The Need to be Cultured

The Met (calling it its full name will
invite sniggering from fellow tourists that
you have just revealed your tourist
identity)

Time flies - it has been more than 7 weeks already since we landed in New York the same day the Pope left.  Am I allowed to strip off my tourist badge now?  Am I now qualified to smugly call myself a local because 1) I know which Starbucks within a 3 mile mile radius come with a bathroom 2) I no longer fluster in the train due to the fact you do not have cell phone reception while riding the subway 3) I now call my phone a cell phone 4) I now bring a book to ride the subway 5) my neighbors no longer ask me if I am friends with another Australian girl in the same building (sure - because everyone knows everyone back home)?

In truth it doesn't feel that long yet.  I think that is largely due to how warm it has been.  Apparently this has been the warmest fall in 25 years.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/fashion/fall-fashion-too-warm-to-be-cool.html?_r=0  We consider ourselves lucky because every single friend and stranger I spoke to tells me how cold winter is.  Even my SoCal BFF told me how there is no way I am going to survive the winter (instead of suggesting the purchasing of fur or 3 layers of puffer coats, she advised me to simply accept my fate and succumb to mother nature).  So at the moment I am grateful of the mildish weather - although it does mean I have been wearing pretty much the same things since August (no summer and 2 winters in a row - even Jon Snow cannot claim he has experienced the same)!

My life as a greenhorn New Yorker has settled into a routine.  And I sometimes see little things/signs that reminds me I am no longer just having a holiday here.  Some examples below:

- More than 3 types of herb!  Maple syrup! FLOUR!  (this woman must be serious about cooking)

Flour and baking power belong to
no tourist's pantry

 - If you must, the different types of hand-held dish cleaning devices cater to different scenarios: The delicate, the greasy, and the stubborn.

The luxury of having 3 types of dish washing
sponges in the sink. 

 - Getting the hang of loading up a mini dishwasher.

Tip: buy small pots.

Between various household routines, I now have the time to get myself a bit cultured.  (Cue intelligent-looking reading glasses and head-to-toe black outfits)  I signed up to Thought Gallery http://thoughtgallery.org/  which collates information on talks, seminars, and readings in NYC.

I went to a interesting 'lecture' on the book 'Witch of Lime Street' - which describes the story of magician/escape artist Harry Houdini's investigation of famous psychic Mina Crandon.  I was intrigued by the topic - it reminds me of a Japanese drama series I really liked in the early 2000s called 'Trick' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick_(TV_series).  In the show an unpopular magician and arrogant (although somewhat comical) physicist go out as a team and debunk the so-called spiritualists and their super natural phenomenon.  I expect the talk to be about similar activities but it turned out to be so much more.

What lied underneath the famous mediums, was the yearning for knowledge of the afterlife, the need to communicate with dead loved ones, after so many people lost their brothers, husbands, lovers, and sons in the war.  With the desire to believe being so strong - I imagine a lot of the mediums don't even have to be very good.  I didn't grow up in a religious family and would call myself an atheist - however the spiritual need and the curiosity of the unknown always fascinates me.  And in a way it is a reflection of human beings' love and its extension.  I have never heard of anyone wanting to speak to someone they hated or despised through a medium - it is ALWAYS a loved one.  And I do hope true mediumship really exists and perhaps one day we could ring our friends and family from our cell phones and perhaps even go like their photos on the HeavenlyFacebook .  :-)

On the other hand, was the disproving of spiritualism an act to defend science and logic, or an unspoken power play against popular female figures, or that no one shall be more famous than me?  Was this really about the fact that if I could fake it, then you must be faking it?  And it's not real unless I say it is?  Throughout the words in the book the personality of the different parties definitely show through and I guess like any other stories, there is always so much more once you dig beneath the surface.

I am half way through the book and will report back once I finish reading it (and I am still hopeful for a happy ending).  I do have a side note though.  I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago and noticed there was a vague green light in my bedroom.  I quickly poked Nelson in bed and whispered 'Wake up Nelson - there is a ghost in our bedroom'.  I geared up sufficient courage to grab my glasses and had a proper look at 'the ghost' (I tend to go straight to fight mode during a flight/fight moment - I have a good story of riding the ghost train the first time in my life, perhaps for another day) and realised I had been duped by old school trickery: the book glows in the dark!  Awesome and annoying all at the same time...

Muahahahahaha....

Apart from going to talks, I have also been enjoying visiting the many museums this city has to offer.   I love going to museums by myself:  I can take my time, set my own pace,  have 3 afternoon teas (and pretend I was only at the cafe to get a bottle of water).  The only thing I didn't like was having no one to share my (inappropriate) thoughts when I see something ridiculously interesting... which is everywhere when you are in a museum.  So here I am... sharing them with myself again (plus my international fan base out there obviously).

- At the American Museum of Natural History:

Who would have thought?!  Sea Scallops
have rows and rows of eyes.  Now that is one
creature that should not get made into bras.

Now that is something I would like for
Christmas please - a stomach bigger than myself.

After living in Australia for 16 years no
American spider is capable of making
me gasp with fear.  (pffft) Not even this
hairy dude.

You don't need a sign to tell me
they are some ugly sweaters.  See wanting to talk
to the dead I get, spending $25 on an ugly
sweater I don't get.

- At the Met (the Metropolitan Museum of Art):

Your highness, I present you the
straw flip flop Cinderella left on the stairs
last night.  

Why are slugs included as part of the
Egyptian language?  What could it possibly mean?
Perhaps to describe slimy politicians. 

If you are happy and you know it clap your hands!

My precious....

Fascinating sculpture but wow!  Kids - this is where
hamburgers and veal chops come from.

  I love what the It girls were wearing 4000 years ago.
And I am disappointed they don't sell
these in the Met shop.

The proof that Thanksgiving originated in Egypt.

If that is not a Longchamp Le Pliage
after a full day of shopping I don't know
what that is.
http://us.longchamp.com/pliage/nylon

Egyptian Smartphone cover - and judging by
where the camera is, I would say it is intended
for a Samsung Galaxy s6.

Don't mind me - I am just an innocent
baboon with princess Leia's hairdo.

Yes I definitely feel more cultured now.