Pictures from the Bronx Zoo and of the Basement where Patricia and I have been living for the past 2 weeks are up in the link to your right. Not left.

Two weeks and two days to go! I know you all miss me terribly, and I hope you’ll be able to make it 2 more weeks without seeing my bright shining face or hearing my sweet-sounding voice [in person].

I think if I were you I would miss me too.

In other news, my face is seemingly free of spider eggs, but I did indeed wake up with four (FOUR!) bug and/or spider bites on my right shin. Only my right, and only the shin. For this reason I believe the spider was sleeping with me, curled up between bites, dreaming, in the warmth of the MER sweatpants I borrowed from Patricia because I was cold. That bastard.

Today we slept till 4, then paid an evening visit to the Upper West Side, home of You’ve Got Mail and rich people with dogs. First thing we did was get bagels from H&H Bagels, who ship out to all of NYC and also across the country. They are so good! I suggested we go there only because of the scene in You’ve Got Mail when Tom Hanks walks through the cloud of flour from the flour truck, but it turned out to be a delicious decision. We have 3 more to eat tomorrow and the next day. Oh, also, Zabar’s, which also appears in You’ve Got Mail (the grocery store sequence where they keep trying to avoid each other and then don’t), was directly across the street from H&H. We didn’t get to go in and buy cheese, though, because it was closed by the time we thought of it. Oh well, I have pictures of both!

Now, I wasn’t going to mention this, because, well, I know how you all (especially you, mother) feel about my book-buying “addiction,” but I just have to tell you about this bookstore! It was only about 10 feet wide, but very very tall, with an upstairs section and everything. When you walk in you can go up the stairway in the middle (books piled on the edges of the stairs), or go to the right of the stairs or to the left. The bookshelves go up to the ceiling, which, especially in the entryway between the stairs and the front door, is SO HIGH. They had a ladder, but I didn’t even use it because I was so afraid of dying.

Then, to make things even more intimidating, books were piled in stacks on the floor, and the shelves had two layers! A whole other row of books lay behind the visible row. Also, while the books were indeed arranged by the first letter of the author’s last name, that’s about as far as organization went. Salinger sat with Swift, who sat with Singer, and Gardening hung out with Erotica, who was chilling next to French. I don’t know.

I mention the S authors above because that is where I spent all my time. I just sat down on the floor (mainly out of tiredness and because it was hot in there), and looked through the 3 shelves of S authors, which is more like 6 shelves, considering the hidden rows behind the first. Subsequently, all the books I bought have authors with last names starting with S. Strange? Maybe.

I really need to stop buying books. But this place was so cool! I think it may actually belong in Diagon Alley, that’s how cool it was. Oh, if you were wondering, it was called Westsider Rare and Used Books, on Broadway, between 80th and 81st streets.

I didn’t even make it upstairs, or to any other section than the S authors in Fiction, but it was still an enjoyable experience. I forgot to take pictures, but if we go back again, I shall. A few minutes ago Patricia futilely asked me why we seem to be on the Bookstore Tour of New York City.

Don’t ask me, it just happened.