The Approval Matrix
MTM is evil. He feeds my desire to throw money away travel by sending me subscriptions. Like my weekly New York Magazine.
Back in the day when flights were actually affordable, we went to New York City at least once a quarter. We could hop a flight at o’dark-thirty on a Saturday morning and be back home by Sunday night. Cheap flight. One night in a hotel. Two full days immersed in culture and food and noise and tall buildings.
These days, I am a sporadically-employed consultant and full-time unpublished novelist. MTM is a government worker. Flights cost a bazillion dollars, and the airlines have done away with all reasonable itineraries departing from our ‘only rich people go there’ tourist destination.
Still, I pine over my New York Mag. Every week, I savor its pages and congratulate myself on my penchant for high-brow trash. I close my eyes and dream of flying to New York for the weekend to buy crazy shoes in the East Village. And breathe in the subway smells. And rip apart the best new restaurant. And get a crick in my neck from looking up.
The Approval Matrix is an oracle of sorts for me. Mostly, I laugh at it, but a couple of weeks ago, I ripped it out and cried. Two things lined up just so, and all I could do was wipe my eyes and proclaim…….
It’s a sign.
Sooooo, I would guess that you want to dress like Audrey Hepburn while writing a teen novel set in the 30′s in Hollywood. My, such transparency.
I suppose that could be one way to connect the dots in the matrix, Lou. The wrong way, but a way nonetheless.
I have the same feelings about Paris and London – I rarely get to either of them.
I have the same feelings about Paris and London, too, Roger.
It’s been almost a decade since I’ve been to Paris. MTM needs to help me rectify that…….
Ah, New York, been there once when I was 16…So…you heading to New York? It’s funny how perceptions cloud everything we see, hear and read. After reading your blog I immediately thought you found a great deal on a trip to New York. I hope that’s so.
There are no great deals to anywhere from Charleston. Certainly not to NYC. I wish I were headed there, but no.
And I just want to fly round trip to Baltimore…But to do that, I need a wad o cash…and I don’t think you have any extra to share…right? So I armchair travel. I’m reading a novel now co-located in past-time NYC and in present day NYC…and that is pretty interesting…when the author references things from the past, I pull up Google maps, look at the spot and the map and imagine…
That’s such an interesting city for juxtaposing time. When I was there back in January, I walked right through a place I’d been researching, and it was fun to try to imagine what was there before.
You know you can use TripAdvisor or Kayak to set up a flight alert to Baltimore, right? That way, if a deal pops up, they will send you an email.
Staring at that damned thing I cannot figure out for the life of me what lined up for you. Or are you just playing with us?
NYC is OK, but I wanna go back to London. I need magazines and other supplies.
I’m not telling what lined up. It just made me happy.
Andra, since I hate to travel now, I wish I could give you the NYC trip my wife won on jetBlue but she’d kill me. But if I have to go someplace, nothing could be better than going to New York.
Congrats to you two, Howard. It’s one of the best places to have a great time.
I have never been to New York. Only in the last five years have I wanted to go at all. And now, yeah, I’d kind of like to. Maybe. London and Paris are much higher on my want-to-do-someday list.
They’re all worth being at the top. I can’t wait to hear about your visits, Jessie.
You now have me dreaming of New York! I have so many wonderful memories from my youth and only to go back in time.
Dreams of New York are good dreams, Darcie. I’m right there with you.
Betweenthe lousyness of my computer and my eyes I have no idea what is on that matrix. I am guessing however that you must be refering to Bloomberg’s soda ban and the 9th episode of Girls…
Nope and nope. The picture is fuzzy on purpose. It is neither your computer nor your eyes.
How I would love to hop on a plane for a weekend in NYC – or, Philly. We did that once, practically on a dime; small hotel, Wyeth exhibit at the art museum, Independence Hall and all that, AND came home with money left in our pockets. Sigh.
Penny, I would live in Philadelphia if I could find a way. I love it there. We went in February. The museums are the perfect size. I love the architecture and the history. And the food. I agree with you. It’s a lovely city.
So here’s the plan. You fly up to visit me if that’s cheaper, then you take the train (about $80 a person) or the bust ($20) into NYC.
It costs bazillions of dollars to fly from Charleston to ANYWHERE except Rochester or Buffalo New York right now. And, because they have lots of snow, we couldn’t get to them even if we bought a ticket. The discount airlines keep coming here and jacking up their prices because they can make all kinds of money in our market. It’s depressing.
That stinks.
I’m just mad because I’m watching a flight right now that I reallyreallyreally want to buy…………
I don’t have much comfort with flying, which puts a real damper on my desire to travel. My fantasy is to drive across country…it’s so incredibly impractical I think that may likely never happen, but we have our fantasies. I suspect you will have many, many trips to fabulous places. I could get lost in the Approval Matrix, too. I’d say that some of that information is essential!
Debra, I have always wanted to drive across the country, too. It’s the only way to really comprehend the size of it. I hope you get to do it someday.
And yes, the Approval Matrix is essential to my happiness. Or my laugh quotient. Or something.
* Met Opera Ticket Plus Deflation . . . bargainissimo!
* Judy Kuhn’s ravaged emotional terrorist Fosca in the revival of Sondheim’s Passion.
Good guesses, Nancy.