5.22.2007

Batman, Groceries, Apartments and My Bad Attitude (Day 23)

First, I'm sure you'll all notice that the featured picture this week is not of my standard black and white variety. As I wrote about the other day, one of the few comic book heroes I do get geeky over is Batman, and in case you hadn't heard, the sequel to 2005 Batman Begins entitled The Dark Knight comes out next July (2008). This time around the Joker is being portrayed by Heath (yes, Brokeback Mountain) Ledger, and it appears from the photo I'm featuring - which is legit, I assure you - that director Christoper Nolan is giving the fans what they want: a more violent, and sinister looking Joker with a cut-smile look about him.

If the newest Batman saga interests you, I suggest the following links:

Batman On Film (News)
The Dark Knight
I Believe In Harvey Dent
I Believe in Harvey Dent Too (not down, click and drag over the entire page).

On to more things about New York...

I went grocery shopping yesterday and ended up spending about $45 which got me one steak, four pork chops, a bunch of asparagus, a 12 pack of diet coke, a four pack of sugar free Red Bull, one roll of paper towels, one frozen pizza, one carton of Breyer's ice cream, and one bottle of store brand chocolate syrup (sometimes when I'm feeling like a ten year old, I crave chocolate milk - it's so good.)

I suppose meat generally costs a bit, and the four pack of Red Bull was around eight bucks, but yesterday was the first time I left the grocery store feeling like I had gotten ripped off. I had three bags of groceries and had spent $45 without even really putting a full, normal meal together. I shouldn't complain too much, though, as my job affords me the opportunity to take home a variety of leftover lunch items. Still, it's hard getting used to how quickly money can be spent in this city.

Another thing I'm getting used to is apartment hunting. Today a girl from work invited me to take a look at a room she's vacating in her apartment. We set up a time, cleared it with her other roommate (with whom I'd be living with) and by the time I was leaving work to check out the apartment, someone else had beaten me to it. It seems like the best way to get a place around here is to either A) use a broker, who will charge you service fees, or B) know someone who knows someone who knows someone... I've been looking on craigslist, and have some feelers out with other friends, but if anyone in the New York area knows of anything, please let me know.

I'm also starting to wonder if maybe my "inner New Yorker" is starting to come out. Over the weekend I vented to Josh and Cait about my pet peeve of people walking with no sense of speed or purpose and they commented in the same way my mother had last week. At work I've also started to notice that I have no patience for customers who are rude to myself, other employees or other customers.

Just today I was taking an order form someone and a woman behind me kept interrupting saying "excuse me" over and over. I turned to her and told her that I was helping someone else and would be right with her. She then complained that she had been given the "wrong kind of lid" (flat lid instead of a bubbled sip lid) and would now spill her coffee everywhere. I explained that we had run out of the kinds of lids she was referring to, and that a new order was coming soon. To be honest though, I learned how to drink a drink without spilling it when I was a child - I feel bad for people whose life experience was such that it didn't lend them an opportunity to learn such a basic fucking life skill. From the way my original customer rolled his eyes towards Miss Can't-Drink-A-Drink, I can see I'm not the only one feeling bad for her.

Finally, I was given a free pair of Yankees tickets by Bank of America for reopening my accounts in New York (no Mom, this doesn't mean you don't have to send me my debit card - please send it quickly!) I debated the reopening process for a few minutes but then decided I can always close one set of accounts, and the free Yankees tix were worth it, as I feel I should see Yankee Stadium. It's bleacher seats, but I'll probably have the opportunity to move to better seats. If anyone wants to go see the Yanks play the Blue Jays in late September, I've got an extra ticket.