SIN

Ok, I probably have about seven minutes to write this, given the inner baby sleep clock I’ve developed.

 
- Alice said "da da" while looking and waving at M. She said it with intent, and purpose. It was definitely different from the usual baby talk. It was magical. It actually felt like magic.

- Last week, I had a meeting with a media company about some past work. I can’t really say which one, except lets call them SIN. They have a Yes/No list that’s pretty infamous. Skaters. Extant photography. Anyway, they wanted to ask me about research I had done in the past for a segment they’re working on for their video department.

I travel to Brooklyn, have trouble finding the place, and then finally see a white bunker with SIN stenciled on the top of an outer wall. Lean people in meticulous clothes - red hightops, mini skirts, hot pink lipstick, button-ups buttoned all the way to the top - wander in and out. I meet the three people I’ve been in communication with, and they take me to a coffee shop/bar across the street. “Yeah we just bought it,” one tells me.

they gave me a tour of their space. Glass-walled offices for the big wigs. White brick, open space, rows and rows of writers at laptops at long, trough-like tables handling the editorial content of the magazine and webpage. A hallway of 18 editing suites for their video content. It was good to see. I’m so used to hearing about bad news from media companies - some are thriving.

-We moved into our new home! a one bedroom in an apartment building owned by Columbia. It’s lovely – huge, open space, large dining room, molding on the walls and along the doors, hardwood floors. And AC, blessed, blessed AC. I love it. They’re going to kick us out once M’s done his degree, so will enjoy it while it lasts, or I'll apply to get my Ph.D in... something.  We’re still not unpacked as we’re waiting for a bunch of furniture to come in (Saturday!). Boxes everywhere. Alice loves it, holding herself up on them, reaching for the next stack. We live in a sprawling baby gym.

We’re a short-ish walk to Central Park, the delis make ok-priced full dinners, and the Seindfeld restaurant is right around the corner. Although, while we were having lunch the other day, an older server loudly berated the others for about 20 minutes for talking, for using the restroom, for standing.  And M kept making that Seindfeld noise. Reasons enough not to go back.

There’s also a public library right next door, which I’m excited about. But I’ve already shamed myself there: In the kid’s corner, there was this smaller room with its door closed. I looked through the window, and saw kids playing, and so thought, hey, a kids room. I walk in with Alice, and someone barks “Close the door behind you!” I sit down with Alice, and am showing her the toys ect and start a conversation with a Jamaican nanny. And then I notice all 10 of them are Jamaican nannies, a few of which are giving me weary looks. Wow, Jamaican childcare must be prevalent in NYC, I think. Then someone says, “Ok, time to collect the toys, time to clean up.” So I help them clean up a little, then say goodbye to the woman I was talking to. Outside, a few other nannies are waiting to get into the room. Why don’t they just walk in? I wonder and then finally realize, that was a private party. Those women, who are probably a group of friends, booked that room, and I totally sauntered in and crashed their weekly play date. Explains why some of them were smirking.