ROAD March 2nd, 10:46 am
My seat is on the upper level, around five seats from the back and fourteen from the front. All the seats face forwards, in the direction we are moving in. They are arranged in rows flanking a central aisle, two on each side. My seat is the leftmost in its row. The repetition of seats is only interrupted when such events as bathrooms, baggage racks, doors, stairs, and the like interject.
The fabric upholstering of my seat, and all the other General Seating seats (as opposed to the seats in the front that have to be pre-booked for an extra fee; those are upholstered with blue leather-like material) is a spotty blue fabric, slightly lighter than a navy blue. Spilled across the blue are wavy lines of color: yellow, pink, dark blue, and light blue. At first, I thought of the lines as a Jackson Pollock impersonation, but they are too sparse and neat for that. Now, I think of them as lines a child would scribble when they are pretending / practicing to sign their name.
The floor is covered with vinyl. Its base color is grey with dots of white, black, and blue. The four walls are around five feet high. The bottom two are opaque, and the top three are transparent glass. There is vinyl lettering on the glass, some of which is stuck from the outside and some from the inside. The largest lettering stuck from the outside (which means in appears mirrored and hard to read from the inside) reads: Proudly transporting our valued passengers to more than 100 locations nationwide... and growing! On every window pane, from the inside, is stuck bold red lettering: EMERGENCY EXIT.
An impressive percentage of the roof is covered with skylights, running all the way from the back to the front.
These are the different sounds I can make out: the humming of the engine, the swooshing of air when we pass under a bridge, the rushing of air when we are overtaken by a car, the thumping when we roll over an expansion joint or deformity in the road, passengers video-calling their friends, faint musical beats from over-loud headphones, creaking bathroom door.
The movement of the space is hard to describe. There are at least three main layers of movement. The first is a low vibration caused by the engine that I can feel when I rest my head on the glass window (which is why sleeping in this position is impossible for me). The second is the swaying of space, left and right, up and down. This is caused by our maneuvering of the road’s curves. The third is the jerking caused by hitting an expansion joint or deformity in the road. What these movements make most apparent is the force of inertia that my body utilizes to resist them.
Road signs:
Every Child Begins The World Again
BETTER BUILDING BEGINS HERE
SERVICE AREA 2 MILES
SERVICE AREA 1 MILE
SERVICE AREA →
30 M.P.H.
COMPANY PICNICS @ FROGBRIDGE
Neves Jewelers
Say yes and we’ll do the rest
Turn your credits into a degree
DRIVE SAFELY
BUD LIGHT: 100% less corn syrup than Miller Light
EAT CLEAN BRO
COMMUTE LESS ACHIEVE MORE
Chicago: It would be criminal to miss it!
Truck Signs:
Shop Away!
Freshly cracked for a fresh start
Prime
BOLT FOR A BUCK
We’re all about food, We’re all about you
CAFÉ March 2nd, 1:26 pm
Looking out the window at a street crossing:
A. Hat with ear flaps, red and brown scarf, beige jacket, black pants.
B. Pink hat, black fur coat with buttons, beige pants, white shoes, walking stick.
C. blue beanie hat with orange stripe, green jacket, blue jeans, blue shoes with three white stripes.
D. Gray hoody, gray trainer pants, black Nike shoes.
E. Orange jacket, blue jeans.
F. Brown fringe coat, beige scarf, blue jeans, high black boots, Starbucks cup.
G. Baseball cap, orange jacket, spotty black pants, limp.
H. Black jacket, black pants, black shoes, Starbucks cup.
I. Pink jacket, red purse, blue jeans, high brown boots.
J. Gray jacket, gray hoody, gray beanie hat, striped white jeans, cigarette, slow walk.
K. White jacket with 3 stripes: yellow, red, navy blue, gray pants.
HALL March 2nd, 3:08 pm
The large hall with the high ceiling is punctured on both of its long walls with sizable clerestory windows with rounded tops.
The floor is covered with square orange ceramic tiles laid out on a grid at a forty-five degree angle from the rectilinear outline of the hall. Long rectangular tables fill most of the floor space. They are arranged parallel to the short walls of the hall. Each table has six chairs on each side, and four lamps on top. Stamped on the wooden surface of the table is the number of each seat. In front of me is the number 208. The bottom fifteen to eighteen feet of the hall’s walls are lined with wooden bookshelves (there wood is slightly darker than the wood of the tables and chairs). This height is divided into two levels: the ground level and a mezzanine concourse that circles around the edge of the hall. Above the bookshelves, the walls are clad with off-white stone. The stone is also used for the ornate cornice that divides the walls from the ceiling.
The ceiling is divided into three sections along the long walls of the hall. Each section is then divided into many smaller compartments with square, rectangular, and L-shaped outlines. These compartments are highly decorated with floral and vegetal shapes, repeating geometric patterns, and human figures. The colors of the ceiling are a muted gold, red, black and a desaturated light blue. In the center of each of the three sections of the ceiling is a painting of a sky: red, pink, orange, and gray clouds surround a patch of blue.
Hanging from the ceiling are eighteen Art Deco chandeliers. A single chain attached to the ceiling drops half the height of the chandelier and holds a small transitional metal disc. From this disc, six chains descend while moving away from each other until they reach a large metal disc (around five feet in diameter) that constitutes the main body of the chandelier. Around the bottom side of this disc, and the three smaller concentric discs hanging from it, are attached many bulging light bulbs.
GALLERY March 2nd, 5:35 pm
The gallery room is almost cubic. The floor is covered with wooden tiles. A bench occupies the center of the floor. It is where I am sitting. Two adjacent walls, of the room’s four, have an opening that leads to other galleries. Three materials cover the walls: gray wooden molding with simple decorative engravings at the bottom, purple paint in the middle (that’s where the paintings hang), and white paint at the top that curves and becomes the ceiling. Between the purple and white paint is a grey cornice that is the same color as the bottom molding. The center of the ceiling is covered with rectangular panels of frosted glass, behind which are directional spot lights.
The paintings are of different sizes, but they are all hung in golden frames. The subjects of the paintings are also different, yet they are all from nineteenth century Europe. The two largest paintings are by William Turner, and share a wall. One is of Venice (on the left), and the other of whalers (on the right).
The Whalers painting shows an injured whale in the left foreground, jaws ajar, blood spurting. In the middle ground center are three small boats struggling to keep their stability as they fight the turbulent waves, made more difficult by the whale’s thrashing tail. Behind the boats in the distant background, shrouded in mist, is a large whalers’ ship. The bottom quarter of the painting is ocean. The top three quarters is sky. The line between them is blurred, as are all other elements in the painting. Everything is hazy, both for terrible fear and violent rage.
CAFÉ March 3rd, 10:07 am
Looking out the window:
First building: Six stories. Ground floor has three entrances: VINOD PERFUMES, BURGER KING, and the entrance to the building’s lobby. The top five floors are covered with a curtain wall, alternating between rows of vertical rectangles of transparent glass and horizontal rectangles of bluish-green spandrel glass. Each row counts eleven panels across.
Second building: Twelve stories. Ground floor has two entrances: The Bread Factory Café and the entrance to the building’s lobby. While the ground floor is double-heighted, the second floor is one-and-a-half heighted. The top ten floors are regular heighted. Each of the top floors has five individual single-hung windows across. The building has a gray brick façade with simple Art Deco details. This style is most apparent in the elaborate roof parapet, the decorative depressed panels under each window, and the extruded window framing of the second floor.
There is a huge advertisement poster hanging from the mute side façade of the second building and directly over the first building.
CAFÉ March 3rd, 2:21 pm
The wall behind the main counter, from left to right and top to bottom:
Top shelf: Ten wooden boxes with a red and black image of a gorilla’s face on them, between the boxes are display ceramic cups sitting on cubic cardboard boxes, a bag (I presume of coffee beans) with the same image of the gorilla.
Middle shelf: Three display gift boxes with different gorilla-themed items (the red highlights of the boxes’ decorations are possibly linked to Valentine’s day), A wooden box same as the wooden boxes on the top shelf but with its lid (that has the image of the gorilla) sat on top of the box like a picture frame, a gray ceramic cup, another gift box, vinyl record sleeves (around one hundred and twenty, I would guess), glass and chrome brewing equipment, small glass cups for alcohol, white ceramic cups arranged according to their size, three hats with different styles and colors (I assume they are owned by the employees).
Bottom shelf: Three plastic-wrapped giftable assortments of café-related items wrapped in red ribbons, twelve jars of loose-leaf teas with hand-written labels, two empty jars, two chrome tea pots, three glass pitchers, three ceramic cups with different colors and designs, what looks like a stack of paper, two cardboard boxes on top of each other (the top one is messily labelled: STICKERS), a group of ribbon rolls of different colors (including but not limited to: red, pink, and white), duct tape.
Note: the middle shelf is at least forty percent wider than the top and bottom shelves.
ROOM March 3rd, 9:57 pm
Hard surface materials: vertical slats of white wood wall cladding, vinyl flooring with wood pattern, black colored wooden door, dark green mosaic floor and wall cover (each around 1 cm square), white ceramic wall cover laid in a staggered arrangement (each around 7 cm square), clear glass, frosted glass, white wall paint, gray ceramic sink, white ceramic water closet, black steel door accessories (hinges, lock, handle, automatic closer), grey metal toilet sliding door...
Soft surface materials: white sheets, white towels, white paper towels, grey window curtain, green door curtain...
Equipment: flat tv, hair dryer, hand-held steamer, thermostat, fire alarm, smoke detector, heat detector, light switches, electric plugs, telephone...
Utilities: three spot lights, tube light, air supply vent, two air return vents, shower head, water tap, water closet...
Missing: bible.
LOUNGE March 4th, 9:58 am
The space is solid and void. The solid is a rectangular mezzanine floor with an opening in the middle connecting it with the lobby below. Above the opening is a skylight. From the skylight is hung, with hundreds of wires, an exploded sculpture of a bear. On three sides of the space is seating (where I am sitting); on the fourth side is the elevator lobby. Opposite the elevator lobby are three windows.
The void is full of music:
“...believe us... yeah... somebody famous for you... [new song]... all might... morning time... in all the... getting through... without you I don’t know what I’d do, girl... I stay by your side... I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours... [new song]... you want... if you try... don’t let the... I can give you... [new song]... we lose... wondering why we... we could be the greatest, we could be the greatest... what could bring bad luck... from the outside... everybody must be wondering why we tried... wreaking ball... maybe in the wildest moments... [new song]... to the only... your intent... believe in trust... discovering... all I had was wishful thinking... place your... usual... I was so dependent... under your influence... but if it makes you happy... let you have the final say... [new song]... I don’t know what to do... by your side... that’s true... I won’t be the one that’s by your side... [new song]... handshake... love... I can... watching the door...”
RAMP March 4th, 1:03 pm
I’m sitting on a gently bending gray fabric bench. The bench sits on the ramp, between the main passageway of the visitors and the balustrade. Beyond the balustrade is the rotunda, to which I have turned by back. To my right, the ramp turns and slides downwards. To my left, the ramp turns and hikes upwards. The wall in front of me is used to hang paintings. It is divided into sections by large structural fins. In each section, there is a square painting with a black base and a white circle in its middle. Each sections has various other paintings too.
There are also elevators, a gift store, circular skylights, directional light, strollers, tank tops, blue paint, carts, white shoes, tote bags, expansion joints, signage, art descriptions, round columns, a metropolitan buzz, a child screaming, and a gold water fountain.
LOUNGE March 4th, 6:54 pm
Three menus, a small orange glass cup with a candle inside, green glass cup filled with cold water, steel mini milk pitcher, ceramic cup (white inside and black outside) with tea with milk inside, its sitting on a black napkin, ceramic saucer (black topside and white underside) holding a used tea bag, metal spoon, phone, wallet, hand holding black fountain pen with green ink cartridge, elbow clothed in blue fabric, fountain pen cap, notebook.
These are the things on the tabletop.
ROAD March 4th, 7:43 pm
My seat is in a different place, but everything else is the same. That is, except for a sticker that is placed in front of every seat at sitting-eye level. It is a yellow horizontal rectangle with filleted corners. The top half has a blue circle in its center with an abstracted white image of a passenger wearing a seat belt. The bottom half has three lines, the topmost in the largest font size. They read in order: FASTEN SEATBELT, BOUCLEZ VOTRE, ABROCHE SU CINTURON. Of course, this also means that there are seatbelts for each seat. There is also a panel above each couple of seats with air vents, a speaker, five buttons, and individual lighting (which is why I can write at night).
I can’t remember whether the same panel was above my previous seat.