The Brooklyn Adventurer: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween

The weather in New York City has made all kinds of no sense lately. A few very short weeks ago, I was still wearing sundresses, sandals, sunglasses and straw hats. Now, I'm bundled up like that kid from "A Christmas Story," trundling down the street like a kind of marshmallow Michelin-man.

It's cold. And, it snowed! The day before, I was an unbeliever. I thought that the weathermen had gone bonkers. It was two days before Halloween there was no way in hell that it was going to snow. That just doesn't happen here. I've lived in this region of the world all of my life, and I had never seen that occur.

There was just no way.

I mean, well, except for that way. The one in that photograph. That is my subway station, well, not mine per se, but the subway station at which I generally board a train when I'm coming from my home. This photograph was taken on October 29, 2011. Yeah. Ridiculous.

Like, seriously, what the hell? This weather has me feeling all Christmassy. Christmas-like? In the Christmas spirit.

Christmas in October-

Deck the halls with snowy train tracks

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la

MTA gives you no real facts

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la

Sidewalks with deceptive puddles

Fa-la-la La-la-la La La La

Trains are down, take the free shuttles

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la

Brrrrrrr. Really?

Look at that traffic, and how it's affected by the snow/sleet/wintry mix/ hellish unfairness that's falling from the sky! You can see how deep of a puddle the white van is in- check out the splash it's creating! On a completely unrelated note, I love that lady's umbrella.

The photograph directly above is my favourite one of this snowy bunch. I already shared it on Facebook. I love the lion statue- there are two of them, one on each side of the gate, guarding the big house on the corner. So lovely. I want to live in a fortress guarded by lion statues. Not just a beautiful Brooklyn home, specifically a fortress. But, I'll settle for a house. If I have to.

PS. Sorry for the lack of posts last week. I only put stuff up twice, and neither post contained my photographs. I was busy. This week I'll be better about it :)

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Friday, October 28, 2011

Inspiration Fridays: Back to Britain

Since my parents visited England a few weeks ago, my brain has been dreaming of returning to Great Britain. I want to see more, desire to do more, and need to learn more. I want to learn everything about the culture, immerse myself in it. There is this vision I have, of me wearing a tartan scarf, eating a sausage roll, and reading Shakespeare whilst sitting in the middle of a stone circle. Call me stereotypical, but that just sounds fantastic.

Kind of like this, but with said food, book and scarf... and my face...

(This creepy effect happened and I just LOVE IT.)

But anyway, check out these other, fabulous, Britain-only things that I just can't wait to get more of! There are quite a bunch, but I've narrowed it down for the sake of brevity, and not losing readers because I've written an extensive, but contentless bit of drabble.

1. Highland Cattle

Because, Holy Cow! These things are awesome! They are also 100% real. And, in Scotland.

Animal Wallpaper

Oh my goodness.

Scotland in May

Oh My Goodness!

Highland Cattle World

They have a world??!??

Red Bubble

OHHH My GOODNESS.

Seriously, though, have you ever seen anything more fluffy and stupidly cute in your life? Best of all, these animals a freaking huge. Like taller than I am (5'3") at full height. That is so much fluff, I can't even take it.

2. Pasties, Sausage Rolls, and Meat Pies

Because what is better than meat? Meat wrapped in pastry! Pronounced pah-sty, as opposed to pay-sty... pasties (pay-sties) are things ladies wear on their nipples, especially whilst stripping. I considered putting some kind of hilarious photograph of that in this post, but, I'm at work, and even though my place of employment is an acting school, there are just some things I feel like I shouldn't have on my screen. Unlike this meaty, pastry glory...

Savory Bites

Yum.

Tastefully British

Well, yum.

The Cornish Pastry Man

Nom nom nom nom...

Unknown

So, there are Pasty STORES like this all throughout Great Britain. It's wonderful. Not all of them have meat, some have vegetables, cheeses, eggs- all kinds of delicious stuff. I'm drooling a bit just thinking about it.

3. Stone Circles

Now these are just mind-bogglingly amazing. Think about how crazy they are. Obviously, there is Stonehenge, which everyone and their mom has heard of, but there are dozens upon dozens of stone circles and other old stone structures in the UK. It's so nifty. People care so little about these things, because they are just, well, standard, that they are in the middle of parks, and even intersections. A road goes through Stonehenge. It's mind boggling. I was able to snap that photo of myself standing on an altar-like structure in the middle of one in Cardiff, and no one stopped me. No one was even around. I love this blatant love and simultaneous complete disregard for history. They have so much old stuff, the insignificant historical locations don't even matter, per se.

Channels

There's the classic. Stonehenge. It's pretty epic.

Here's one of the ones I took in Cardiff. Yes. This stone circle is smack-dab in the middle of... a traffic circle.

This is the same stone circle from the top of the page, sans moi. It's in Bute Park in Cardiff. No fence or anything. Just, you know, ancient stone circle, chillin' out.

Note: I know that stone circles exist in places other than the UK, but, the ones in the UK just rock my socks.

4. Tartans

Here, we have another specifically Scottish one for the win! Tartans! Part of my family is the Craigs, it was my grandmother's maiden name, and it is my father's middle name. If my parents had a son, they might have given him the middle name Craig as well. Though I am actually more English than Scottish (and also more German and Swiss than Scottish...) I feel a strange affinity with this part of my heritage. Not as much as my uncle Barry, who used to dress in a kilt and go to big Scottish events, but I do feel proud.

This is the Craig tartan.

Loch Carron

Family pride is kind of awesome sometimes.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Keep Calm and... Oh. Oh, Wow.

I've started to get quite a decent number of pageviews lately, which I find exciting. I'm not trying very hard to get them these days. I've always cherished each and every time someone chooses to look at this page, so thank you to all of you. An especially massive "Thank you!!" goes to my mom, Danny, and my grammy, who I know check this almost every single day. But, thank you to all of you. Without you reading, I might still be doing this, but you wouldn't be reading it!

However, lately, I've had a lot of people look at my page! Well, one page in particular. I posted an article awhile back titled "Inspiration Fridays: Keep Calm". It has become my most popular page by far. How far? In an average day, my new post will get 2-25 hits, depending on if it is any good, if I share it on Facebook etc. That post, "Keep Calm," will always get at least 40. Some days it has gotten as many as 200 hits. Holy cow! That's so many for a little blog like me! It's heartening. Though I don't write for the page hits, I still feel great when I get them.

The Keep Calm meme seems to continue to increase in popularity. Infinitely. Unfortunately, though, many of the ones out now are just not funny. Not funny at all. Some, though are absolutely flippin' hilarious, and I've found them, and put them in this post. Woohoo! Even though they are, as I said, flippin' hilarious, you will notice that they are significantly more violent than the images from my post a long while ago. I guess that says something. I don't know what it is, but it must be something. Sardonic wit? Sarcastic humor? Whatever it is... I like it.

So, in celebration, enjoy some more calm, or, well, not so calm little meme sayings.

First, we have the punniest ones...