waiting for things to be perfect could take the other half of my life so without further ado, come and visit me over atkimberlyhuie.com
… definitely more than 8.
I’ve been brewing up a new site, and will be migrating the notes over there. If you’re curious and want to check it out, sign up below and you’ll get a notification when it’s up and running.
Thanks for being a part of the ride.
<!– Begin MailChimp Signup Form –>
<link href=”//cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-10_7.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css”>
<style type=”text/css”>
#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */
</style>
Thanks for staying curious!
- html
- text
</div> <!– real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups–>
</div>
</form>
</div>
//s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.mailchimp.com/js/mc-validate.js(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]=’EMAIL’;ftypes[0]=’email’;fnames[1]=’FNAME’;ftypes[1]=’text’;fnames[2]=’LNAME’;ftypes[2]=’text’;}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);
<!–End mc_embed_signup–>
If Tammy thought about it logically she could figure out exactly what film it was. It was definitely a comedy, something light. She could tell by the way her mom bounced when she walked. It had cheered her up. She even felt like cooking so that was an even better sign, definitely the movie had had some happy domestic scenes. Tammy couldn’t figure out what the catch phrase meant but her mom smiled whenever she said it. Tammy remembered the afternoon her mom kept throwing back her head in an exaggerated laugh at everything, equally annoying was the seventies style head scarf she insisted on wearing for a week. This was better. She heard the “Hurts good don’t it” just a second before the ceramic cup she painted in fourth grade whizzed past her temple.
8 min @ Frisson Espresso, W 47th St. NYC
excerpt from The New Yorker, February 27,2017
Well hello again. And Happy Persian New Year.
I finally visited Cafe Nadery, a Persian cafe on the borders of NYU. It’s been on my list since arriving in the city and finding it featured in The New Yorker‘s Table For Two. I never made a plan to go because I assumed it was in the neighborhood I was staying in and would stumble upon it eventually. Assumptions are troublesome where directions are concerned. I was staying on East 7th, the cafe is on West 8th.
I decided to finally check the cafe out today because it would fulfill a trifecta of things finally being accomplished, today. It began with finally seeing the film SELMA. (This post isn’t about reviewing the film or the cafe though both were positive albeit different experiences.) After buying my ticket there was a little time to kill so I went to browse a favorite used book store. It was at Alabaster Bookshop that I finally picked up a copy of HERE IS NEW YORK by E. B. White. The romantic in me wanted this ode to the city to be the first New York based book I read in situ.
It wasn’t even noon and suddenly two things were crossed off an always growing To Do list.
What I will say about SELMA is that the passion and power of Dr King’s words stirred a fire in my belly. It’s been a funky time adjusting to my newly adopted city and I’m still getting my bearings. Some days when the MTA and general bullshit get me bent I wonder why the hell I came here. Oh yeah, it’s New York.
But it’s more than the city. I’m reminded that I came with a purpose, in pursuit of a dream.
I packed up and crossed the third thing off my list. Leaving the cafe I discovered the poster for the Persian New Year celebration starting tomorrow. On the window by the door was the piece from The New Yorker. The issue date was Jan. 20, 2014. Martin Luther King Day.
Serendipity? Kismet? Coincidence?
I don’t know, but patterns are a beautiful thing.
New York. New Year. Renewed.
Aunt Gee is rare form today. Alzheimer’s is a no-win son-of-a-bitch disease. Most of the time she thinks I’m my dead brother which turns the visit into an emotional mine field for all concerned. Even the day nurse cringes visibly at our stilted exchanges. But the real challenge is when she recognizes me and tells me all the secrets my brother has recently shared with her, because apparently he visits more faithfully than I do.
“I don’t understand how a military haircut is considered fashionable. Even for a lesbian. My god you look like a cliché.”
“It’s not a crew cut Aunt Gee, it’s a faux hawk.” She’s flapping her thick-veined, thin-skinned hand at me in dismissal. I know not to agitate her further so I wait for her to make the next move.
“You know, when I die, you should use the inheritance and move to Paris. It’s the place to be if you’re to be a true artist. It’d be good for your brother too.”
8 min on the F train, 6.10.14
prompt from Hamlet by William Shakespeare
My therapist said I had to make better choices. I chose to fire her.
And I chose to go back to gluten. I wasn’t depressed because of gluten, I was depressed because I was heartbroken. Because I was heartbroken I ate too many bad pastries. I like sugar. Sugar makes me feel good. But then sometimes it makes me feel bad. Now I know there’s good sugar and there’s bad sugar, like cholesterol or men.
Now I make choices based on the long-term. I want the good feelings to last longer. The impulse danish or Dunkin’ Donut only feels food for a little while. I timed it once: twelve minutes and then I wanted another one. Twelve minutes later I just felt extra bad – and extra bloated.
I learned how to make my own bread and sugar-free muffins. I bring them to the office on Mondays. Jennifer at work doesn’t believe me when I tell her how I lost the weight. She thinks I’m being a bitch because Colin has fallen in love with my carrot cake muffins. That’s her prerogative, I didn’t start baking to woo Colin. We’re all making our own choices.
8 min on 6.3.14, in Queens
prompted from a cookie wrapper on the F train
“What do you think of the shirt?”
“It’s a nice shirt. What jacket are you wearing with it?”
“I’m not wearing a jacket.”
“It’s a big deal party Guy, you gotta wear a jacket.”
“We’re musicians. We don’t have to do jackets.”
“Are you already high? We’re not rock stars. And we’re composers not musicians. We have to wear jackets.”
“No I don’t. I knew this model once and she -”
“Wait a minute how are you just casually dropping that you ‘knew this model once’? I’ve known you fifteen years. We’re forty-something divorced guys with daughters who tolerate our presence in exchange for shopping allowance. When the hell did your path ever cross with a model?”
“Screw you Buddy. Why is it so unfathomable? I did music for a tiny show once with a model turned actress in it, she gave me a style tip that has always stood me well -”
“So technically she wasn’t a model anymore.”
8 min on the F train 6/16/14
prompted from Rock of Ages transit ad
It started as a joke, like all great traditions.
Kenny gave me the pet rock the summer of my twelfth birthday. It’s not a real trademarked one like Shauna Brayer had. It’s better. Kenny made it himself from a rock he found at his parents’ cottage. The googly eyes came unglued when I unwrapped it so we magic markered on the eyes. Royal blue and black. Kenny vetoed lashes. Giddy from the fumes we solemnly set the ground rules for my pet ownership. Every night the rock was fed a secret, whispered from Bonnie Bell slathered lips. I outgrew my addiction to sticky lips but I’ve been a diligent mama bird, sustaining domesticated granite with my every hope, wish and desire since adolescence. This rock has travelled the world and lived in three world-class cities and has kept my secrets safe and my psyche sane.
8 min on the F train 6.17.14
Prompted from seamless/ grub hub transit ad
I’m on a fast. I’m not religious, it’s like two months after Easter. I’m giving up negative thinking – it’s painful. Mostly because whenever I do have a negative thought I have to pinch myself. It’s kinda like shock therapy, I’m re-wiring my brain. The new me will be a better me. A better quality me will attract better quality people – read men.
Anyway, all the books are right – I’ve read enough of them to recognize a recurring theme. People really do show you who they are right from the start. Gregory told me it was complicated to dissolving his marriage. Of course it is when you’re not actually trying to break up. I knew Ken was bad with money when he was short for the check on our first date. He paid me back immediately from the envelope of money that was earmarked for his rent. The new and improved me won’t stick around once I recognize the tell-tale signs the story will end badly.
8 min @ Gregory’s Coffee midtown 5.31.14
prompt lifted from Reasons To Be Pretty by Neil LaBute
the middle notes 