Friday Lyric of the Week

"There was never any good old days
They are today, they are tomorrow
It's a stupid thing we say
Cursing tomorrow with sorrow"

From "Ultimate" by Gogol Bordello

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."
~~Galileo

Update on the Devil's Triangle

So, where exactly is this, anyway?

A couple things (based on the comments received): Yeah, I screwed up. I do know my way around town, but for some reason I confused New England Medical Center (which is in the Chinatown/South End/Theater District area) and Boston City Hospital (which is lower South End/Roxbury area, where the methadone clinic is).

And, yes, Skipton Kennels does rock! I used to take my dog there all the time for grooming. (Now he is too old to make the walk, so Simone, who is awesome and who my dog adores, picks him up.) And, no, I never did get lost and head over to Chinatown on my way there.

Regarding the liquor store, I don't know about a Liquormart, but maybe he meant Liquor Land. They used to be on Harrison Ave, but are now around the corner at 1033 Mass. Ave. (I called them just to make sure.) So, technically, these three places--Rosie's, the methadone clinic, and the liquor store--still define a specific area that can be described (as the residents apparently do) as a triangle that keeps away developers and multimillion-dollar homeowners who don't want these kinds of institutions in their backyards. Which is perfectly fine for those who just want a place to live.

Affordable rents in Boston

They do still exist, if you know where to look. And if you aren't that fussy about who your neighbors are.

This guy at a cafe I frequent in the South End (where the best descriptor for the few low-rent apartments I've heard is: You get what you pay for, but you don't pay much) was talking about his apartment. He lives closer to downtown, in a neighborhood that is a crossroads for the South End, Chinatown, and the Theater District.

He was saying that, even though there were million-dollar condos nearby, his block was pretty safe: "Within walking distance there's Rosie's Place, the methadone clinic, and Liquormart. The Devil's Triangle. My rent will never go up."

Friday Lyric of the Week

"If I'm that far gone there's nowhere else to go.
I hope that it's only amnesia, believe me I'm sick but not insane.
I hope that it's only amnesia, my friends they don't look at me the same."

~~From Pousette-Dart Band's "Amnesia"

Tuesday Quote of the Week

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."
~~Henry Longfellow

New York moment

So, the other other day I had to spend the night in New York and stayed at this hotel in the upper East Side.

I had a late dinner at the hotel restaurant and stuck around at the bar for a little while...the conversations were just too good to up and leave, and I wasn't in a rush.

It was a local crowd. First we talked about eyebrow grooming. (I am oftentimes amused at the conversations that seem to fall in my lap.) The bartender, a man, was explaining eyebrow threading, which apparently is about the same painwise as tweezing, but a lot quicker. I had never heard of it. The other guy who was there and I both were champions of the tweezer method. All three of us were in agreement, however, on waxing. The threading guy had tried it. I've had it done elsewhere on my body and can think of better things to do. That seems painful and risky...I mean one false move and there goes an eyebrow. For the record, I can't imagine I'd try the threading thing, either.

The conversation eventually meandered around to the different boroughs of New York. The consensus amongst those present (besides me) was that Brooklyn was for lost souls, Queens was for families (or at least family-oriented), and the Bronx was a place where if you were born there you loved it and would probably die there. The woman who was there, who had been out on a cigarette break during the whole eyebrow conversation, said that she had lived in Brooklyn for a couple of years, until her father told her about the whole lost souls thing, so she moved. I don't know...I never listened that closely to my parents, but who's to say that's a good or a bad thing.