Curbside treasure hunting begins

I had celebrity encounter number two last night. Okay, maybe semi-celebrity? Associate of celebrity?

Donnell Rawlings, of the currently defunct Chapelle’s Show, heckled my roommate and I incessantly at a comedy night on the Upper East Side. We were sitting up close, so what could we expect? Chen felt he was too vulgar, and he said she was studying him too hard. He teased me about all the attractive female teachers having affairs with underage male students. I actually get that a lot. It gets old.

The second comedian was funnier. He’s been on Comedy Central quite a bit, but I have no idea what his name is. He apparently taught biology in an inner-city school, so he kept looking at me and talking about teaching: “I taught biology in an inner-city school. I had this one kid come up to me before finals and say, ‘If you don’t pass me, I’m going to stab you in the heart with a pencil.’ I told him that if he could manage to bring a pencil to class AND successfully locate my heart, I’d give him an A.” Ha, ha, sigh.

After waiting for over an hour and a half for the show to start (it is advertised for the wrong time) and warding off one deluded, unattractive dweeb, Chen and I headed home in a cab…driven by an American. I didn’t know that Americans who speak English could be cab drivers! He was a good-natured guy who calls himself the last of the Mohicans. When he dropped us off, he said, “It’ll take you ten years before you ever see another American driving a taxi, girls!”

Tonight Chen and I went to Lincoln Center “Out of Doors” to watch the Fly Dance Company, a breakdancing crew from Houston. I love breakdancing. It’s so physical, beautiful, and fun. The Fly Guys breakdance to hip hop, classical, doo wop, and even salsa music. The meshing of extremely different art movements and cultures was jarring at first, but very unique. I loved the show. Afterwards, Chen and I got sorbet at Haagen Dazs and oozed down the sidewalks to our apartment.

It’s so muggy and gross in the city right now. I’ve been spending the days working in my classroom and getting school supplies. There’s no air conditioning currently being turned on at the school, and I’m beginning to worry that perhaps the school doesn’t have air conditioning. (I haven’t wanted to seem like the Texas Pollyanna just yet by asking about that…or whether or not the school has a laminating machine). The room is coming along at a snail’s pace, because there’s so much I can’t get done yet. Tomorrow I hope to get bookcases to put together a classroom reading nook.

Oh, yes, something else exciting. I’m officially a New Yorker, because I have taken someone else’s discarded furniture from a pile of trash and reveled at my glorious find. Actually, I don’t think it makes me a New Yorker. It makes me an adult. Make that a RESOURCEFUL adult. My mama taught me right - I remember her salvaging a large wicker throne of a chair from someone’s garbage when I was a kid. And this is something that’s much harder to do in rural Texas. Really. Sometimes there are confrontations with garbage putter-outers who have guns, pit bulls, and NO TRESPASSING signs posted all over the porch. “That thar is MAH traaaash! Git out ‘fore I defend mah right to prawperty!”

Wow. I got a bit carried away there… I adopted a perfectly nice trunk and green rolling office chair from the garbage. It was funny, because I was sitting on the chair amongst the garbage bags, justifying taking the trunk up the 39 stairs to our apartment.

Chen: Is it really worth it? I would think it’s dirty.
Me: It can be cleaned. It’s perfect, except for one small banged up place. I could put it in the classroom for storage, and I could put cushions on top to make a seat for the reading nook!
Random Passerby: Ooh, a trunk!
Chen: You’ll have to take it up now…
Another Random Passerby (ARP): That’s a great trunk! Are you going to take it?
Me: I think so. For my classroom.
ARP: It’s a great trunk [caressing it tenderly and peeking inside].
Chen: Are you now in competition for the trunk?
ARP: Not this time. That’s a great office chair.
Me: It’s mine.
ARP: It’s perfect. You know, you will definitely graduate someday.
Me: Huh? I already graduated college.
ARP: Yep. You know why? Because you are educated, beautiful, attractive, and…
Me: I’m taking the trunk?
Chen: And chair!
ARP: Ha, ha, yes, they are great!

See, some New Yorkers are friendly, if a little too drooly over castaway furniture. Kathy beamed proudly at my finds when I hoofed them up the stairs.

This girl may make it after all.

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