So here's the deal.



My two-week vacation starts today. I scheduled vacay way too early because I was planning to quit my job and look for another one. So, thinking ahead, I thought I could use this time for interviews and take another vacation with the new job. But it turns out I won't be quitting. Something came up and I'm going to hang on for another year and see what happens. So here I am with all this time on my hands and no plans. My high school friends want to go to Vegas but that's not until July. And as far as I know, everybody else is working. Apparently, nobody ever schedules their vacation in May. Everybody gets a WTF look on their faces when I say I'm going on vacation.



So after much head-scratching and pondering in general, I've decided I am going to be a tourist in New York for two weeks. I'm not going to wear shorts and a sun visor but I am going to go to all the places I've always wished I'd gone to but never had the time, with a digicam slung around my neck. (Darn it, right now would be the perfect time to be Japanese.)



Today is Domestic Chores and Errands Day I. I called the gym to find out when my membership is expiring (05/28/04 according to the irritatingly perky attendant). Of course, being naturally suspicious of strangers on the phone and consumer rights-driven, I pulled out my receipt from my bedside drawer (which is a minor miracle as it's crammed full of two years' worth of receipts) and now I have written proof that my membership expires in August, and NOT in two days. So it's off to the gym tomorrow. I also scheduled my first medical check-up in three years for Friday. I did my laundry, put away most of my winter clothes, went to the supermarket and made Filipino-style spaghetti for dinner. For the uninformed, all the google searches will tell you that the secret ingredient in Filipino-style spaghetti sauce is hotdogs. In place of hotdogs I found some kosher beef franks and instead of plain ketchup, Heinz has a hot and spicy variant. Plus the Ragu I used was green-pepper-happy. So my spaghetti turned out to be a Jewish-Filipino-Mexican hybrid.



On the way to the supermarket, I dropped by the bank and found out that I have half as much money as I thought I had. So now I am a tourist on a budget. I'm thinking movies and museums. I'm thinking BAM, MOMA QNS (one whole day), Met and the museum row, Angelika, Central Park, AMMI, etc.