september 8

oh, the opportunities this place provides. you know how, the other day, i was all excited about jonathan franzen's new book freedom? (i require attentive readers, people.) well, turns out it's one of the best novels i've ever read. then, in desperation today, i googled "free things to do in new york." first i learned how long ago i should have done that because there are a whole bunch of websites dedicated to helping cheap, poor bastards like me. and then i saw one of the events happening today: a franzen reading/book signing at a barnes and noble in union square. he was every bit as genius in person as he is on the page. the man had all the wit you could expect of him and was more down to earth than you'd expect from someone who just graced the cover of time magazine under the title "great american novelist." i also had the chance to see his face when someone asked if oprah had been in contact (if i haven't forced the story on you yet: franzen complained about the oprah book club logo being on his last book, the corrections, after she selected it, so she kicked him off her show). 


i also, in addition to having him sign my book, had him sign another that i hid in the philosophy section of the store, hoping some random person will happen upon it and luck out with a signed copy. of course, it wasn't quite that simple. i walked past all the security guards and employees holding my copy (bought somewhere else) and the surprise copy, and then walked back by having dropped the surprise copy and put mine in my bookbag. they eyed me a little longer than i would have liked, since i didn't really have proof my copy wasn't stolen, so i not-quite-ran out of the store before a whole awkward situation started. and only after did i realize you can't really recognize the signature as franzen's.


less excitingly, i admit, i went on a bike this morning to and around prospect park. it was all told around fifteen or twenty miles, which is by far the heftiest bike ride i've been on. it also may explain my sore legs. but, prospect park is, more or less, the central park of brooklyn. it's huge, with an ice skating, more baseball fields than i could count, tons of trails, giant fields, an amphitheater, and more. i guess you could call it beautiful, but that never seems like an apt adjective for parks to me. they seem more like a necessity to preserve some semblance of a natural life for city-dwellers. parks like this in the middle of cities bring up feelings closer to relief than awe--it fills in a void rather than creating something new. i don't mean to imply that i was disappointed with prospect park--it's quite nice--it's just that having been living here for a couple weeks has given me a new view on parks in general. i think if i were to live here long term, i'd have to make regular trips outside of city limits.


but, a secondary reason for the trip to prospect park was to see how hard a ride of that length would be. i was offered a spot on a homestead (like a farm, except they consume all they produce rather than sell it) in vermont today. this place is about sixty miles from my aunt and uncle's house in new hampshire, and i have the idea of taking a day or two to ride my bike to the homestead from there. i think it might be possible. there are a few other farms i'm talking to, so i'm not quite sure yet where i'll end up, but i'm fairly certain it will be vermont. if i do go to the homestead, it'll be living in this:

my maybe future yurt?

seems like it could be a good way to spend a few weeks, albeit completely different from the way i've been living recently.

i'll keep you all updated, but right now my veggie lasagna is calling me.