Gates, biking in Manhattan, STRAIN

I love working at Strand. I love having a place to go to everyday. I love getting paid. I love that I don't have to be there until 1:30. Most of the people there are very funny and friendly. There are miles and miles of books. An awesome new floor of Kids books and Art and Architecture books.

There are some things that I stress about.

1) not being witty enough. many of the people who shop and work at strand are
either very knowledgeable or very quick with a joke or both. Me, less so.

2) screwing things up. I am afraid, based on my past experience that
given time, somehow, something will go terribly wrong.

3) I am old...not
getting any younger and I am working still at an entry level job. I am okay with
that but I wonder if other people consider that strange.

All in all though I think this job is good for me and I feel happy to have it.

Saturday, I started biking to work so that I could go by the park and see Jeanne-Claude and Christo's gates. Biking to work doesn't take much longer than the subway. The exercise is good but the traffic and exhaust are a bit stressful. for the most part, drivers are alert and amiable towards cyclists but it is still an hour of high drama.

the gates are impressive. As someone at the bookstore said, "Its a happening, a be in. "

There will be detractors. Some people will groan about how they cost 20 million dollars...like it was a waste of money...as if that was taxpayer money.

The color is reminiscent of the Dali Lama's orange robe. The shape creates doorways in thousands of invisible planes. The scale is so large, one's

perception of Central Park is altered. Walking under the curtained gates is nothing less than magical. I also love knowing that they are here for a fleeting moment. Like butterflies.