Shooting Stars and Flowers Coming My Way

At the beginning of September, I moved out of my apartment and home to live with my parents because there was mold growing on a bunch of my clothing in my apartment, and that mold made my lips swell and gave me hives and sent me to an emergency room.
About six weeks later, someone decided it would be fun to vandalize [albeit mildly] my car, and I spent a considerable amount of time and energy and a small (though not negligible) chunk of change buying a new mirror for my car and getting it fixed.
Then last week, I see that I've gotten at least one, and maybe two, incredibly harsh evaluations from people I worked with on my Pediatrics rotation, the rotation in which I worked harder than ever before, yet got a few evaluation scores lower than I'd ever received before.
And today, I hear that it's a very real possibility that someone got ahold of my social security number, somehow, and is actively using it to commit, you know, tax fraud.
The world is doing a GREAT job of sending shooting stars and flowers in my direction. If President Obama does not win the election tomorrow, I may be forced to give up on everything. I cannot catch a break.

Jury Duty = Staycation

Early last summer, when people were just beginning to realize that the economy was very bad, indeed, the term "staycation" came into vogue, showing up in the features sections of all sorts of newspapers. In a staycation, the articles explained, one explores everything one's own city has to offer in the way of culture and entertainment, thus simulating a vacation without having to pay for travel or a hotel stay. When I went to Chicago with a few girlfriends at the end of last May, I really enjoyed exploring that city's parks and museums and architecture, and told myself repeatedly that I would put together a Houston staycation once I got home, encompassing parks and museums and other landmarks. As is typical for me, I never turned my thoughts into action. And then fate stepped in.

Some time last fall, I received a summons for federal jury duty. Have never actually served on a jury before, and using the pop cultural reaction to jury duty as a guide, I was most displeased. I couldn't get out of it, though, so last Monday, I reported to the federal courthouse in downtown Houston--and got selected for the 14-person jury out of 42 possible candidates. Just my luck that the lawyers didn't think I'd be biased, right? Jury duty itself hasn't been nearly as much of a drag as I had anticipated; the other jurors are pretty amusing middle-aged people (12 of them women, including me, and 2 of them men), and there's never a dull moment in the jury room. The courtroom gets very cold and sometimes boring, though, and actually being a juror, ie having to decide on a person's guilt or innocence, is not an easy thing--and is actually much more trying than one might imagine.

For reasons somewhat unbeknownst to me, we tend to have many lengthy breaks during any given day, during which the lawyers work their lawyerly magic or shout at each other or something. These breaks give us jurors a chance to thaw out, (see above for reference to the courtroom's cool temperature) and have also given me a chance to check out the sights around the courthouse. There are two parks within two blocks of the federal building, and a third not four more blocks away. City hall is two blocks away, and the Central Houston Public Library one block beyond that. The library is particularly impressive: three floors high, an entire section devoted to foreign-language books, another to music, and displays of new books everywhere! I don't have a Houston public library card, but I might have to get one some time in the next four years just so I can take advantage of that sweet library. I'm hoping to explore the area a bit more tomorrow, including the tunnel system under the Bank of America building that contains restaurants, (I can now put names to a lot of the buildings I've admired in our skyline! How cool is that?) the entertainment complex Bayou Place, (which includes the Verizon Wireless Theater, where I saw Imogen Heap perform in concert less than two weeks ago) and the Hobby Center vicinity. Additionally, I drive through the quirky Montrose area on my way into downtown, and have pinpointed a number of restaurants, coffee houses, and possible study locations to explore at my leisure over my next four years in medical school.

Moral of the jury duty story: Life is exciting when one makes it seem so.

Now You're in New York

Just because I haven't blogged about my India trip as promised (so much for putting pressure on myself; who was I kidding? Seriously, though, I will blog about it. Someday.) doesn't mean I can't write about the trip I'm currently on: visiting a friend from high school (and middle school) in New York City for a week! I was really excited when I first scheduled the trip, and I'm still definitely happy to be here, but upon consideration, I've decided that my trip here is too long: it spreads out the excitement a bit too thinly. Additionally, going to a tourist mecca like New York and staying with someone for whom this is just home dissipates a bit of the excitement of being in said tourist mecca. Still, I'm enjoying myself here, and have seen some wonderful things. For which reason I'm writing this post. So here we go:

The first night I was here (Monday), my friend and I had dumplings in Chinatown for dinner, which was pretty delicious. We then had our obligatory bubble tea and then sat around her apartment for a while before getting dolled up for a [Monday] night on the town! It was the birthday of two of my friend's friends, so we went to an Asian-themed bar called Forbidden City, where I imbibed a little. One of my drinks, called the Red Lotus, is pictured below. It had a lychee at the bottom!

The next day was cold and rainy, so we spent it inside at the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

This place is GORGEOUS, top to bottom. Beautiful architecture, amazing detailing in the ceilings and walls and everywhere, and the art is to die for. I really enjoyed this day, but by the time we got back to Katherine's apartment cold and a little wet, all I wanted to do was curl up with a movie and take-out, so we did just that: Thai food and The Time Traveler's Wife, which was a nice chick flick.

Katherine was busy the next day, so I ventured out into the city by myself. I was a bit nervous, but with the expert advice of hopstop.com, which gives public transit directions for many cities, I got to and from the New York Public Library, which took my breath away repeatedly with its sheer beauty, safely. The library is celebrating its centennial next year, so the front of it was covered in drapes while it was being cleaned, as a result of which I couldn't get a great shot of it. Notice in the picture below, though, the lion (one of two) in front of the steps leading up to the library. Mayor LaGuardia (whose namesake is one of the two airports here in NYC) named them Patience and Fortitude, because he thought those were the qualities New Yorkers would need to survive the Great Depression. I spent the majority of my afternoon in the library, part of it on a free public tour, and part of it just walking around and marveling. Trust me: there was much at which to marvel. Beautiful!

Thursday afternoon (we've been skipping breakfast altogether and starting our days around lunchtime), Katherine and I went to SoHo, a district known for shopping and food (sounds like a lot of other districts...). We ate fusion dosas (Indian rice crepes, often stuffed with curried potatoes) at Hampton Chutney Co. I wasn't terribly impressed with the food, but it was an interesting experience nevertheless. We then browsed the stores in SoHo. I bought a slightly unnecessary shirt at H&M, but not much else.
We swung by NYU, Katherine's alma mater, and Washington Square Park on our way back to her apartment. The park is really beautiful, with the gorgeous arch depicted below being the standout feature. Similar to our tradition with the Sallyport at Rice, students at NYU aren't supposed to walk under the arch in Washington Square Park at all until they've graduated. Katherine and I walked under it together, officially marking her graduation from NYU!

Special note: outside of Washington Square Park is one of my favorite things, so far, in this city: A DOSA CART! Two men stand there and whip up masala dosas (as I mentioned before, that is an Indian rice crepe stuffed with curried potatoes). I haven't tried out the cart yet, but I plan to before I head back home.

Next on our trip back to her apartment was the Strand, a bookstore the logo of which is very recognizable (red oval, white lettering, says "The New York City Strand: 18 Miles of Books"). This place had TONS of books, and as I was browsing the fiction stacks, I realized that they probably carried one of my favorite books that was stolen along with the rest of the contents of my friend's gym bag when I let her borrow it. So I asked the friendly people who worked there if they carried The Tale of Murasaki and they sure did! This was probably my favorite purchase so far of the trip. = )

Thursday night I had the best burger ever at the Shake Shack, located in Madison Square Park. This thing didn't have a veggie patty; instead, it contained a portobello mushroom coated in cheese...and deep fried. Sounds horrible for your health, and probably is, but it's also incredibly tasty. The Shake Shack also has great custard desserts called Concretes, because they're theoretically thick as concrete. They start with a normal flavor of custard, and you get to choose your "mix-ins." Amazing! Go here when you come to NYC.
Katherine was also busy on Friday, so I spent the afternoon (which started out so hot I really thought I would melt) in Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Here are the obligatory shots of the billboards and digital displays of Times Square:

I explored the flagship Toys'R'Us, which has an actual ferris wheel contained within the store. Kind of amazing. My favorite part of the store, though, was the public restroom on the top floor. I was beginning to get desperate when this one came into view. Yay for Toys'R'Us. I also explored the M&Ms store (three floors of merchandise dedicated to M&Ms! Amazing), which put the nearby Hershey's store (one floor and tiny) to shame. The other stores I visited (Gap, American Eagle) were not quite as impressive. I caught a glimpse of the inside of the under-construction flagship Forever 21, and it was CAVERNOUS. I actually thought I was confused for a second and was looking into an under-construction hotel lobby. That's how huge it was. I wish it had been open while I was in Times Square...

It took me a while to find Rockefeller Center, but with the help of the handy dandy map I procured at the visitor's center in Times Square (go there when you're here, too; it's useful for good maps), I eventually got there. Back in 2006 when I visited NYC with my family, my Dad and I woke up at 5 AM or so on two consecutive mornings in order to be part of the crowd that cheers during the Today Show. This show was a big part of my life growing up. I would wake up to the opening strains of the theme song every morning during middle school, and I almost always watched it in the mornings before going to school. I'm not as into it anymore (Katie Couric is gone, and she was my childhood idol!), but it still holds a special place in my heart, as does Rockefeller Center. So it was fun being there and just looking around. Also enjoyable is the NBC experience store, which contains memorabilia for tons of NBC shows, from The Office to Saved by the Bell to Friends to The Today Show. Check out the clearance section! Here's a shot of me in front of Rockefeller Plaza. I look a little dumb, but I guess that's okay. It was still very sunny and pretty hot at the time:

And that has been my trip so far. Think of this as my halfway-done report. I still will have to blog about today (Saturday), Sunday, and Monday. Sneak preview: today we saw the financial district in downtown Manhattan, and tomorrow we're seeing an off-Broadway play: Avenue Q! Exciting!

Note: Post title lifted from, of course, "Empire State of Mind."