11.09.01 - 3:31 p.m.

The Medill alumni reception wasn't that bad. I saw people, we chatted, I got a little drunk in a too-hot room, and that was all. I exchanged phone numbers and we all said we should hang out, and we probably won't (or I won't, since that's my nature) but I survived.

And the interview seemed positive too, but I'm not talking about that.

Yesterday I had a venti hot cider at Starbucks which is probably the most apple beverage I've EVER consumed in one sitting, so I felt it was worth a mention. And I tooled around the MoMA in my spare afternoon, but I had no idea they were doing such an extensive renovation. It was almost an out-of-body experience to walk through the rooms where you KNOW Matisse's back sculptures should be and not have them be there. Unlike the MCA in Chicago, where the exhibits change constantly, the collection at the MoMA has always been more or less in its same place. At least since I started frequenting the museum.

Now they've moved Monet's huge water lily panels and of course, my favorite Matisse goldfish, and Delaunay's Sun/Moon contrast painting that I love and can't even remember the name of is nowhere to be found. But it's really good to walk through the rooms and see an old Art 103 favorite like Giacometti's weird woman with her throat cut thing. Takes me right back to junior year and our crazy field trip with Margo Hobbs and the Wonder Twins. Good times.

But $8.39 is just too much to pay for buffalo chicken strips at TGI Friday's, no matter how tasty they may be. I can understand the $5 beer, but somehow I must balk at nearly $10 for spicy chicken pieces. Grrr, New York, you consumerist city. I wander around all day and there is barely anything I can find to do that doesn't cost money. Now that it's getting cold, I can't even sit in the park and people-watch. I hate poverty!

Um, I think I left a candle burning in my room. Gotta go.