Devil on One Shoulder, Angel on the Other

Friday night meal out, the reward for a long work week.  The choice usually leans toward comfort food.  The other consideration yesterday was the Spring balminess, the desire to eat outside, join the crowds at the sidewalk eateries.  Except upon emerging from the subway close to home, it was around 10:30 at night and not quite as warm as it had been during the day.  Hunting around, Dorrian's beckoned, because it was open late, and mainly because the windows were wide open - for that mix of being inside while still getting a good dose of the outside.

Somewhat limited veggie options, but enough to cobble together a meal.  Devil choice: Loaded nachos - just with beans.  Angel choice: Kale Caesar salad.  Balance, in all areas.

Race to the Primaries ...

... the Hickenlooper edition.

All work, no play makes Jungle Girl a dull, grumpy, dissatisfied woman.  So it's nice when every so often work and play intersect, or, at least when work makes room and sanctions some non-work, even if it's not exactly play.

The current BigLaw firm (Jungle Girl's third as an attorney, fourth as an employee, so let's call it hereafter Firm4th - yup, a dorky little nod to Bluebooking) has decided to host a series of town halls for any Presidential candidate willing to come.  It is nonpartisan, being billed as helping us lawyers to better undertake our duty of civic engagement.  Although, pragmatically, this time around, that means Democratic primary candidates.  So Jungle Girl took advantage and went.

First up was John Hickenlooper.  A genial enough fellow.   Seems he sells himself as a pro-business, middle of the road unifier.  His policy leanings seem moderate.  Fine enough.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Jungle Girl here is a big believer in "extracurriculars" - affinity groups, recruiting, volunteering.  Makes for a more satisfied worker bee.  Jury is out on whether a more productive one, given that some time is necessarily diverted from pure legal work, but the value of psychological health at work is not to be underestimated.  Long hours take their toll, diminishing returns set in.  Still trying to work out what the optimal combinations are.  One day, probably on the cusp of retirement, ironically, all will be revealed - just when it's too late to make a difference... (fn 1).

Fn 1.  A repeat of the law school note taking experience (looping back to the art of Bluebooking) - it wasn't until third year that Jungle Girl finally perfected a highlighting and tabbing system, and then pfft, graduation.  It would have been nice to pass that along to someone else, but note taking is so personal a system (fn 2).

Fn 2.  Apparently lawyerly note taking is a hot topic these days.  Huh.  Take an ordinary, commonplace, common sense practice,  try to burn down the house.  That's the whole approach of the Administration encapsulated right there.

Log Flume Weekend

Thusly labeled because it was a roller coaster, but wet and wild.

Sissy had a flood in her apartment from a toilet that overflowed, in a big way.  Two inches of standing water found their way out of the bathroom to the lowest point of the apartment in the middle of the studio (who knew?), running for 7 hours, down to affect three other apartments [Edit: five other apartments - sigh].  Kick in the gut, but also a kick in the rear - maybe - for her.

Test of insurance and liability coverage too - that's why premiums get paid, right?  So that headaches like this can be delegated away to folks who make it their business to deal with it and fix it.  Only so much bandwidth and patience to go around for this mess; dealing with the aftermath has largely been delegated to Sissy.  This Jungle Girl needs to keep the ship afloat and keep the bills paid. Balance.

And part of that bslancing meant keeping a date with the parentals to go view cherry trees on Roosevelt Island during its Cherry Blossom Festival.  Necessary extrication from the headache.  Sissy felt duty-bound and guilty, so she stayed behind to run interference with the neighbors and water.  Her choices; understandable self-flagellation - not encouraged, but understood.  But we can't all get mired into that cesspool, lest the world stop spinning.

So the rest of us went to Roosevelt Island.  As did the entire city, it seemed.  A perfect storm of beautiful weather and free Instagrammable event.  The staff was overwhelmed.  The infrastructure was overwhelmed.  There was a logjam just leaving the subway.  It truly felt the urban jungle, in all the worst ways.  So often the city feels that way these days, propelling to the front doubt about the choice to eke out a life here.

Once free of the bottleneck, though, it was lovely.  A reminder that oases exist (when metaphors get mixed).

Mural across from the tram station. 

Cherry trees on Roosevelt Island, looking toward Manhattan. 

Double rainbow looking north out of the Orifice.  After log flume weekend.

"Zoo York"

Borrowing the title from Azi Paybarah, who coined it in the "New York Today" column of the New York Times - giving a little taste of the "jungle" part of the Urban (Terrace) Jungle.  It's what passes for tales of wildlife in these parts.

Scroll down to enjoy the "Zoo York" part of the column!

Greening of a Roof

Not nearly as well publicized as it should be, the Javits Center has a green roof!  From the new "orifice" back in mid-February, the view was all brown.  But slowly, slowly ....

How fabulous it would be if it turns out those succulents actually flower and will develop more color!  Awaiting to see....

Postscript: There are tours to get up close and personal!  And, apparently, it's not such a big secret to CBS viewers.  Learn something new every day!

Spring in the Office

One of the amenities of the new "orifice" at Hudson Yards is a dining terrace off the "restaurant" (a.k.a. the cafeteria).  Today was the first day this year and since the move that was warm enough to go out and make use of it.  Not a very large space, but lovely view.  It will do.

A little respite amid too-long days.  Balance. 

So Much Spring!

Lovely day, and Mother Nature just beckoned.  Indoor cleaning did not.