My writing enviroment

I usually write and do my work on my laptop computer sitting on a comfortable, short black leather chair pushed against the wall. It isn't really a chair--it is actually a footrest that belonged to a matching chair but it is quite nice to sit on. There is a folded up blue rug casually thrown by this chair, while a dusty black CD holder is pushed against the bookshelf on my right. This bookshelf is whitewashed and holds everything from a bright red "China Brief Postal Codes" book to a videocamera to envelopes to books and miscellaneous objects. There is a chair not too far from the CD holder which is probably a few inches away from the bookshelf, and this wooden chair holds a few copies of my book Flying Fingers. A few lined yellow pages are scattered about on the floor, as well as a letter from a friend and some markers. There are four computers in this room if you count my laptop; three of them are desktops, mine is the only laptop here unless my sister Adrianna drags her laptop in. My mother's computer is old, bulky, and slow. It usually has up to fifty-six programs running; she fires off emails at the same time as IMing important people, talking on the phone, and talking to us. She is a multitasker. Her desk is a cluttered mess of notepads, notebooks, business cards, boxes, books, papers, letters, envelopes, tape, sticky pads. Next to my mother's computer, separated by a grayish-blackish-blue metal file cabinet is my desktop computer, also old, slow, and bulky. I do not use it much now that I have my laptop and it is usually turned off. My sister sometimes uses it if she needs to print something out, as it is connected to the second printer in this room, but it is still not used very much. Then comes the door to my mom's office (I work in my mom's office), which is usually closed as my mother needs to block out the sound of my sister's piano, violin, and guitar practicing when she's talking on the phone. (My sister's practice is usually really loud and sometimes blocks my mom's voice on the phone.)
After my mom's door comes my dad's desktop computer, which is located in a small, closet-like area of the room with its own individual light but no door. There is a broken copy machine and a few other weird things located perilously near the office chair, which has wheels and can go spinning horribly out of control. None of these high-tech items has broken yet but I expect they will soon.
My mom's bathroom is located right next to the black leather chair on which I work and is quite a nice bathroom. It also serves as temporary storage for paperclips, spare keys, unwanted items, sticky pads, etc. I will not get into further detail about this bathroom...perhaps another blog!

The Phantom of the Opera

I have already written about some details of my New York trip but here is something I forgot, unfortunately, to write about:

1. The Phantom of the Opera musical

• The Phantom of the Opera musical tickets cost $234.00 even after an enormous discount; the theater, however, was quite crowded, with people in bulky raincoats flooding in from all directions.
• The Phantom of the Opera was supposed to be scary but I thought it was more exciting than scary and more comical (in some parts at least) than exciting. Some of the parts I liked best included the fact that they actually threw fire on the stage, the elaborate costumes, and the fancy stage props.

2. The United Nations building

• The UN building was quite an interesting building but we had a not-so interesting tour. We paid a great deal of money for a cheesy, uninteresting tour; our tour guide would say very quietly what room we were in and a few small details before moving on. We listened jealously to the other group as their tour guide described in detail the origins of a statue, nuclear weapons, etc.
• One of the meetings we listened to was quite boring. Apparently the UN people seated listening to the speaker thought so too; some were picking their nose, others were chattering among themselves, and I thought I saw somebody pull a cell phone out of their pocket.