I didn't expect it to be much of a New Year's Eve. I have grown accustomed to watching an hour or so of the New York festivities on television and then crawling in bed for the night, but I'm in Hoboken now and things don't go the same way.
For one thing, everything is an hour later here. Having changed time zones I learn that my TV schedule is different too; in fact, many of the shows I used to love come on an hour past my bedtime. The New Year's Eve show started at 10 P.M. in Fairhope's time zone. Here it begins at 11. I gave up the ghost at about 10:30 and crawled into bed. But I kept hearing voices below my apartment, revelers headed for somewhere I wasn't going. Curious, I got up and looked out the window at them down below on the sidewalk. They were heading downtown, probably just a few blocks away, to their respective favorite watering holes, wearing hats and waving noisemakers.
I flipped on the television and saw a little of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin amid the crowds and looking somewhat uneasy with each other. Other channels, including the Travel Channel, had reports of the goings-on all over the globe. I channel surfed a bit, anchored at CNN, hoping that Anderson and Kathy would find some groove they could share, but it didn't happen. All of a sudden the ball was dropping in Times Square and they were counting down until the year 2008 could be said to have begun. As soon as it happened, I caught something out of the corner of my eye -- fireworks in Jersey City!
My apartment runs east to west. That is, the east end of the apartment, my living room, in the front, faces a row of houses on the east. At the other end is the kitchen, with three big windows giving a view of the west, which is rooftops of Hoboken and the cliff with Jersey City on top. The citizens of Jersey City provide quite a pleasant fireworks display on New Year's morning. I wasn't prepared for this, but I spent some pleasant minutes taking it all in and wondering if I would be in a place where I could see this next year.
Because my furniture is here I'm showing before and after pictures of my living room, showing how well it all fits and how much comfort it gives to transport my old life to this new place. Some of you may recognize certain pieces. Maybe in 2008 you'll come to see me and see how well we're doing here.
3 comments:
The third floor appears tidy and
even roomy. Those recognizable pieces actually made the trip,I see. I sure hope the "box" men pushed them up the stairs, especially since you had to tumble bug your air bed yourself. That Jersey City will likely have fireworks for every occasion of that sort so you could make a party of it some day, either in the cool AC on the Fourth or in the warmth from the radiator on New Years. See it next year?????
Permanence is a part of me to the core, so whether you get to be THERE is sorta of a choice. The man in your garage really must have transformed you into a nomad,
but not entirely. Familiar things
are a comfort, even in the form of
favorite furnishings. And, I am sure you could get a month lease extension to see it again for 09.
Most of my existence is of a practical nature, except of course for the hack and even it too for mpg and parking ease, so, why is the screen in front of the radiator in a city where could freeze spit berfore it hits the ground? I wonder, too, why I do not see energy saving thermo-pane windows or at least storm windows in a city that
might be sorta "green", at least at the surface.
The photo shows a space able to enjoy at least ten for one of your
parties. How about a New Year party for 09?
Have you yelled out the front window yet, like Robards in "A 1000
Clowns" or Seinfeld?
Our 1-1-08 has TVs on with parades and ballgames, with greens and peas on the stove and cornbread in the making. I always try to do a bit of everything that is dear to me each new years day, a list you need not see, but the hack ride has not happened yet nor the mullet net thrown. The day is but 1/2 over, and much is left to do.
Do it your way in 08! We will.
I can't get over how much brighter your place looks with furniture. Let me know where you found it. I need some of that same brand in my place.
Even though the walls have changed, YOU seem much the same. That's a comfort to me even though you may want to be seen as changed. All things in good time. For now, the living room ambiance is a good place to start.
Opp,
Trick photography! Actually I think the time of day had something to do with that lighting effect. There's lots of natural light in this apartment, so much so that the "furnished" shot was not easy to get. Maybe it was a cloudy day in October when I got the first, "empty" pic.
As to me changing, no, that's not what I want to happen. All I've done is transfer my life to a more congenial place -- I hope. Time will tell.
Mullet Man,
I haven't yelled out the window yet, the screen was put in place to mask a really ugly radiator and it doesn't keep it from pumping out way more heat than is needed. It's helped by three more in the apartment.
As to the nomadism, the man in my garage had nothing to do with it. I consider the 19 years in Fairhope to be the aberration, even tho I lived in six different homes during that period. I had tried every neighborhood in Fairhope had to move to Hoboken to find a better one.
Which is to say, I don't expect (or want) to be in this particular apartment for the next New Year's Eve.
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