Traffic in Astoria

So, as I was walking home from the train, I noticed that all of the cars on 21st Street at the intersection of Astoria Park South were running the red light. After a minute or so of observation it became apparent that the traffic signal was broken; 21st Street was red and Astoria Park South was green and that was it. No change.

Now, this is a problem for several reasons. First, the potential for a vehicular collision was high. Duh. Second, that corner is the corner of a park. There are KIDS TRYING TO CROSS THE STREET, KIDS RIDING BIKES ACROSS THE STREET, and KIDS PLAYING NEAR THE STREET. Enormous potential for splatter and death. Third, the adult pedestrians (including me) aren't aware of what's going on because it's not apparent until you take a moment to watch and figure it out. If you're walking and talking on your cell you for sure won't notice what's going on until the cars are on top of you.

I called 311. They said that it would be TWO HOURS before the signal could be fixed. I called 911 to ask for someone to come and direct traffic four times. FOUR. TIMES. The cops came twice and drove away. What? The? Fuck?

I couldn't leave. O, my overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Another pedestrian put on his Good Samaritan hat and walked into the middle of the intersection to direct traffic, brave soul. Now I really couldn't leave.

All told, I was out there for an hour. When the Traffic Signal Repair Guy got there he said that the problem was Con Edison. The signals weren't getting enough voltage to work properly. So, he made them flash red on one side and yellow on the other. He also gave me his orange vest for the G.S. and I took it out to him.

When it was all over, G.S., T.S.R.G., and I parted ways. But I took some photos:

Coda: G.S. makes his living as a conductor.

Cake Wins a Prize

For Most Sociable Pirate Attack on a Nun. Guess which nun she attacked...

Literature

This is, perhaps, the most alarmingly funny writing I've read on teh interweb. Although new articles are not being published, there's an archive.

More Up Our Aftermath

NewsFlash

I've also apparently won First Runner-up for Most Individual Sponsors Online. Thank you, everyone, for supporting me!

Up Our Aftermath

So, last night I left early (9:00 p.m.-ish) because I was TIRED. SO. TIRED. There was a party and a ceremony post-bowling, at which awards were given out. And I won two: Best Personal Web Page Design and Most Self-Deprecating Bowler! NunCaptain Megan was kind enough to collect them and just handed them to me. Hooray!

Classical Action's Up Our Alley 9

I participated in Up Our Alley, a bowl-a-thon in support of Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS. My team, Spare Angelica, from OPERA America, raised some serious funds for the fight against AIDS and bowled our little hearts out.

Thanks so much to everyone who generously supported me:

Mark! Cthulhu Alpert
Mark!'s parents, Eva and Everett Alpert
Stephen & Justine Antopol
Bob Bertrand
Roger Claman
Dave DelGrosso
Cake Louise Ehle
Peter Finder
Jenna Freedman
Elisabeth V. Gehrlein
Estelle 'Stella' Gomez
Leslie Graham
Tabitha Hanslick
Jean K. Hines
Diana Hossack
President George Jacobstein, Rose Brand
Matthew Kirby-Smith
Justin Mazzoni & Amy Delvecchio
Sally McElwain
Peter Monahan
Kelley Rourke
Lauren, David, Chloe, Nealie, and Caitlin Silverstein
Julia Tell
Keri Thibodeau
Waddy Thompson
Abigail Trarbach
Stephanie Tzall
Sreesha Vaman

And check out the photos on Flickr.

Nancy Pearl

On Thursday, May 31, Mark! and I went to the Forest Hills branch of the Queens Library to hear Nancy Pearl talk about her new book, Book Crush. It's Book Expo weekend and there are tons of big names in town right now. Somehow, someone at the Forest Hills branch finagled a visit from Nancy Pearl during all of this excitement. She was totally fabulous. She is an excellent speaker; she must have given this book tour talk a million times so far and she's still so excited to share her thoughts with us that everything she says feels fresh. Mark! and I sat in the front row; when she brought up Robin McKinley's Sunshine and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, she immediately responded to my excitement. She cared! She gave a shit about me being excited about books! What a wonderful lady.

And I took some photos:


Nancy Pearl is coming to town!


Alexa and Nancy


And, as a bonus for you, my faithful readers, here's a photo from when I met Andrew Vachss, the author of the Burke novels, on September 12, 2006:



Andrew Vachss at the Astor Place Barnes and Nobles