Part Street-Magic, Part Con-Artist

I saw this a few weeks ago on Wise Bread, and wanted to share it. Remember "These are not the 'droids you're looking for" from ol' Ben Kenobi in Star Wars? Well, Derren Brown is the real deal. I'm not sure what to make of it, but it's interesting. Either way, a hustle this good would have to be showcased in NYC.

The link below contains another video, though I'm not completely convinced. BTW, I finished the first paragraph before finishing the second video -- I guess he's seen Star Wars once or twice as well!


Wise Bread: Mind control guru can pay with blank sheets of paper.

Yankees Game Upset

DW and I went to the game on Friday night. We had bought tickets to see the Yanks at Tampa Bay while we'll be down there and saw that tickets for the Mets/Yankees game were on sale. Assuming they'd be sold out, we tried. Sure enough, they were there and we got great seats! Four rows in! Take a look!


Oh, wait... that was the Mets / Diamondbacks game that we were given great seats for. Four rows off the field. Here are the seats we got Friday, also four rows in:

Yeah, bad seats on paper, but we would never care. Baseball is baseball, and there really aren't any bad seats in Yankee Stadium. We can now attest to this. ;) It is a hike up to the section, but you can still watch all the action pretty clearly.

Since we were really psyched to see a fun, "premium" game, we came ready to cheer on our boys. Of course, when the visiting team can come via subway so can all of its fans. And they did. It started out good natured enough, but took a turn for the mean-spirited really fast. We cheered, they hissed, they scored, we got to take all of the verbal abuse.

While our failure to perform didn't help curtail the smack-talk, we were surrounded by some really arrogant and obnoxious Mets fans. I would expect this kind of banter at a Red Sox game, but we're New York vs. New York already! Where's the respect for the big apple? To top it off, I was sitting next to an 11-year-old who kept yelling in his manliest pre-pubescent squeal, "Stop it! Stop it! This isn't your house! Be quiet!!" Oh, the memories of being a child dorkus.


We did win the next two games so I should really get over it. DW hopes the Mets fans will have learned their lessons, and become more respectful and responsible citizens. I, on the other hand, hope someone spilled mass amounts of beer on them and their dumb smug smirks. But that's just me.

100 things about me (part II of IV)

What a crazy week!

Friday: 7am at Laguardia for a school tech fair
Saturday: 8am in LIC for school robotics competition
Saturday night: Rent a car, drive to Long Beach Island, NJ
Sunday: Play on the beach on LBI, drive back to NYC...

Today after school we're watching our friends' son for the evening. It's been a busy, but fun weekend. As a Long Islander, I'm legally supposed to scoff at New Jersey. As a New Yorker, I'm socially supposed to ignore it. That being said, I publicly admit that it was a beautiful trip, with much more nature than loading docks to admire. Egrets, hawks and marshy estuaries seemed to abound. The house we stayed at was a 15-second walk to the ocean. Here's the beach at 5am:


Here is the next batch of my neuroses.

1. Recent pet peeve #1: Pump soap that has been watered down instead of replenished.
2. Recent pet peeve #2: People who think pressing both the up and down buttons for the elevator will speed up their trip
3. My first job was a delivery boy for (Thursday local paper) The Long Island Advance.
4. I worked weekends at a seafood store when I was about 13, gutting fish for 10 hours a day.
5. I didn't drink until I was 21.
6. The first beer I bought was just after I turned 21 (a Guiness for an Irish stew recipe)
   
7. I made up for lost time during my mid-twenties.
8. I recently shaved my head instead of waiting 25 minutes for a haircut.
9. At MSG, I've seen Billy Joel twice, and Simon and Garfunkel twice.
   
10. I've seen Weird Al in concert, and considered going again this summer.
11. I went to my first Yankees game this year, and at least two more are upcoming (one at Tampa Bay)
12. We sat down the row from some weirdo banging on a frying pan. (DW banged Freddy's pan before she met me.)
13. I can drive a manual stick and ride a bike, but I can not sail a boat.
14. I love puzzles, riddles and drinking-game-type group games.
15. I never know how best to help a homeless person on the street.
16. I love to travel outside the US.
17. I love being a tourist in NYC.
    
18. I love helping lost tourists in NYC.
    
19. I don't know how to choose steaks, shirts or Indian food.
20. I don't keep a sketchbook anymore, but I'm not quite sure why.
21. I don't play the guitar anymore, but I'm not quite sure why.
22. I'm a snob about paper quality and art materials.
23. I enjoy programming, though I don't do it at a very advanced level.
    
24. I'm a decent speller but sloppy typist.
25. My shortcuts are rarely shorter.

The Devil already has you!

There's a store at my corner that I prefer not to frequent because a) they're expensive, and b) I'm convinced it's a drug front. But when I want a few beers and I'm feeling particularly lazy, I bite my moral bullet and head over.

I was on my way to the Chirping Chicken for a very unhealthy dinner. It used to be delicious, now it's just okay -- service and quality has decreased since "the chicken crossed the road". But I wanted some good eats for the Yanks game, and I was too lazy to cook. I thought I'd pick up a few beers on the way.

I walk in to the corner store and there's a small woman, either intoxicated or homeless (maybe both) yelling at the two store owners. I try to keep my eyes on the prize (Stellas and a couple of "interesting somethings" for DW), but this woman is making quite a commotion in this always empty store.

"I'm not stealing! I'm not stealing! I'm a good person! You're the bad person! You call the cops, you can call the cops because I'm already leaving. I hate you, and you're going to Hell! The devil already has you and you're going to hell! But not you," signaling the other man behind the counter, "you're a good man. But you, you're going to Hell!"

She popped her head in a few more times to inform my cashier of his looming damnation, while I paid $10 for 4 bottles. Charging $2.50 a bottle should be a deadly sin in itself.