We had the day off today since it was MLK’s birthday, so we spent the afternoon in Chinatown. I wanted to buy some groceries to make some things for Lunar New Year coming up, and we also had a late lunch down there, as well. On our way home, I stopped by one of my favorite bakeries and was surprised to see that they had taken down all of their COVID coverings. Their workers were no longer wearing masks, and I could actually clearly see all of their baked goods once again. I honestly could not remember the last time I was in there before the pandemic, but I almost did a double take around the bakery: it didn’t look or feel like the same bakery to me anymore. It almost felt new and improved even though it was the exact same space! It felt more open, brighter, and like it was more approachable than before, especially if you were unfamiliar with Chinese baked goods before entering. It would be a lot less intimidating, and you could look to see what you wanted and take your time deciding instead of needing to know ahead of time before entering. During the pandemic, it always felt so rushed. Because there was such limited standing space, you really had to come in and out quickly to allow for others to come in and buy their baked goods.

It feels nice to see things more open and seemingly “normal” down there again. I was really worried about a lot of the businesses in Chinatown, especially given all the “China virus” racist nonsense that idiots were spewing. I hope this will make the shops of Chinatown seem more welcoming to those who may be unfamiliar with all their deliciousness once again.

In our last unit in this building, we were in a “model” unit that had mostly sun shades in all the rooms. It made pulling them up and down really easy. Unfortunately in the rest of the units in this building, they use blinds, which we not only hate, but are frustrating to use, and are really, really easy to break. I get that there are different types of blinds, but these are just… awful. Also, how the hell are you supposed to clean them?

A few weeks ago, our nanny said the sun was in her eyes and also shining on Kaia while on the play mat, so she’d been pulling them down in the living room in the afternoon as the sun was setting. When Chris went to adjust it up when he got home, the entire thing snapped and fell apart. The handyman came the next day and had to replace the entire thing.

Oh, and then yesterday, I pulled the blinds back up in our bedroom, and the main piece that holds them all together snapped and fell down. The handyman had to come to put it back. He said they were just cheap blinds, so it’s easy for this to happen. Well, isn’t that nice to know that we have cheap blinds in this expensive building?

I also asked the building manager to have the painter to come do a few touch ups. He told me that the paint, while technically the same color, is not the same “type,” (in other words, the new paint is cheaper because our management company is getting cheaper), so the paint may not match 100 percent. I said whatever, just touch it up anyway. It’s not like we own this place…

It’s always fun to know that while your rent is always going to go up, even in a “luxury” apartment building like this, the materials they use to put these units together is only going to get cheaper. What better way to show tenant appreciation than that?

A couple of months ago, the long awaited Singaporean style hawker center finally opened here in New York. It’s called Urban Hawker, and the idea is to replicate the experience of the famous (and hygienic) hawker stall centers that are found and loved in Singapore. We went to visit and try some of the food today, and it was PACKED. It was a challenge to find a table, and we noticed many other people waiting seemingly forever to sit down with their food… to no avail. Many people left or just ate their food standing. We ate most of our food standing, but at least we had an area to set our food down on; Kaia ended up eating in a high chair Chris found hidden in a corner, and we just fed her while standing up. There are two levels of the center, and on the ground level is where all the food is. But, one thing to note is that even though it’s technically one level, to access one part of it vs. other other, you need to go up a few stairs.

Before we had a baby, this never would have phased me. I would have just seen it as a few stairs to go up and down. There are situations like this indoors all over New York, and I never thought about it much until I got pregnant and started thinking about my future, going around the city with a baby in tow. But now that we have a baby (that we are pushing around in a stroller), it made me realize how inconvenient this can be not just for parents and those with young children, but also wheelchair users and others who are not as mobile to go up and down stairs. Wouldn’t it have been just as simple to set this up with a slightly inclined ramp…?

My previous primary care doctor stopped accepting Aetna insurance, which is just completely insane when you think about it: Next to United Healthcare, Aetna is likely the largest health insurance provider in New York. She has stated on her website that for new patients, she is only accepting them as “out of network” or with no health insurance. Well, isn’t that nice for her and awful for the rest of us. Even though I did like her and found her to be one of the best doctors I’ve had in terms of patience and bedside manner, all this just feels very greedy to me, and it made me mad to see this on her website before I had attempted to make an appointment.

So I ended up going to ZocDoc and choosing the least terrible GP option with availability in the next week, along with less than 10 blocks walking distance from the apartment (because… why would I travel for a doctor who I was unlikely to stay with?!). The doctor I ended up seeing belongs to Summit Health, which merged with CityMD. And when I walked into the office today, I couldn’t believe how swanky it was, not to mention how spacious. How do these people afford this rent??

It was a straightforward appointment, with little surprises or interest anywhere. The doctor seemed nice enough, but she wasn’t the kind of person I’d want to see again unless it was really necessary. She asked all the usual questions and had an assistant with us the entire time. I just feel like finding a good doctor you want to stick with, who you actually think cares about you even remotely, is nearly impossible. That’s why finding a doctor stinks. That’s why making the appointments isn’t fun. It’s like you can’t even pay people to care about you.

The last couple of days, I may have slept funny, which has resulted in my back and neck feeling extremely tight. Rolling my neck feels really tight and uncomfortable, and my back… well, it just feels like it needs someone to walk on it, but that wouldn’t be such a great idea since it’s my upper back area near my shoulders. That thought made me remember a time a few years ago when I worked in an office, and a colleague had some knots in his back and asked if any of us were willing to stand on his back to help him get them out. Everyone else did a double take and stayed silent, and I said, hey, if it works, then I’m happy to do it if you want! So I did.

Twenty years ago, I had no idea what it was like to have weird knots or stiff feelings in my neck or back, or even to get little injuries in my legs or IT band or piriformis muscles. It’s like all these things started happening to me once I hit my 30s. I’m still physically active and in good shape, relatively speaking, but my body is just getting older. And I’m definitely feeling it. And thank goodness for tiger balm.

I always feel a little conflicted when I hear this question, or when I even think about it from my own experience. It always comes with an assumption that New York, given how urban and dense the city is, is not baby friendly. It’s not that it’s baby unfriendly: you see endless babies in strollers and carriers literally everywhere you go. Public transportation actually exists here and is functional, so you technically don’t even need a car to cart your babies around. The issues that always come to mind first for myself are the fact that if Chris weren’t with me, there’s pretty much no way I could carry Kaia and her stroller up and down the subway stairs by myself, not just because I lack the physical strength, but more because of my wrist/hand problems. Plus, when you go into the majority of restaurants, they will not have changing stations/tables for you in the restrooms to easily change your baby’s diaper, so I end up having to put her changing pad on some dirty bathroom floor and change her there. Once, I even let her sit down on the dirty bathroom floor (well, she refused to sit still on the changing pad!!) because I (ugh) smeared poop on my hands, and there was no way I was going to get it off just by washing one hand at a time as I usually do when I have changed her. And the latest realization: a lot of restaurants here just don’t have high chairs because they do not assume you will be bringing a baby with you to dine. And many restaurants, especially the further downtown you go, will not be spacious enough for you to push your stroller inside.

But the United States is not baby friendly overall for endless reasons that I won’t go into here. But if it is unfriendly for no other reason, it’s that the vast majority of people who live in this country need to have a car to get around… it’s an absolute necessity. And that’s kind of annoying. It seems easier to have a car when you have a kid because you can just leave the car seat in the car, dump the stroller broken down into the trunk. That’s what my friends who have children always say, and they say they cannot imagine being me, hauling a stroller up and down subway stairs every weekend. But is it actually easier to live in one of those places that requires car ownership… when this means you have to… rely on yourself more and less on society itself?

Getting the reservation for our group of customers, prospects, and fellow employees was not easy tonight. One of my colleagues happened to have a father-in-law who owns a food distribution company that distributes to The Polo Bar, so he was able to call in a favor for us. We got a corner table that was semi-private. I knew this place was a trendy, celebrity-type hot spot as soon as I got out of the car in front of the entrance. There were two hostesses waiting outside with clipboards. They asked me what party I was coming in with, then asked me to check in at the front podium. I went to the front podium and shared my party, then was told to check in at the SECOND podium towards the bar. At the second podium, I was asked to then walk downstairs to check in at the THIRD podium. So in the end, I had to check in FOUR times before I was escorted over by a host to my company’s table. That, plus they asked me if I wanted to bring my coat to the coat check (um, no thanks. This isn’t a night club!).

It is no wonder to me why this place is a celebrity hot spot: as soon as you walk in, it’s clear from the ambiance they’ve created, plus the clientele, that this is a place people go to see and be seen. The bar was glittering gold. All the countertops were granite and gold. Even the bathroom mirrors and sinks and fixtures were all gold. It was a little bit ridiculous how over the top everything looked, but it was clear that the vibe they were going for was old-school New York uppity vibe, even though I believe this restaurant opened just seven years ago. The service was also very good: they constantly hover over to ask if you need anything or would like a drink, a second or a third; they are so discreet as to always top up your glass of water or wine so that you don’t even realize they have done it until you look at your glass, wondering why it looks so full since you’d already had half of it.

The food and drink were excellent, as well. The drink menu was absolutely nuts. I asked for a cocktail menu, and the server handed me the menu and opened it directly to the page with “reserve cocktails.” I got so confused for a second and wondered, why are all the cocktails $90+ each???? And then I realized that “reserve” meant that these cocktails were being stirred or shaken with the top, TOP shelf alcohol. The bottles were likely hundreds if not a thousand dollars each. And I asked the server, “So, how can I see the… regular cocktails?” He flipped the page for me. Oh, okay, got it: those are $23+ each. I guess my company can stomach that cost better.

It was a fun night of good food, service, ambiance, and decent company. I could get used to these events again. And yes, that $23 anejo tequila cocktail was likely one of the best cocktails I’ve ever enjoyed.

Since we moved into this building five years ago, we’ve signed up to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters every year we could. The last two years due to COVID, the building did not allow for this. But this year, they’ve resumed the tradition. As an adult who never really got into dressing up for Halloween, I do enjoy seeing little kids and babies in their Halloween costumes. Babies especially are super cute in the outfits their parents come up with, particularly the edible ones. My absolute favorites that I have seen include spaghetti and meatballs, Cup of Noodle, and sushi (as a whole family). I also love it when families all dress up in a theme. It’s so sweet and makes for great family photos.

The lows of passing out candy? When kids don’t want to say “trick or treat” or even thank you, but try to barge into your candy bin/basket. They begrudgingly seem entitled and give you the evil eye as they want candy and nothing else. Also, another sucky thing is when there are teenagers who are nearly adults who show up at your door, barely even in costume. You’d have to wonder why they even think they should get a single piece of candy from me and didn’t just have me slam the door in their faces. But I’m still nice to them and give them candy, but I make them say trick-or-treat… because that’s so difficult to do.

I went to visit my friend, his wife, and baby in Forest Hills today. As soon as I got off the train, it was like I was surrounded by strollers — bassinets, regular seat attachments, car seats on wheels. I couldn’t believe how many parents, grandparents, and nannies I saw with strollers. And all I could think was… when did Forest Hills become the new hot place for new parents to move? The last time I came here, I couldn’t remember seeing this many babies at all.

Then, I thought about how annoying it is taking the stroller up and down the subway stairs and how some strollers, being over 25-28lb in weight (that’s without the baby in it!!) could never even go on the train unless you had at least 2 people helping to carry it. If you lived here, you’d probably need to get around by car or by foot only.. because not only are the stairs annoying for the train, but the weekend schedule for the train would make train trips even more of a hassle. I have yet to be at a train station in Queens where you can easily see working elevators for getting into the station, but also onto and off the subway platform. Clearly, no one factored in that many moms suffer from pregnancy and postpartum carpal tunnel, not to mention mommy thumb/de Quervain’s tenosynovitis.