnipresent doubts and dangers, that all will be well in the future.ā
ā Kathryn Schulz, āAnnals of Inquiry: Wait for It,ā The New Yorker
Moment of appreciation for these candy-striped roses