Field Trip.

I'm going to the MET on my birthday. I am very excited about this.

I will not repeat the depressive birthday that was last year. I literally walked around town aimlessly and sad. I went to the library, bought cheesecake and then sulked in my room. I'm very good at sulking.

Despite being ultra broke, stressed about broke, and tired I will get on the train early Tuesday morning on way to the MET where I will lose myself in art and a medieval garden. There is a medieval garden ya'll.

The longest paper I ever wrote in school was a 20 page exploration of medieval gardens and the Arthurian medieval quest. It was flipping stellar. The quest for knights always take place in the wilderness, on the outskirts of the medieval court. There among the rejects of 'proper society' men are forced to encounter the strangeness of nature and it's inhabitants to fully emerge a noble knight (because it follows the same sort trope of my final girl/horror movie obsession).


I look forward to getting lost in a garden.

I've taken on a babysitting gig this week that is pretty much paying for my trip to the city. The kids have a mid-winter break and my landlady asked if I could watch her nine year old daughter, Nicole on Tuesday and Thursday. In the renting a room department I am the luckiest girl in New York. My brazilian landlady is amazing. It literally feels like home here. I've eaten dinner with Nicole and her mom, celebrated small holidays with them and exchanged cultural inquiries that have resulted in her baking Brazilian sweets for me.


Nicole is an inquisitive, boy crazy pre-pre teen. She loves Justin Bieber and singing. She is an emotional girly girl who talks very quickly, so much that words blend in a very cute way. The time I have spent with her, outside of babysitting, have been pleasant and eye opening. Kids these days know a lot more than I did at nine. And I am not saying this is a weird "when i was your age..." way

It's just a fact. 10 years ago phones, musical devices and even the computer were simpler. At 15 I didn't have a cell phone or a computer. I was still carrying around a cd player which I didn't even think to bring to school. The only electronic I had with me at all times was the $100 calculator my mom had to buy for school. I was a dead chick if I lost that thing.


Now though, toddlers are working Ipad's and carrying around real phones. They are using apps and listening to music on mp3 players. They are engaged to a world that I had no idea about at 9. Or 13. Or even 16. It's a whole new ballpark.

So I was nervous. Very nervous about taking on this babysitting gig. I've hung out with her on small occasions before but never for 8 hours. And never by myself. Sure, I've babysat my cousins before but babysitting your family is easier. The thought of babysitting someone else's kid nearly incited an anxiety attack. For $150 bucks though and only two days of having to babysit her (tomorrow being the last day) I put anxiety behind me.

And I must say Day 1 went well. She was a little frantic when she thought her mom left without saying goodbye. She seemed generally upset and nervous (her mom hadn't left yet though, she was waiting downstairs). After that small concern we ate breakfast in the kitchen and talked about school. I took her to the movies to see Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D, bought her hot chocolate and then made pizza for her when we got home. We spent the rest of the day dancing to youtube videos and of course, talking about Justing Beiber.


Youtube is uncensored for the most part, which I forgot about, so I spent a lot of my time muffling curse words with a cough.


I also spent a lot of time explaining phrases she was 'curious' about.

Gwen Stefani-Hollaback Girl

Nicole: Hollaback girl?


Me: It's a girl....who....um, let's people treat her badly. So this girl (gwen stefani) is saying "i'm not going to let you treat me like i am nothing"


Nicole: Cool.


Rihanna-Only Girl (In the World)

Nicole: What does she mean when she says she wants to be "the only girl in the world"


Me: Um...it's like when you...um....like a boy at school and you want him to....you know...be interested in you. Not anyone else.


Nicole: Oh.


The funniest commentary came during the taylor swift video for Back To December. For some reason Taylor is sitting in a room and it begins to snow inside her freaking house:

Me: This video is weird.

Nicole: And the guy who fixed her roof did a really bad job. It's snowing inside her house. That's not suppose to happen right?

Me [Muffling a laugh]: No, no.

Nicole [profound excited realization about video]: maybe!!!!!..... the cute boy in the video is the roof guy and that is why she dumped him. Because he didn't fix her roof.

Me: Hey, you're right...

All in all it went well. So I had to listen to some not so great music all day but I didn't burn the house down. I'm babysitting tomorrow and we are planning on baking brownies. She really wants brownies. I'm going to buy a magazine or two tonight so that we can take dumb quizzes about boys and life.


The money I get from babysitting will help a lot. I have yet to hear anything back from potential employers and the dream opportunity with a literary agency never panned out ( i sent a stellar application two weeks ago but now the position has been taken down from the job posting site). Money is tight these days, despite wanting to buy new clothes and shoes. So any money helps, especially now.

In a few days I will not only be 25 but also the owner of a new digital camera thanks to my mom. It's a Canon SX, which has amazing features and a flash attachment that makes me nerd heart thump. Expect lots of pictures!

I rarely take days to splurge on myself so this trip to the museum means a lot. I am excited on all fronts. The fact that there is a museum open on Tuesday for me to go to, the medieval garden which i hope is as awesome as i think it will be, and the quiet introspection that will inspire me in some way.

Everyone here seems concerned of my isolated plans, but no one has really offered an alternative worth pursuing. It's all "you are going to hang out by yourself on your birthday....that sucks...." But this is something I simply want to do. When I have the people here to celebrate future birthdays with it will be amazing. Until then I will take celebrating my special day in my own hands. And who knows me more than me right.