growing up and figuring it all out, we learn some valuable life lessons. one of the best ones i've come to know as a really really good one is "don't burn any bridges." i've never been one to hold grudges. i watched my grandmother get so mad a various people in her life that she'd never speak to them again (usually over something really stupid)...one of which was her daughter. i can't imagine bringing a child into the world and then never speaking to them again! it's absurd really. so i think from seeing her do this to herself, i learned i never wanted to be that person.
don't get me wrong, if someone really gets to me, i have no problem weeding them out of the immediate circle. no need to spend time and stress over someone that is a crappy friend. BUT, let me stress that not burning bridges over the years has proven much more stress-free in the long haul. latest example... my old roommate josh. we lived together for 5 years in LA. 5 years!! that's a long time to spend with one person, knowing each other as intimately as you can without actually ever taking clothes off. the end of our journey together was not great. many fights ensued, complete with arguments over money to washing the dishes to criticisms over how we each choose to live our lives. the eventual "break-up" could have been bad, but we took the friendly path. i wasn't sure if we'd stay in touch, but how could you not after all those years?
today proved to be a good sign of doing the right thing in not burning that bridge. i saw josh in ichat and started a little conversation. we got right into what we always talked about...relationships. he had some great advice (surprisingly enough...guess i should have listened to him more in the past). AND, he's not giving me grief about the money he owes me! thought that would take more prodding. i'm gonna see him and the cat we got together this weekend. and i'm actually looking forward to it. who knew?
other excellent examples have been work situations. every single job that i've hated and left, has always been on a good note. and you know what... most all of those former employers have either given me great recommendations or gotten me my next job.
just goes to show.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
i love LA...
but i have no desire to move back any time soon. it was a little trippy going back after 3 months and not having my own home to go to. but it felt like the same old familiar place i've known so intimately for the last 7 or so years. kinda like getting reacquainted with an old boyfriend. you know all his special secrets and feel really comfortable, but you really don't want to get back together. i've decided that for the time being, LA is a great place to visit. it's got all my old favorite spots and restaurants that i'm so fond of, and it's got all my favorite people that know me best. but on this trip, i've discovered that i'm really excited to go back to my new home. i don't have that familiarity there. it's all a bit of a crap shoot. i look forward to getting back to my little apartment with only 10 boxes worth of my stuff. to my new acquaintances, that i look forward to getting to know better. and to new discoveries. familiarity can be good, but newness is what's on my mind for 2004.
highlights of the weekend in LA include...time spent with wanna, dinner at alegria (do miss that mexican food!), soundlessons patio and running into the old club buddies, brunch and walk on the beach with ariel, andreas, wanna and richard, treating myself to a korean spa "goddess massage," dinner at taix, and breakfast this morning at tropical. got all my favorite restaurants in. and a good chunk of my favorite people.
today was dealing with my storage space. met my dad at the place, loaded up the truck, then down to fallbrook where we had to make 7+ trips in a pick-up to deliver the shit from big truck to the garage up the windy hill. pain in ass, but it all went much more smoothly than i had anticipated. i had less stuff than i remembered and most of it was crap. why did i hold on to that shitty furniture? gotta get rid of it. i don't miss any of it. only my records, stereo, books and photos. would love to have that stuff with me in NY, but i don't think it's going to happen. maybe the stereo. we'll see. just glad it's done. now i can focus on fun and NYE which is shaping up to be quite promising. all my favorite people in a nature-y place i've never been. no expectations either. perfect.
highlights of the weekend in LA include...time spent with wanna, dinner at alegria (do miss that mexican food!), soundlessons patio and running into the old club buddies, brunch and walk on the beach with ariel, andreas, wanna and richard, treating myself to a korean spa "goddess massage," dinner at taix, and breakfast this morning at tropical. got all my favorite restaurants in. and a good chunk of my favorite people.
today was dealing with my storage space. met my dad at the place, loaded up the truck, then down to fallbrook where we had to make 7+ trips in a pick-up to deliver the shit from big truck to the garage up the windy hill. pain in ass, but it all went much more smoothly than i had anticipated. i had less stuff than i remembered and most of it was crap. why did i hold on to that shitty furniture? gotta get rid of it. i don't miss any of it. only my records, stereo, books and photos. would love to have that stuff with me in NY, but i don't think it's going to happen. maybe the stereo. we'll see. just glad it's done. now i can focus on fun and NYE which is shaping up to be quite promising. all my favorite people in a nature-y place i've never been. no expectations either. perfect.
Friday, December 26, 2003
smallbrook christmas
sitting here in my mom's living room, getting my fill of mtv. nice! i love cable at my mom's. feels like a real vacation.
arrived in LA xmas eve. mom, aunt barb and uncle bob picked me up and we drove down to fallbrook. had my first xmas ever with the two separated families together (that hadn't happened since i was about 4 years old). i had a bad feeling about it...thought it might be really weird. my family has definitely gone through ups and downs, getting along sometimes and not at all other times. apparently my grandmother (dad's mom) was thrilled that my mother suggested the two families getting together for the holiday. that was a good sign. sometimes, she's just the worst to my mom's family.
my mom was stressed out, trying to make sure everyone was getting along. the crowd consisted of me, mom's side: mom, aunt, uncle and dad's side: dad, grandma and dad's ex-wife/sort of partner (don't ask). surprisingly, everyone was in very good spirits. the dinner was great. got some good prezzies. even got a little tipsy. being the only child of the entire family is always joyous (i'm talking sarcasm here). and now that i'm not around as much, they had to make it an especially big deal that i was home and the light in all of their lives. it's nice, don't get me wrong...but can be a little tiresome.
my grandmother even brought every postcard i've ever written her over the years and made me recite them to everyone. so embarrassing. a sweet gesture, but come on now.
all in all, it was a nice day. i was happy to be with and see everyone and it was especially nice not to have to break up the day...going from one families' house to the other. very thankful for that!
LA tomorrow. YAY!
arrived in LA xmas eve. mom, aunt barb and uncle bob picked me up and we drove down to fallbrook. had my first xmas ever with the two separated families together (that hadn't happened since i was about 4 years old). i had a bad feeling about it...thought it might be really weird. my family has definitely gone through ups and downs, getting along sometimes and not at all other times. apparently my grandmother (dad's mom) was thrilled that my mother suggested the two families getting together for the holiday. that was a good sign. sometimes, she's just the worst to my mom's family.
my mom was stressed out, trying to make sure everyone was getting along. the crowd consisted of me, mom's side: mom, aunt, uncle and dad's side: dad, grandma and dad's ex-wife/sort of partner (don't ask). surprisingly, everyone was in very good spirits. the dinner was great. got some good prezzies. even got a little tipsy. being the only child of the entire family is always joyous (i'm talking sarcasm here). and now that i'm not around as much, they had to make it an especially big deal that i was home and the light in all of their lives. it's nice, don't get me wrong...but can be a little tiresome.
my grandmother even brought every postcard i've ever written her over the years and made me recite them to everyone. so embarrassing. a sweet gesture, but come on now.
all in all, it was a nice day. i was happy to be with and see everyone and it was especially nice not to have to break up the day...going from one families' house to the other. very thankful for that!
LA tomorrow. YAY!
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
screw it
just wrote the longest post ever.
of course i closed the window on accident.
par for the freakin course today. i can't talk about it anymore.
mercury in retrograde has completely taken over!
fuck.
of course i closed the window on accident.
par for the freakin course today. i can't talk about it anymore.
mercury in retrograde has completely taken over!
fuck.
weekend = great, today = not so much
i honestly don't have much to complain about at this point in my life.
things are going remarkably well for me here. my new life change has brought good things. i feel like i'm still learning everyday.
i'm still in exploration mode. of course i don't have it all figured out yet. i'm just feeling it all out, making decisions at will and good karma or something has made most all of it a-ok. i must remind myself of these things.
my weekend couldn't have been better. except for the fact that i was in procrastination mode with my work (which weighed a little on me). but besides that i had a fantastic time. here's the gist:
friday night was the continuation of the LOTR trilogy. my friend matt towers organized the whole thing. got us tickets for the 2 fridays prior to the opening of the return of the kind...they were showing the extended versions of FOTR and TT each consecutive friday. we sat right next to michael moore! i gave him props in a pretty lame way. but i had to say something.
saturday met up with amy's old dear friend (and my new friend) danny. he told me about this play thing...kids ages 9 to 11 wrote short plays that adults acted out. sounded like a cool idea. i rode the elevator up to the 4th floor with martha plimpton who mentioned she had to hurry because she was in the play. i couldn't help but look at her and think "that bitch got to fuck river." just so happened that she was one of the best actors in the plays. super funny. the whole thing was a hoot. loved watching those kids see their plays put on. it got me all choked up.
we had some time to kill and decided to brave the crowds and go to macys. we were on a flask mission. it was total holiday insanity. pretty amusing actually, when you didn't really have to buy anything. made our way up to santa's village, to see "the real santa" as advertised. took some funny pics of each other posing with the elves and santa himself.
next was what danny and i deemed "the boombox parade." read all about it here. it was freezing outside but super fun and christmasy. it was awesome and i liked it.
then it was off to williamsburg to this. it was weird, but kinda hysterical. only in NY man. that show would have never happened in LA. i can guarantee.
sunday was some work and preparations for jessica's friends' holiday party. great food (turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, all the fixins), nice new people, a christmas tree in the living room, secret santa prezzies, the whole nine. good times.
monday, got an email from "crush boy." got v. excited. hadn't heard from him for a bit as he was out of town. we made plans for today which got me all a-twitter. i haven't been stoked on a dude in so long. i'm sure i've built some fantasy thing in my head...but i do feel something for this one eventhough i don't know him so well. call it a gut instinct (and that's what worries me...i'm jinxing it). anyway, i had a bit of my nervous stomach thing and a pretty sleepless night thinking about the meeting. and what do you know...
got the call this morning. he's bed-ridden. so so ill. poor guy sounded awful. but of course it made me feel awful. this sounds so fucking stupid, but i feel like i've miraculously contracted his illness as i started to feel a little shitty later on. HA! i'm sure it's a combo of being bummed and over-tired. i'll get over it. just being dramatic i think.
the way i did make the crappy day ok though was i ordered myself my xmas/business write-off prezzie. a new G4 12" powerbook w/superdrive! so stoked!!
there's an upside to everything i suppose.
things are going remarkably well for me here. my new life change has brought good things. i feel like i'm still learning everyday.
i'm still in exploration mode. of course i don't have it all figured out yet. i'm just feeling it all out, making decisions at will and good karma or something has made most all of it a-ok. i must remind myself of these things.
my weekend couldn't have been better. except for the fact that i was in procrastination mode with my work (which weighed a little on me). but besides that i had a fantastic time. here's the gist:
friday night was the continuation of the LOTR trilogy. my friend matt towers organized the whole thing. got us tickets for the 2 fridays prior to the opening of the return of the kind...they were showing the extended versions of FOTR and TT each consecutive friday. we sat right next to michael moore! i gave him props in a pretty lame way. but i had to say something.
saturday met up with amy's old dear friend (and my new friend) danny. he told me about this play thing...kids ages 9 to 11 wrote short plays that adults acted out. sounded like a cool idea. i rode the elevator up to the 4th floor with martha plimpton who mentioned she had to hurry because she was in the play. i couldn't help but look at her and think "that bitch got to fuck river." just so happened that she was one of the best actors in the plays. super funny. the whole thing was a hoot. loved watching those kids see their plays put on. it got me all choked up.
we had some time to kill and decided to brave the crowds and go to macys. we were on a flask mission. it was total holiday insanity. pretty amusing actually, when you didn't really have to buy anything. made our way up to santa's village, to see "the real santa" as advertised. took some funny pics of each other posing with the elves and santa himself.
next was what danny and i deemed "the boombox parade." read all about it here. it was freezing outside but super fun and christmasy. it was awesome and i liked it.
then it was off to williamsburg to this. it was weird, but kinda hysterical. only in NY man. that show would have never happened in LA. i can guarantee.
sunday was some work and preparations for jessica's friends' holiday party. great food (turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, all the fixins), nice new people, a christmas tree in the living room, secret santa prezzies, the whole nine. good times.
monday, got an email from "crush boy." got v. excited. hadn't heard from him for a bit as he was out of town. we made plans for today which got me all a-twitter. i haven't been stoked on a dude in so long. i'm sure i've built some fantasy thing in my head...but i do feel something for this one eventhough i don't know him so well. call it a gut instinct (and that's what worries me...i'm jinxing it). anyway, i had a bit of my nervous stomach thing and a pretty sleepless night thinking about the meeting. and what do you know...
got the call this morning. he's bed-ridden. so so ill. poor guy sounded awful. but of course it made me feel awful. this sounds so fucking stupid, but i feel like i've miraculously contracted his illness as i started to feel a little shitty later on. HA! i'm sure it's a combo of being bummed and over-tired. i'll get over it. just being dramatic i think.
the way i did make the crappy day ok though was i ordered myself my xmas/business write-off prezzie. a new G4 12" powerbook w/superdrive! so stoked!!
there's an upside to everything i suppose.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
hangovers suck!
yesterday was a complete waste because of my stupidity the night before.
i honestly don't know how it happened, but i managed to get trolleyed (as my british friend lucy likes to call it).
i met with her to go to rude movements to see dj jazzy jeff play.
it was packed and so much fun! he played all the classics, seamlessly woven together. very nice!
ended up talking to and dancing with some nice guy. had some drinks. more talking. more dancing. more drinks. and so on.
i didn't even realize i was so buzzed until i went outside with mr. nice guy.
he offered to give me a ride home, which i gladly expected. no cab fee sounded good to me at that point.
went outside, only to find his car had been towed. second time i'd seen that in the meat packing district. bastards.
felt sorry for the guy, so i let him crash at my pad. and honestly, not a whole lot happened because i was too out of it to deal (and have had someone else on my mind--let's just call him "crush boy").
i was planning on waking up early the next day to get going on my new project but it didn't happen.
the whole day was shot to shit.
greg poth came over and we had a nice vietnamese dinner. watched some bad tv and called it a night.
fucking booze man.
NY city will do it to you.
i didn't want to believe the hype, but it's looking like the longer you live here, the more you drink.
i honestly don't know how it happened, but i managed to get trolleyed (as my british friend lucy likes to call it).
i met with her to go to rude movements to see dj jazzy jeff play.
it was packed and so much fun! he played all the classics, seamlessly woven together. very nice!
ended up talking to and dancing with some nice guy. had some drinks. more talking. more dancing. more drinks. and so on.
i didn't even realize i was so buzzed until i went outside with mr. nice guy.
he offered to give me a ride home, which i gladly expected. no cab fee sounded good to me at that point.
went outside, only to find his car had been towed. second time i'd seen that in the meat packing district. bastards.
felt sorry for the guy, so i let him crash at my pad. and honestly, not a whole lot happened because i was too out of it to deal (and have had someone else on my mind--let's just call him "crush boy").
i was planning on waking up early the next day to get going on my new project but it didn't happen.
the whole day was shot to shit.
greg poth came over and we had a nice vietnamese dinner. watched some bad tv and called it a night.
fucking booze man.
NY city will do it to you.
i didn't want to believe the hype, but it's looking like the longer you live here, the more you drink.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
happy day
today was a good day. nope, a great day.
first, i got a call from the director of a new film that is going to the Sundance Film Festival.
i met with him last week to talk about creating a website for his film. i watched the movie and it's actually pretty good. stars joe pantoliano (from "the sapranos" and "memento") and jennifer tilley. anyway, i sent him the proposal yesterday and got the "go ahead" call today! YES!!! he apparently loved my proposal. i think i'm finally getting good at this stuff. it's all about practice, persistence and confidence (oh, and encouragement from your friends when you're not feeling so confident... big thanks goes to amy for her help yesterday!!).
i just got back from a brainstorming lunch session with the m. night movie marketing people in rockafellar center. that was rad. i feel so damn legit, it's weird. approval for a new cool project and a "power lunch" uptown. HA! new york city baby. i'm doing it. and loving it. let's hope i can keep up with this crazy pace.
first, i got a call from the director of a new film that is going to the Sundance Film Festival.
i met with him last week to talk about creating a website for his film. i watched the movie and it's actually pretty good. stars joe pantoliano (from "the sapranos" and "memento") and jennifer tilley. anyway, i sent him the proposal yesterday and got the "go ahead" call today! YES!!! he apparently loved my proposal. i think i'm finally getting good at this stuff. it's all about practice, persistence and confidence (oh, and encouragement from your friends when you're not feeling so confident... big thanks goes to amy for her help yesterday!!).
i just got back from a brainstorming lunch session with the m. night movie marketing people in rockafellar center. that was rad. i feel so damn legit, it's weird. approval for a new cool project and a "power lunch" uptown. HA! new york city baby. i'm doing it. and loving it. let's hope i can keep up with this crazy pace.
Saturday, December 06, 2003
out of curiousity
i'm wondering how many of you are actually reading this here blog?
i'd love to get some sort of head count...as i'm still wondering if i should shell out the dough for a fancy blog situation (i'm starting to detest this ugly ass blog template).
please email me and let me know!
i'd love to get some sort of head count...as i'm still wondering if i should shell out the dough for a fancy blog situation (i'm starting to detest this ugly ass blog template).
please email me and let me know!
new pics
hey friends...
i just uploaded some a fresh batch in the photo section.
i know it's still ghetto (no slide show). i'm still pondering whether or not i should go full out and get some real blogging software (complete with photo slide show screens).
until i decide, you're gonna have to deal with the ghetto version.
be sure to check the "snow" folder (pics i took yesterday and last night of our crazy little snow storm going on here).
there are also a few new ones in "friends," "me," and "home" if you're interested.
enjoy!
new pics
i just uploaded some a fresh batch in the photo section.
i know it's still ghetto (no slide show). i'm still pondering whether or not i should go full out and get some real blogging software (complete with photo slide show screens).
until i decide, you're gonna have to deal with the ghetto version.
be sure to check the "snow" folder (pics i took yesterday and last night of our crazy little snow storm going on here).
there are also a few new ones in "friends," "me," and "home" if you're interested.
enjoy!
new pics
Friday, December 05, 2003
cabbage soup
forgot to mention.
last week, with amy here and all the eating out and the beginnings of the holidays, i ate like a fucking pig. pizza, sweets, all that turkey, not to mention the insane amounts of booze i put in my body. let's just say, i felt like a bloated slob. and put on a couple too.
jessica was feeling the same way and suggested we do the famous cabbage soup diet. if you know me, you know i'm really not one for dieting. let along reading the ingredients that goes into the shit i put in my body. if i want it, i eat it. i did do that cleanse once and actually liked it and thought it'd be a good idea to do this before xmas binging.
i'm on day 5 and have to say i feel pretty good. i've fudged a little. instead of tomatoes today, i had peppers and broccoli. instead of skim milk yesterday, i had soy milk. whatever. good thing is i haven't had any bread. the energy level has been really good and i actually lost about 4 pounds! not that i really needed to lose much, but a few pounds never hurt.
when i told my mom i was doing this thing and she exclaimed "the cabbage soup diet! i used to do that. it's been around forever. but it makes you constipated and gives you bad gas." no constipation for me...but she was right about the gas. heh. good thing i work at home.
last week, with amy here and all the eating out and the beginnings of the holidays, i ate like a fucking pig. pizza, sweets, all that turkey, not to mention the insane amounts of booze i put in my body. let's just say, i felt like a bloated slob. and put on a couple too.
jessica was feeling the same way and suggested we do the famous cabbage soup diet. if you know me, you know i'm really not one for dieting. let along reading the ingredients that goes into the shit i put in my body. if i want it, i eat it. i did do that cleanse once and actually liked it and thought it'd be a good idea to do this before xmas binging.
i'm on day 5 and have to say i feel pretty good. i've fudged a little. instead of tomatoes today, i had peppers and broccoli. instead of skim milk yesterday, i had soy milk. whatever. good thing is i haven't had any bread. the energy level has been really good and i actually lost about 4 pounds! not that i really needed to lose much, but a few pounds never hurt.
when i told my mom i was doing this thing and she exclaimed "the cabbage soup diet! i used to do that. it's been around forever. but it makes you constipated and gives you bad gas." no constipation for me...but she was right about the gas. heh. good thing i work at home.
the amazing, the sensational...lypsinka!
jessica had free equity tickets to see some show last night and asked if i wanted to go. "what kind of show?" i asked. when she sent me the link for lypsinka i knew i had to go. come on now, a crazy guy in drag doing song and dance numbers, all lip synced? how could i not? i mean i was the girl who was dying to get on the shows "puttin on the hits" and mtv's "lip service." i LIVE for lip syncing!
so i met jess at the off-broadway theater in the west village. come to think of it, this was the first theatrical show i'd been to since i moved here, so i was kinda excited. the theater was decent sized, but the seats were ridiculously close to each other. poor jessica was pratically spread eagle to fit her long legs in there. the show started in typical drag form...lypsinka came out and did her couple numbers in some fabulous 40s gown, hair and make-up done to a tee. pretty funny. my favorite bits were when she lipped along to these instructional audio records about how to be the perfect woman...what to wear, how to apply make-up, etc. her expressions were so on point! the other good gimmick was she would splice together little bits of dialogue from campy films and would answer a pretend phone, shouting the dialogue to the imaginary person on the other end. man, how i wished i could have named all those references! i got the few obvious ones, like "whatever happened to baby jane" and "mommy dearest" (the gay classics), but there were so many i didn't know. i would have loved to have had a reference list given out. so many great songs i would have loved to have known as well.
the classic that had me in stitches at the end was a version of "the 12 days of christmas" sung by this ridiculously drunk woman...a la lucille ball. by the end it was "...and a bird on a tree with a leafy thing hanging off..." you HAD to hear it! i was laughing so hard i was crying.
so i met jess at the off-broadway theater in the west village. come to think of it, this was the first theatrical show i'd been to since i moved here, so i was kinda excited. the theater was decent sized, but the seats were ridiculously close to each other. poor jessica was pratically spread eagle to fit her long legs in there. the show started in typical drag form...lypsinka came out and did her couple numbers in some fabulous 40s gown, hair and make-up done to a tee. pretty funny. my favorite bits were when she lipped along to these instructional audio records about how to be the perfect woman...what to wear, how to apply make-up, etc. her expressions were so on point! the other good gimmick was she would splice together little bits of dialogue from campy films and would answer a pretend phone, shouting the dialogue to the imaginary person on the other end. man, how i wished i could have named all those references! i got the few obvious ones, like "whatever happened to baby jane" and "mommy dearest" (the gay classics), but there were so many i didn't know. i would have loved to have had a reference list given out. so many great songs i would have loved to have known as well.
the classic that had me in stitches at the end was a version of "the 12 days of christmas" sung by this ridiculously drunk woman...a la lucille ball. by the end it was "...and a bird on a tree with a leafy thing hanging off..." you HAD to hear it! i was laughing so hard i was crying.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
over a week
yikes. i just realized it's been over a week since i've written. and in all honesty, it's been due to my busy schedule this week and my visitor last week. both things, good things. amy's visit was fantastic. was really great to have her here. we did it up. dinners, dancing, shopping, and drinking. oh the drinking. i think the highlight of her trip was the night we went out to brooklyn to my new favorite bar. yes, i trekked out to brooklyn to go to a bar. so sue me. i love that place. if i could find a cheap apt. right next door to this place, i think i'd move. it's just got "megan vibe" all over it. started the night at a restaurant with sake and beer. made our way to the bar and got the $5 mojitos. they were so good. the music was so good. our little spot on the couch downstairs was just perfect. a few mojitos later and we were WASTED! the perfect buzz though...just cracking up at ourselves all night. more taking digi pics of each other and laughing uncontrollably at every single one. managed to get off the couch and dance very sloppily on the little dance floor to the latin sounds. so great!
another highlight was thanksgiving of course. a good crew of us made it out to vicki's parents' place in westchester county. so beautiful out there. her family was great and put on the whole spread. after dinner, the musical theater kids did some singing around the piano. i loved that. reminded me of the old days at grandma hill's doing the same thing.
friday night was an antibalas show (and my new friend zak opened for them). that was super fun...love that band. amy and i did our sabada african routine and got a bunch of people in the crowd excited. not to mention the drummer in the band who wanted to put us on the guestlist the next night to come up on stage and perform. that didn't happen, but it was a sweet compliment.
and sunday was board game night with jeffrey, shioban, amy and her old friend danny, who i'd never met. played a little battle of the sexes and cranium. two games which i'd never played and loved both! the boys won battle and the girls won cranium! just proved that we were smarter all around and they were better at the dumb girly questions. haha.
amy left on monday. i got a message to go check out antibalas again for a free show at a book release party right by my house. got talked into going (was thinking i shouldn't because of the 7:30am train to philly i had to be on the next morning). glad i did though. there was free booze a-plenty. started with the red wine. then moved on to the lethal whisky. oh man. the band played. i danced and thoroughly enjoyed myself. once the band finished, craziness ensued. no more details necessary. email me if you want the juicy bits.
basically, getting on that 7:30am train almost killed me. i really wanted to die. the day in philly went OK. now i'm back. so much work to do. a couple little projects on top of the big project and a meeting for another project later today in jersery. i'm a roll.
another highlight was thanksgiving of course. a good crew of us made it out to vicki's parents' place in westchester county. so beautiful out there. her family was great and put on the whole spread. after dinner, the musical theater kids did some singing around the piano. i loved that. reminded me of the old days at grandma hill's doing the same thing.
friday night was an antibalas show (and my new friend zak opened for them). that was super fun...love that band. amy and i did our sabada african routine and got a bunch of people in the crowd excited. not to mention the drummer in the band who wanted to put us on the guestlist the next night to come up on stage and perform. that didn't happen, but it was a sweet compliment.
and sunday was board game night with jeffrey, shioban, amy and her old friend danny, who i'd never met. played a little battle of the sexes and cranium. two games which i'd never played and loved both! the boys won battle and the girls won cranium! just proved that we were smarter all around and they were better at the dumb girly questions. haha.
amy left on monday. i got a message to go check out antibalas again for a free show at a book release party right by my house. got talked into going (was thinking i shouldn't because of the 7:30am train to philly i had to be on the next morning). glad i did though. there was free booze a-plenty. started with the red wine. then moved on to the lethal whisky. oh man. the band played. i danced and thoroughly enjoyed myself. once the band finished, craziness ensued. no more details necessary. email me if you want the juicy bits.
basically, getting on that 7:30am train almost killed me. i really wanted to die. the day in philly went OK. now i'm back. so much work to do. a couple little projects on top of the big project and a meeting for another project later today in jersery. i'm a roll.
Monday, November 24, 2003
sexy ladies
friday night, amy arrived. she and vicki and i went to dinner and got drinks afterwards.
we went to a bar in my hood that was a bit on the yuppie side, but the jukebox and drinks were good.
vicki noticed straight away that one of the dudes in the bar was from this documentary called born rich. she said this guy was a vanderbilt or something and was the heir to the whitney museum among other notable NY landmarks (ah, that's him...josiah hornblower: here). for some reason she wanted to talk to him really bad, i think just to see how messed up he was. he and his croonies looked like complete dorks. i mean all 4 of them were wearing belted pleated pants (a la dockers), button down shirts tucked into the belted pants complete with sockless loafers! all of them! at one point we were standing outside right next to the dorky foursome and vic wouldn't speak up. i didn't give a shit about them, so i interjected:
"HEY, two of you are wearing the exact same loafers. is that on purpose?" that was our "in." they were totally humorless, didn't get my joke at all. do the rich train their offspring to have no sense of humor? jesus. lighten up boys. we attempted to chat and joke with them for a few minutes and decided to go back inside once we realized how far those sticks were up their asses.
the rest of the night consisted of the three of us taking ridiculous digi pics of ourselves. we kept taking bad ones and it became a game...who could take the ugliest pics. so funny!! here is a a little quicktime slide show i made of the best of the pics: sexy ladies. be sure to keep the speakers on, since the song is the best part. enjoy!
we went to a bar in my hood that was a bit on the yuppie side, but the jukebox and drinks were good.
vicki noticed straight away that one of the dudes in the bar was from this documentary called born rich. she said this guy was a vanderbilt or something and was the heir to the whitney museum among other notable NY landmarks (ah, that's him...josiah hornblower: here). for some reason she wanted to talk to him really bad, i think just to see how messed up he was. he and his croonies looked like complete dorks. i mean all 4 of them were wearing belted pleated pants (a la dockers), button down shirts tucked into the belted pants complete with sockless loafers! all of them! at one point we were standing outside right next to the dorky foursome and vic wouldn't speak up. i didn't give a shit about them, so i interjected:
"HEY, two of you are wearing the exact same loafers. is that on purpose?" that was our "in." they were totally humorless, didn't get my joke at all. do the rich train their offspring to have no sense of humor? jesus. lighten up boys. we attempted to chat and joke with them for a few minutes and decided to go back inside once we realized how far those sticks were up their asses.
the rest of the night consisted of the three of us taking ridiculous digi pics of ourselves. we kept taking bad ones and it became a game...who could take the ugliest pics. so funny!! here is a a little quicktime slide show i made of the best of the pics: sexy ladies. be sure to keep the speakers on, since the song is the best part. enjoy!
Friday, November 21, 2003
validation
my hard work has paid off. so far.
mr producer just emailed this: "the site is STUPENDOUS! I am so excited!" sweet!
i didn't think it was THAT good, but i'm happy he's happy.
i actually have a whole day now to slack off. nice.
amy gets here tonight. we're going to dinner with vicki which will be great. then to drinks somewhere. could get crazy. excited for girl time.
my favorite.
i think i'll watch a couple more episodes of the office, which i just got from netflix. i LOVE netflix. such a great investment. and the 3 episodes i've seen of the office have been great. such a sucker for british humor. the main character is soooo good though! his "comedy" and laughing at his own lame jokes kills me!
that is all for now.
mr producer just emailed this: "the site is STUPENDOUS! I am so excited!" sweet!
i didn't think it was THAT good, but i'm happy he's happy.
i actually have a whole day now to slack off. nice.
amy gets here tonight. we're going to dinner with vicki which will be great. then to drinks somewhere. could get crazy. excited for girl time.
my favorite.
i think i'll watch a couple more episodes of the office, which i just got from netflix. i LOVE netflix. such a great investment. and the 3 episodes i've seen of the office have been great. such a sucker for british humor. the main character is soooo good though! his "comedy" and laughing at his own lame jokes kills me!
that is all for now.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
trippy trip
so i suppose i haven't clued you all into what this "cool project" of mine is exactly. i've signed my life away to a confidentiality agreement, so i can't say much. BUT, i can say that the oh-so-secret project is a documentary about m. night shyamalan. i have a small role in designing a portion of it and honestly can't say much more than that at the moment.
yesterday was the big business trip. i got another paid train ride down to Philly to meet with mr. producer of "the documentary" and the big wigs on night's new film called the village. mr. producer is being ultra cool about the whole thing, bringing me in as this "top designer" so i feel all legit with the fancy people and shit (i'm usually totally intimidated in those situations). so it's great! anyway, i got picked up from the station and got wisked away to the oh-so-secret closed set of the village. it was literally in the middle of nowhere in pennsylvania. couldn't even tell you where we were...just some creepy-looking ultra rural woodsy area with a smattering of trees, a couple horses and a big stone house. the security was intense! when driving up to the main entrance, there were about 5 guards asking who we were, then a checklist, then a call on the walkie to the production trailer and finally the OK. insane! made our way to trailer village, which consisted of literally about 50 trailers: the production office, the make-up and wardrobe trailers, the camera, lighting, gaffing, and transpo trucks, wardrobe, huge bathroom trailers, not to mention the stars' fancy motorhomes (i mean just check the cast line-up here--DANG!).
i was taken in to meet night's righthand man and the PR people for the "documentary." we had a great hour long meeting, with ideas flying around. so nice to be amongst people with good, smart ideas! didn't feel hollywoodish at all. i hate to say it, but i think the difference between LA and NY is that people in the production world actually have intellect, not just hot air in their brains. that's been my experience so far. it was refreshing to be in a group of people sharing clever thoughts. i also realized that i LOVE the research process of a project...and these PR people had really done their research and i was on the same page with them. something to think about (always great to discover what you actually like and are good at!).
so the most bizarre part about this whole job is the small world aspect that came up. i knew my old roommate, josh was working on a film in pennsylvania, but i had no idea what it was. i mean, how many big budget films can be shooting in penn. anyway? turns out, he is on the village. how random is that? so night's righthand man loved this and asked if i wanted to see josh. of course i did. so he called him down from set to come into the office. he opens the door and there i am! it was great! we caught up for a bit and he had to run back to set. while i was chatting to josh, i missed my opportunity to meet night himself. oh well. hopefully i'll be back to the set before they wrap. i know, i know, i keep saying i wanted to get away from hollywood bullshit, but this was a really positive experience (besides all the "hush-hush"-ness of it). i guess it's just about knowing the right people and feeling legit about the job you are doing. ah, aging...gotta love it.
yesterday was the big business trip. i got another paid train ride down to Philly to meet with mr. producer of "the documentary" and the big wigs on night's new film called the village. mr. producer is being ultra cool about the whole thing, bringing me in as this "top designer" so i feel all legit with the fancy people and shit (i'm usually totally intimidated in those situations). so it's great! anyway, i got picked up from the station and got wisked away to the oh-so-secret closed set of the village. it was literally in the middle of nowhere in pennsylvania. couldn't even tell you where we were...just some creepy-looking ultra rural woodsy area with a smattering of trees, a couple horses and a big stone house. the security was intense! when driving up to the main entrance, there were about 5 guards asking who we were, then a checklist, then a call on the walkie to the production trailer and finally the OK. insane! made our way to trailer village, which consisted of literally about 50 trailers: the production office, the make-up and wardrobe trailers, the camera, lighting, gaffing, and transpo trucks, wardrobe, huge bathroom trailers, not to mention the stars' fancy motorhomes (i mean just check the cast line-up here--DANG!).
i was taken in to meet night's righthand man and the PR people for the "documentary." we had a great hour long meeting, with ideas flying around. so nice to be amongst people with good, smart ideas! didn't feel hollywoodish at all. i hate to say it, but i think the difference between LA and NY is that people in the production world actually have intellect, not just hot air in their brains. that's been my experience so far. it was refreshing to be in a group of people sharing clever thoughts. i also realized that i LOVE the research process of a project...and these PR people had really done their research and i was on the same page with them. something to think about (always great to discover what you actually like and are good at!).
so the most bizarre part about this whole job is the small world aspect that came up. i knew my old roommate, josh was working on a film in pennsylvania, but i had no idea what it was. i mean, how many big budget films can be shooting in penn. anyway? turns out, he is on the village. how random is that? so night's righthand man loved this and asked if i wanted to see josh. of course i did. so he called him down from set to come into the office. he opens the door and there i am! it was great! we caught up for a bit and he had to run back to set. while i was chatting to josh, i missed my opportunity to meet night himself. oh well. hopefully i'll be back to the set before they wrap. i know, i know, i keep saying i wanted to get away from hollywood bullshit, but this was a really positive experience (besides all the "hush-hush"-ness of it). i guess it's just about knowing the right people and feeling legit about the job you are doing. ah, aging...gotta love it.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
back to life, back to reality
monday night. reality tv at it's best. i thought my move to NY would "change" me...
i thought that moving here would allow me to expand my creative horizons and get away from the hollywood bullshit i was so tired of.
i thought i'd be less interested in celebrity's lives and about which new film was coming out.
i thought i'd be going to art shows and hob-nobbing with ultra hip arty types, talking about the latest gallery openings.
no, not really, but i sure didn't think i'd go back to my reality tv obsession.
here lies the problem. when i first moved in, i didn't turn on the tv at all. i was too pre-occupied with city happenings and meeting new people and getting all my shit together. now that i've settled into my place, it's come full circle. jessica (the roomie) works all day and lately has been coming home after work. the the tellie gets turned on and it's all downhill from there. actually, it hasn't been that bad, but we've both been sick and don't want to go out, and tv is the next best thing. besides, we were all excited to see the britney spears special on abc. i don't know what it is about that girl. she's just got star quality. i want to hate her so bad. i actually kind of do loathe her (and don't really like her music at all), but i CAN'T STOP WATCHING. she had all these big dance production numbers with amazing dancers backing her up. i wanted to check out the other dancers moves, but i couldn't take my eyes of britney. what is it about her? sure, she's got a great bod and those little sexy outfits, but i don't find her all that pretty. she just has a way of performing her ass off and it's appealing to watch the girl work it.
after that, we got sucked into watching the second half of "joe millionaire." very stupid, but very satisfying to watch. those euro girls are bitchy. i hate cat and hope that poor guy does not pick that twat. oh oh, and then...we switched over to watch "average joe." two reality shows with the name "joe" in them. barf! the way those shows are done just keeps you coming back. i just can't help myself. what will the next twist be? who will the girl pick? what will he/she do in THAT situation? i wish i didn't love them, but i just do. i guess you can take the girl out of LA, but you can't take LA out of the girl.
i thought that moving here would allow me to expand my creative horizons and get away from the hollywood bullshit i was so tired of.
i thought i'd be less interested in celebrity's lives and about which new film was coming out.
i thought i'd be going to art shows and hob-nobbing with ultra hip arty types, talking about the latest gallery openings.
no, not really, but i sure didn't think i'd go back to my reality tv obsession.
here lies the problem. when i first moved in, i didn't turn on the tv at all. i was too pre-occupied with city happenings and meeting new people and getting all my shit together. now that i've settled into my place, it's come full circle. jessica (the roomie) works all day and lately has been coming home after work. the the tellie gets turned on and it's all downhill from there. actually, it hasn't been that bad, but we've both been sick and don't want to go out, and tv is the next best thing. besides, we were all excited to see the britney spears special on abc. i don't know what it is about that girl. she's just got star quality. i want to hate her so bad. i actually kind of do loathe her (and don't really like her music at all), but i CAN'T STOP WATCHING. she had all these big dance production numbers with amazing dancers backing her up. i wanted to check out the other dancers moves, but i couldn't take my eyes of britney. what is it about her? sure, she's got a great bod and those little sexy outfits, but i don't find her all that pretty. she just has a way of performing her ass off and it's appealing to watch the girl work it.
after that, we got sucked into watching the second half of "joe millionaire." very stupid, but very satisfying to watch. those euro girls are bitchy. i hate cat and hope that poor guy does not pick that twat. oh oh, and then...we switched over to watch "average joe." two reality shows with the name "joe" in them. barf! the way those shows are done just keeps you coming back. i just can't help myself. what will the next twist be? who will the girl pick? what will he/she do in THAT situation? i wish i didn't love them, but i just do. i guess you can take the girl out of LA, but you can't take LA out of the girl.
Monday, November 17, 2003
friendster saturday night
friendster is a strange thing sometimes. let's add up the different cool things that have happened to me as a result of friendster...1. i got my apartment in NY, 2. i got some hot summer lovin', 3. i found my web programmer that is helping me on my latest project, 4. i made a record nerd friend here that gave me some vinyl, a list of records stores all over the city and free tickets to the bugz in the attic show tomorrow, 5. got reacquainted with some old friends, and 6. made some new friends (duh). the last one was what happened on saturday night. i finally got to meet lisa who had written me on friendster because she had just moved to NY from LA. we started an email friendship...she had moved here in the summer so she was sharing all of her stories about the move, etc. then when i moved here, we were supposed to meet and it just didn't happen at first, but we finally met on saturday night. her friend mark from LA was in town that night, on tour with his band. she really wanted me to meet him when i was still in LA. so it was a good excuse to meet up...i could kill two birds with one stone.
met up with them at lucy's, a sort of divey bar in the east village. it's always kinda weird to meet people from the internet, not knowing what their personality will be like in real life and if you'll get along. but this was cool...lisa was a nice as nice could be. we chatted away. and her friend mark was a looker. i fucked up on that one, not meeting him earlier in LA. cool dude too...we bonded on a mutual love for oingo boingo. the whole group was super fun and it was nice to be out with a whole new crew. the funniest part of the evening was when one of them (we still don't know who exactly) stunk up the entire bar with a vicious indian food fart. hilarity ensued when the placing blame game began. still don't know who, but guessing was fun. love a group who can laugh at their own stench. my kind of people.
met up with them at lucy's, a sort of divey bar in the east village. it's always kinda weird to meet people from the internet, not knowing what their personality will be like in real life and if you'll get along. but this was cool...lisa was a nice as nice could be. we chatted away. and her friend mark was a looker. i fucked up on that one, not meeting him earlier in LA. cool dude too...we bonded on a mutual love for oingo boingo. the whole group was super fun and it was nice to be out with a whole new crew. the funniest part of the evening was when one of them (we still don't know who exactly) stunk up the entire bar with a vicious indian food fart. hilarity ensued when the placing blame game began. still don't know who, but guessing was fun. love a group who can laugh at their own stench. my kind of people.
Saturday, November 15, 2003
the cough from hell
so last night was vicki's b-day gathering. i was still feeling pretty shitty, but knew i a) wanted to celebrate her birthday and b) had to get out of the house...it was friday night for crying out loud. i met up with greg poth after work and we walked to the LES to have dinner at this place that he claimed was the best mexican food in NY. i hadn't had mexican since i got here, so i thought i'd see if his claims were true. got the enchiladas, which i was sure would be a true test...enchiladas can either be fantastic or really bad and if they were good, he'd be right and i'd be happy to have found a good place for south of the border eats on the east coast. the food was actually pretty good, i must admit. all white meat in the chicken which made me happy. the tomatillo sauce was pretty good too. the beans and rice, not so much. and the salsa needed some help. but all in all, it was tasty. and pretty cheap. $3.50 piña coladas to boot!
next was the b-day party which happened to be at the bar next to the restaurant. the bar was kind of weird. just a bar, nothing to it really. vic was there with a crew of people i didn't really know, but were all very friendly. started drinking beer, as i wasn't prepared to get hammered in my still-sick state. so i'm talking to people and then the cough comes on strong. i apologize for coughing so much, it's kind of embarrassing. more people show up, more beers, more fun is had. i end up talking to this guy who's all up in my business for coming out with this horrible cough. then he tells me it's the "little italy" cough. you've got it now and it's gonna last all winter! fuck that guy. that actually freaked me out, because i've heard of such things. this is just the start of the cold season and if i've got it this bad already, i'm so freakin screwed. the night wore on and i was about ready to get that cough to bed. my roomie was there and i figured we'd walk home together, but she insisted on staying for another drink. fine. one more. the cough was getting out of control. i think other people in the bar must have been looking at me like i was some freak for being out with that thing. i kept getting "aw!"s from others around me. "i'm usually much more fun at parties" i would laugh off to new people. it was really TIME TO GO! jessica kept lingering and finally, i put my foot down. we said our goodbyes, got the next cab and headed back, coughing uncontrollably all the way. it just got worse at home. i downed my robotusin and headed straight for bed. and guess what? it's still HERE this morning. my throat and lungs hurt! if that guy is right about all winter cough i don't know what i'm going to do...
next was the b-day party which happened to be at the bar next to the restaurant. the bar was kind of weird. just a bar, nothing to it really. vic was there with a crew of people i didn't really know, but were all very friendly. started drinking beer, as i wasn't prepared to get hammered in my still-sick state. so i'm talking to people and then the cough comes on strong. i apologize for coughing so much, it's kind of embarrassing. more people show up, more beers, more fun is had. i end up talking to this guy who's all up in my business for coming out with this horrible cough. then he tells me it's the "little italy" cough. you've got it now and it's gonna last all winter! fuck that guy. that actually freaked me out, because i've heard of such things. this is just the start of the cold season and if i've got it this bad already, i'm so freakin screwed. the night wore on and i was about ready to get that cough to bed. my roomie was there and i figured we'd walk home together, but she insisted on staying for another drink. fine. one more. the cough was getting out of control. i think other people in the bar must have been looking at me like i was some freak for being out with that thing. i kept getting "aw!"s from others around me. "i'm usually much more fun at parties" i would laugh off to new people. it was really TIME TO GO! jessica kept lingering and finally, i put my foot down. we said our goodbyes, got the next cab and headed back, coughing uncontrollably all the way. it just got worse at home. i downed my robotusin and headed straight for bed. and guess what? it's still HERE this morning. my throat and lungs hurt! if that guy is right about all winter cough i don't know what i'm going to do...
Friday, November 14, 2003
friends in high places
no, not low places, high places.
not having a fax machine, or a land line has proven to be a bit of a pain in the ass the last couple weeks. with this web project i'm currently working on, i've had to get contracts and deal memos and 1-9's and W-4's and all kinds of paperwork. friggin film productions man. so annoying. so everytime the apc (assistand production coordinator) calls me, he wants my fax number. at first i tried to act professional about it, saying how i'd just moved into this "office" and hadn't set up my fax yet. likely story. then i graduated to, "well, here is the number you can fax me" which was the staples a few blocks over. turns out staples charges an ungodly ammount to fax a stinkin piece of paper...$3 for 1 sheet and $1 for any more sheets of paper. ridiculous! i had to think of something better than this. my friend greg pothier happens to work at miss sixty about 5 blocks up the street from me and when i went to visit him last, i asked if they had a fax machine. sure enough! so that is my new fax. when the apc called today he asked what number he should fax to. forget lying. i told him flat out "i'm accepting faxes from my friend's workplace. please send my faxes attention: greg. thank you." and just like that, i got my free faxes today. no muss, no fuss.
as for the project, it's going quite well. i've got the basic template done and almost all of the "about" section complete. the rest of the stuff needs to be done by mr. programmer. i'm supposed to MAYBE go down to philly next week to meet with the sci-fi channel higher up's, and possibly mr. night himself. we'll see if that happens or not. but that would be cool! work my charms on the fancy people. but wait...didn't i move to NY to get away from hollywood shit? twisted world man. but at the same time, i'm not complaining.
not having a fax machine, or a land line has proven to be a bit of a pain in the ass the last couple weeks. with this web project i'm currently working on, i've had to get contracts and deal memos and 1-9's and W-4's and all kinds of paperwork. friggin film productions man. so annoying. so everytime the apc (assistand production coordinator) calls me, he wants my fax number. at first i tried to act professional about it, saying how i'd just moved into this "office" and hadn't set up my fax yet. likely story. then i graduated to, "well, here is the number you can fax me" which was the staples a few blocks over. turns out staples charges an ungodly ammount to fax a stinkin piece of paper...$3 for 1 sheet and $1 for any more sheets of paper. ridiculous! i had to think of something better than this. my friend greg pothier happens to work at miss sixty about 5 blocks up the street from me and when i went to visit him last, i asked if they had a fax machine. sure enough! so that is my new fax. when the apc called today he asked what number he should fax to. forget lying. i told him flat out "i'm accepting faxes from my friend's workplace. please send my faxes attention: greg. thank you." and just like that, i got my free faxes today. no muss, no fuss.
as for the project, it's going quite well. i've got the basic template done and almost all of the "about" section complete. the rest of the stuff needs to be done by mr. programmer. i'm supposed to MAYBE go down to philly next week to meet with the sci-fi channel higher up's, and possibly mr. night himself. we'll see if that happens or not. but that would be cool! work my charms on the fancy people. but wait...didn't i move to NY to get away from hollywood shit? twisted world man. but at the same time, i'm not complaining.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
sick again
goddammit! yes, i got sick again. it's not a horrible illness, just that sore throat, stuffy, headachey thing that's just annoying. and i wake up feeling like ass. feeling ok now, but i have a cough. UGH! is it just that i'm not used to the seasons changing? probably. i forgot about the cold. thought it wouldn't be that big of deal, but now i know...i'm a total wuss.
i love the laundry situation here. just drop off my huge bag around the corner. a couple hours later and for $12 i get everything back, clean, smelling fresh and folded better than i could do it! so great!!
as you can tell, i haven't been out much due to my sickness. been working and chilling at home. ariel and i did a little mp3 swap yesterday and i got peaches' "teaches of peaches" which i'm thoroughly enjoying. who knew?
in our exchange, we also became aware of itunes little scam. pulled the wool right over us. we had both imported cd's into itunes, which now converts the music into their own m4a files...which we found out later, will not play in other itunes programs! such a bummer. keeping us little evil music swappers under the radar i suppose. no more trading! thanks mac. damn you.
i love the laundry situation here. just drop off my huge bag around the corner. a couple hours later and for $12 i get everything back, clean, smelling fresh and folded better than i could do it! so great!!
as you can tell, i haven't been out much due to my sickness. been working and chilling at home. ariel and i did a little mp3 swap yesterday and i got peaches' "teaches of peaches" which i'm thoroughly enjoying. who knew?
in our exchange, we also became aware of itunes little scam. pulled the wool right over us. we had both imported cd's into itunes, which now converts the music into their own m4a files...which we found out later, will not play in other itunes programs! such a bummer. keeping us little evil music swappers under the radar i suppose. no more trading! thanks mac. damn you.
Monday, November 10, 2003
the hood
today was MELLOW! i was feeling a bit under the weather. woke up with a sore throat (again). my body is obviously not used to this cold weather. and let me tell you...it's been COLD. got down to the 30s this weekend. i'm so screwed for the winter!
jessica and i decided to do some shopping for the week in the neighborhood...cooking at home all week saves so much money! i hadn't really explored the chinese produce markets on mott street, so i was up for it. it was really sunny and beautiful out but BRRRRR...
the people were out in droves. it was sunday shopping madness. i felt like frogger, dodging cars and people on the sidewalks and in the streets. jessica is fast and on a mission when she walks and a couple times i had to run to catch up (what a weiner!).
the first place we went to was this asian produce place. such nice produce. it reminded me of grand central market in LA...it was so damn cheap! we got 4 bags of awesome fruits and veggies for $12! amazing. next was the fish market. 2 pounds of fresh shrimp...$8! then 2 giant FRESH salmon fillets and a pound of scallops...$16! amazing! those fish markets were a bit much though. i mean the fish were still wobbling around in their buckets, gasping for air. it was actually pretty horrible (especially since jess and i had just watched "finding nemo!"). the worst was there was a huge bucket of live frogs that some women was grabbing at for her frog stew. YUCK. i literally felt like i was in some asian country, with all the weird produce and meats and pushing and shoving and the employees yelling at you in chinese. it was a trip. many bags in hand, we rounded the corner and were back in little italy, where all the restaurant guys shout "bella!" as you walk by. i gotta say, new york is a fascinating place.
jessica and i decided to do some shopping for the week in the neighborhood...cooking at home all week saves so much money! i hadn't really explored the chinese produce markets on mott street, so i was up for it. it was really sunny and beautiful out but BRRRRR...
the people were out in droves. it was sunday shopping madness. i felt like frogger, dodging cars and people on the sidewalks and in the streets. jessica is fast and on a mission when she walks and a couple times i had to run to catch up (what a weiner!).
the first place we went to was this asian produce place. such nice produce. it reminded me of grand central market in LA...it was so damn cheap! we got 4 bags of awesome fruits and veggies for $12! amazing. next was the fish market. 2 pounds of fresh shrimp...$8! then 2 giant FRESH salmon fillets and a pound of scallops...$16! amazing! those fish markets were a bit much though. i mean the fish were still wobbling around in their buckets, gasping for air. it was actually pretty horrible (especially since jess and i had just watched "finding nemo!"). the worst was there was a huge bucket of live frogs that some women was grabbing at for her frog stew. YUCK. i literally felt like i was in some asian country, with all the weird produce and meats and pushing and shoving and the employees yelling at you in chinese. it was a trip. many bags in hand, we rounded the corner and were back in little italy, where all the restaurant guys shout "bella!" as you walk by. i gotta say, new york is a fascinating place.
Saturday, November 08, 2003
new arrangement
the other night, as my rommie and i were watching bad reality tv, i slying asked her, "so, have you ever re-arranged this living room?" "not really," she replied. "well, how about we do some re-arranging...and, er, i move my computer in here!" heh, heh. i didn't think she'd go for it cuz who wants their roommates' office in their living room, but she went for it. she's the cooooolest! i was so stoked. i'm telling you...the office in my bedroom was a bit of a joke. i mean you literally had to climb over the desk chair to get to the bed and "closet." so today we did our re-arranging. and now i'm sitting in my new spot and it's FANTASTIC! my bedroom looks HUGE now and i don't quite know what to do with all the empty space. i could really use a bookshelf, so i think i'll go back to good ol' k-mart and get myself a shitty cheap bookcase. i can deal with ugly shit for the time being. i really wonder when the day will come that i can afford nice furniture. seems like a long way away.
in other news, my venture out last night turned out to be really good, after some rough stuff in the beginning. i wanted to go out to see/hear tyler play records, since he'd invited me and all. i had made plans to meet up with my "music" friend i met a couple weeks ago, lucy--a british girl who just moved here as well, who is into the whole broken beat scene and is a dj herself. when i called her, she sounded really sick and said she couldn't make it. oh well... i actually don't mind going out by myself in NY and see it as an adventure (who knows who you will meet, if anyone). i walked to the club and found myself a seat at the bar. i happened to sit next to the guy who was by himself as well and we struck up a conversation. turned out he was from LA and was just visiting family. a nice older man, but not someone i would be stoked to be talking to (he was older and not cute by any means, but a nice enough guy). then, he offered to buy me a drink. i'm not quite sure what the etiquette is in these situations, since i obviously was not into him, but i am poor and was stoked to have a free drink. i didn't want to be an asshole, but i also didn't want the obligation of having to talk to him the rest of the night (sometimes i feel like accepting a drink from a man is a bit like whoring yourself...he pays for your company). fuck it...i accepted anyway. more chatting...then he dropped the bomb and said he had 8 kids from 3 different women. that was my golden ticket...i acted shocked and then kind of poo-poo'ed any advances he was giving me. it was ok and he knew it. then he offered to smoke a joint with me. again, i should have said no, but i went for it. we smoked some outside and when we came back in, the music was getting good. tyler was up and playing some new shit i hadn't heard before which made me happy. the dancefloor was going on and i just excused myself from old man and joined in on the dancefloor. old man was at the bar and then made his way to the dancefloor and just stood against the wall, staring at me. i tried my hardest to pretend not to notice his creepy-ness. i was dancing with some fun guy who asked "are you with that guy, cuz i don't want to piss him off." "NO!" i exclaimed. "i'm on my own." shit! THEN, old guy got the guts up to join in on the dancefloor. aw...i felt kinda bad for the guy. he really was trying, but i just wasn't going for it. i did my best "i'm not with you" moves to give him the hint without being mean. after a bit, he told me what an amazing dancer i was and that i inspired him to come dance. that was sweet. then he said it was nice to meet me and took off. easy as that.
the night got better from that point. chatted for a while with tyler, who is a super cool guy (he actually admitted to being sick of broken beat--which i agreed with! see, great minds think alike). he introduced me to his pals. one girl i really like, tchiako (she hosts rude movements) . then talked to carl, who writes for flavorpill who said he'd be happy to tell me about good goings-on. next i chatted with a dj/record label guy, chad who was also very cool. guess he plays reggae/dub stuff around town. invited me to go out with him after the club and gave me the digits. the people there were all so nice and chill. i think i found the niche that i like. all in all it turned out to be a great night out alone. free drinks, free joint, not too much hassle from old guy, and met some new great people.
in other news, my venture out last night turned out to be really good, after some rough stuff in the beginning. i wanted to go out to see/hear tyler play records, since he'd invited me and all. i had made plans to meet up with my "music" friend i met a couple weeks ago, lucy--a british girl who just moved here as well, who is into the whole broken beat scene and is a dj herself. when i called her, she sounded really sick and said she couldn't make it. oh well... i actually don't mind going out by myself in NY and see it as an adventure (who knows who you will meet, if anyone). i walked to the club and found myself a seat at the bar. i happened to sit next to the guy who was by himself as well and we struck up a conversation. turned out he was from LA and was just visiting family. a nice older man, but not someone i would be stoked to be talking to (he was older and not cute by any means, but a nice enough guy). then, he offered to buy me a drink. i'm not quite sure what the etiquette is in these situations, since i obviously was not into him, but i am poor and was stoked to have a free drink. i didn't want to be an asshole, but i also didn't want the obligation of having to talk to him the rest of the night (sometimes i feel like accepting a drink from a man is a bit like whoring yourself...he pays for your company). fuck it...i accepted anyway. more chatting...then he dropped the bomb and said he had 8 kids from 3 different women. that was my golden ticket...i acted shocked and then kind of poo-poo'ed any advances he was giving me. it was ok and he knew it. then he offered to smoke a joint with me. again, i should have said no, but i went for it. we smoked some outside and when we came back in, the music was getting good. tyler was up and playing some new shit i hadn't heard before which made me happy. the dancefloor was going on and i just excused myself from old man and joined in on the dancefloor. old man was at the bar and then made his way to the dancefloor and just stood against the wall, staring at me. i tried my hardest to pretend not to notice his creepy-ness. i was dancing with some fun guy who asked "are you with that guy, cuz i don't want to piss him off." "NO!" i exclaimed. "i'm on my own." shit! THEN, old guy got the guts up to join in on the dancefloor. aw...i felt kinda bad for the guy. he really was trying, but i just wasn't going for it. i did my best "i'm not with you" moves to give him the hint without being mean. after a bit, he told me what an amazing dancer i was and that i inspired him to come dance. that was sweet. then he said it was nice to meet me and took off. easy as that.
the night got better from that point. chatted for a while with tyler, who is a super cool guy (he actually admitted to being sick of broken beat--which i agreed with! see, great minds think alike). he introduced me to his pals. one girl i really like, tchiako (she hosts rude movements) . then talked to carl, who writes for flavorpill who said he'd be happy to tell me about good goings-on. next i chatted with a dj/record label guy, chad who was also very cool. guess he plays reggae/dub stuff around town. invited me to go out with him after the club and gave me the digits. the people there were all so nice and chill. i think i found the niche that i like. all in all it turned out to be a great night out alone. free drinks, free joint, not too much hassle from old guy, and met some new great people.
Friday, November 07, 2003
crap...how long have I been an independent?
i feel young and stupid right now. like i just graduated college and can't figure out how to pay my own bills. and it's pissing me off!
first of all, i finally decided to check my t-mobile cell phone minutes...a luxury i did not have when i was with AT&T (so i am i not used to checking them).
when i called the number, the nice automated lady said i owed $267!!!!!!!!! what the...
i couldn't believe it. knowing that this phone would be my only mode of vocal communication, i thought i was making the right move with getting the 1000 weekday minutes. here's where i feel stupid. when they say "weekday" minutes, i assumed that weekday meant you get a 1000 minutes per week, not per month! SHIT! so i went and checked my account online, thinking there was NO WAY i could have gone over that many minutes. sure enough. mutha fucka. more money down the drain. piece of shit! now i have to learn to manage my friggin minutes too. gggrrrr
next on the stupid scale...i got an email from my roomie today, saying that my rent check had bounced! how the hell could that have happened? i'm REALLY good at not bouncing checks and was being especially careful not to do anything dumb like that with a new roommate situation. who wants to be the new irresponsible roommate? not me! i actually pride myself on TCB (taking care of bizniz). so when i heard this, i flipped. so there i was AGAIN, checking my account balance online. when i moved here, i had to switch from bank of america since they don't have branches in NY (how stupid that the bank of AMERICA, is not in NY!). anyway, i went with citibank after washington mutual gave me the runaround. a very nice chinese man helped me set up my account, but i must admit, i couldn't really understand everything he said and i suppose a lot of it went over my head. i unknowingly signed up for this overdraft protection account (kind of like a loan situation, where if you don't have enough money in your checking account, you have $1400 to play with that you can pay back later). apparently you get checks for this "loan" account...which happen to look exactly like the regular checking account checks. these loan checks came to me in the mail first, and i've been writing those checks this whole time! so it made sense that my rent check bounced from this "loan" account. so LAME!!! the nice lady on the phone cleared it all up for me and said this happens a lot. well, they should explain a little better and make it much more clear on the "fake" checks! makes me mad!
moving across the country and switching all the stuff over that you've been so used to using can get quite confusing. guess i should start reading the fine print in my old age!
currently listening to: nik and nigel on milk audio which has some great shows!
first of all, i finally decided to check my t-mobile cell phone minutes...a luxury i did not have when i was with AT&T (so i am i not used to checking them).
when i called the number, the nice automated lady said i owed $267!!!!!!!!! what the...
i couldn't believe it. knowing that this phone would be my only mode of vocal communication, i thought i was making the right move with getting the 1000 weekday minutes. here's where i feel stupid. when they say "weekday" minutes, i assumed that weekday meant you get a 1000 minutes per week, not per month! SHIT! so i went and checked my account online, thinking there was NO WAY i could have gone over that many minutes. sure enough. mutha fucka. more money down the drain. piece of shit! now i have to learn to manage my friggin minutes too. gggrrrr
next on the stupid scale...i got an email from my roomie today, saying that my rent check had bounced! how the hell could that have happened? i'm REALLY good at not bouncing checks and was being especially careful not to do anything dumb like that with a new roommate situation. who wants to be the new irresponsible roommate? not me! i actually pride myself on TCB (taking care of bizniz). so when i heard this, i flipped. so there i was AGAIN, checking my account balance online. when i moved here, i had to switch from bank of america since they don't have branches in NY (how stupid that the bank of AMERICA, is not in NY!). anyway, i went with citibank after washington mutual gave me the runaround. a very nice chinese man helped me set up my account, but i must admit, i couldn't really understand everything he said and i suppose a lot of it went over my head. i unknowingly signed up for this overdraft protection account (kind of like a loan situation, where if you don't have enough money in your checking account, you have $1400 to play with that you can pay back later). apparently you get checks for this "loan" account...which happen to look exactly like the regular checking account checks. these loan checks came to me in the mail first, and i've been writing those checks this whole time! so it made sense that my rent check bounced from this "loan" account. so LAME!!! the nice lady on the phone cleared it all up for me and said this happens a lot. well, they should explain a little better and make it much more clear on the "fake" checks! makes me mad!
moving across the country and switching all the stuff over that you've been so used to using can get quite confusing. guess i should start reading the fine print in my old age!
currently listening to: nik and nigel on milk audio which has some great shows!
Thursday, November 06, 2003
pics
just added a link a few photos on the side bar.
now you can see my room, my roomie, the view from my bedroom window and my street at night.
oh, and my new hair do.
that's all for now.
now you can see my room, my roomie, the view from my bedroom window and my street at night.
oh, and my new hair do.
that's all for now.
africans and jews in nyc
tonight i tried a new african dance class at this place called djoniba. amy had told me about it and some people from omowale and francis' class in LA mentioned this place as well. so i gave it a shot. it was no talking drum ensemble class, but it was good. i already feel the soreness coming on. i haven't taken a dance class since i left LA and i was feeling like i needed a little kick in the butt. my energy level has been really LOW. tired a lot...don't know if it's due the the time change, my weird work hours last week, all the drinking/partying last week or all of the above, but i've been SLEEPY. the class was lead by this guy from ghana i believe. the moves were cool...just was not used to them, so i felt a bit awkward. i actually picked up most of the routine, but the across the floor stuff at the end had me baffled. i must have looked like a fool...kinda how i felt in my first class with omowale. just takes practice. i did really like the vibe of the place though...very earthy mellow types. and the drumming was fantastic! i'll go back for sure.
in other news...i got one of those epson printer/scanner combo thingies today. it was cheap and hopefully will do what i need, which isn't much. just need the basics for now. went to this place called B & H photo which is this intense electronics store. it's huge and has everything and it's always packed with dorky gadget dudes asking too many questions about plug-ins and peripherals and dumb stuff. funny thing is that it's run by a bunch of hasidic jews wearing yarmulkes and beards and curls (my sales helper was named schlomo--i shit you not). it's a trip. then when you ask for what you want, these conveyor belts bring you your item, then you go pay and then your item is waiting for you at the front desk. some crazy jewish system. but it works! second time i've been there and it's quite impressive.
currently listening to the new Adventure Time cd that mark sent me in the mail. it's GOOD. i'm so happy for all my talented friends. they are so gifted.
in other news...i got one of those epson printer/scanner combo thingies today. it was cheap and hopefully will do what i need, which isn't much. just need the basics for now. went to this place called B & H photo which is this intense electronics store. it's huge and has everything and it's always packed with dorky gadget dudes asking too many questions about plug-ins and peripherals and dumb stuff. funny thing is that it's run by a bunch of hasidic jews wearing yarmulkes and beards and curls (my sales helper was named schlomo--i shit you not). it's a trip. then when you ask for what you want, these conveyor belts bring you your item, then you go pay and then your item is waiting for you at the front desk. some crazy jewish system. but it works! second time i've been there and it's quite impressive.
currently listening to the new Adventure Time cd that mark sent me in the mail. it's GOOD. i'm so happy for all my talented friends. they are so gifted.
project progress
some of you were wondering how the progress was going on the "cool job."
well, i turned in the presentation on monday and was just waiting to hear back from the superiors.
i worked really hard on the presentation (a lot of stuff in a very short amount of time)...i wished i had had longer to make it better.
and i honestly didn't think it was that good. good ideas, but not the best executions (typical self doubt).
but i got the email that made me happy today...the big wigs like the ideas and particularly like my favorite of the concepts (which will also be the easiest to create!).
now the studio people have to get their hands on it. UGH! i just want to start it...especially since the due date is fast approaching. i foresee no life in the next couple of weeks. that's ok. i did it up pretty good this past week.
might go out tonight...charlie dark in town. new friend tyler playing at some club tomorrow night. i need my music fix. then i'll get my work on.
ps--screw capitalization...i'm getting lazy already. :)
well, i turned in the presentation on monday and was just waiting to hear back from the superiors.
i worked really hard on the presentation (a lot of stuff in a very short amount of time)...i wished i had had longer to make it better.
and i honestly didn't think it was that good. good ideas, but not the best executions (typical self doubt).
but i got the email that made me happy today...the big wigs like the ideas and particularly like my favorite of the concepts (which will also be the easiest to create!).
now the studio people have to get their hands on it. UGH! i just want to start it...especially since the due date is fast approaching. i foresee no life in the next couple of weeks. that's ok. i did it up pretty good this past week.
might go out tonight...charlie dark in town. new friend tyler playing at some club tomorrow night. i need my music fix. then i'll get my work on.
ps--screw capitalization...i'm getting lazy already. :)
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
iParty Do You?
Last nights events were pretty great all around. First went to check out my friend Vicki's band, Moto Star at the rock club Don Hill's. They were excellent. Vic rocked it...she's really come out of her shell man. I remember back in college she would say that she wrote a song and I'd ask if I'd get to hear it and she'd always say she was too shy to perform. Times have changed. So cool to see your friends do their thing and be really good at. I'm proud!
After the show, I met up with Sara and Tilley and a couple of her friends who picked me up and drove us to APT to go the iParty which is my new favorite tuesday night spot. It's this groovy bar in the meat packing district that's designed like an apartment (tré hip). Anyway, on Tuesdays, these two guys, Andrew Andrew host the iParty and it's just hilarious and fun (and sorta satisfies the urge to play music for people--especially when you don't have your records with you in NY!). You'll have to click the link to find out how it works. I had gone there a couple weeks before with Greg and some friends and I played my 7 minutes on the ipod. Andrew Andrew gave me a frequent player card where they punched a hole through a picture of an ipod...5 punches and you get a free drink. I loved the gimmick, so I brought my card for this time...hoping to get closer to that free drink. After I played my set, I asked one of the Andrews if he'd punch my card. Turns out no one had ever brought their card back. I was the first one. So they loved me for it. And with that, they gave me a free drink card. Sweet!! I love Andrew Andrew (and kinda have a crush on one of them)...my favorite...gadget-loving nerdy music dorks in lab coats. HA!!
After the show, I met up with Sara and Tilley and a couple of her friends who picked me up and drove us to APT to go the iParty which is my new favorite tuesday night spot. It's this groovy bar in the meat packing district that's designed like an apartment (tré hip). Anyway, on Tuesdays, these two guys, Andrew Andrew host the iParty and it's just hilarious and fun (and sorta satisfies the urge to play music for people--especially when you don't have your records with you in NY!). You'll have to click the link to find out how it works. I had gone there a couple weeks before with Greg and some friends and I played my 7 minutes on the ipod. Andrew Andrew gave me a frequent player card where they punched a hole through a picture of an ipod...5 punches and you get a free drink. I loved the gimmick, so I brought my card for this time...hoping to get closer to that free drink. After I played my set, I asked one of the Andrews if he'd punch my card. Turns out no one had ever brought their card back. I was the first one. So they loved me for it. And with that, they gave me a free drink card. Sweet!! I love Andrew Andrew (and kinda have a crush on one of them)...my favorite...gadget-loving nerdy music dorks in lab coats. HA!!
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Girlhood
Last night, Sara and I opted to have a chill evening after the weekend's craziness. I was going through the moviefone listing and happened upon a film called Girlhood, which I'd never heard of. Read the reviews and it sounded like an interesting story. It was going to be either this documentary or "Scary Movie 3." Thank god we decided on Girlhood. It was a fantastic film! Sara and I were both blown away with the footage that the director caught on tape. She got really intimate stories out of both of the girls featured, as well as some shocking interviews from the families. Very interesting how a young person trapped in the system will come out of it...and how their family histories play such a huge role in their respective outcomes. I don't want to say too much...it's just a great film and definitely worth seeking out.
Monday, November 03, 2003
a crazy fun/work-filled weekend
I think I know how New Yorkers do it now...they've just got to be tired all the time!
This past weekend was my official "act like a New Yorker"--work really hard while playing really hard.
And today, I'm exhausted.
Sara arrived at my place around 6am on Friday, after I had stayed up until 4am, trying to get most of my work done before her arrival. Friday day consisted of me completing my Halloween outfit. In the process I discovered the coolest store ever in my hood--an all plastics store. I mean they had everything. I found my plastic ball and my plastic chain, got some silver spray paint and I was good to go. The death ball prop turned out remarkably well after a lot of hassle. But I was happy with it. And surprisingly, my whole costume came out rather fantastically. I was shocked...for a last minute costume, I looked pretty great. It was all about the fake blood. I never do scary halloween costumes, but I was into it!
I convinced Sara to come check out the Halloween parade in the village and I'm so glad we did. So many rad costumes. I was well impressed. I think my favorite costume at the parade was a man dressed up like a whole oven/stove, with his head popping out of a pot on the stove. So good!! We actually walked in the parade because it was easier to get to where we were going and that was the best seat in the house. We saw so many good outfits. LOVED IT!
Then it was off to brooklyn where we met up with Sara's friends who were dressed up like a pack of cheerleaders. They were a fun group and knew about some good parties around town. I think we went to a good 5 parties that night. All were pretty great too. The best was where the band !!! played. Got wasted and had a blast.
Saw a few of my KILL BILL enemies where we had some fake fight showdowns. Saw a couple other GO GO's too, but mine was by far the best! I was getting mad props all night. So satisfying. Sara's elf costume rocked too. She ran into some guy at a bar that just happened to be a producer for the movie elf and was freaking out on her costume, saying he was going to call will farrell the next day. That made her night!
Ended the night at a pizza joint for a late night drunken stuper slice and headed home. Worked all the next day in a haze. More work on Sunday, then went out last night...again in Brooklyn. Went to fantastic live dub night. So fun. That place made me wish I lived in Brooklyn man. Will definitely go back.
Sent in my presentation today, and now just playing the waiting game again. Fingers crossed that they like it!! I foresee lots more work in my future. But this is a good thing.
This past weekend was my official "act like a New Yorker"--work really hard while playing really hard.
And today, I'm exhausted.
Sara arrived at my place around 6am on Friday, after I had stayed up until 4am, trying to get most of my work done before her arrival. Friday day consisted of me completing my Halloween outfit. In the process I discovered the coolest store ever in my hood--an all plastics store. I mean they had everything. I found my plastic ball and my plastic chain, got some silver spray paint and I was good to go. The death ball prop turned out remarkably well after a lot of hassle. But I was happy with it. And surprisingly, my whole costume came out rather fantastically. I was shocked...for a last minute costume, I looked pretty great. It was all about the fake blood. I never do scary halloween costumes, but I was into it!
I convinced Sara to come check out the Halloween parade in the village and I'm so glad we did. So many rad costumes. I was well impressed. I think my favorite costume at the parade was a man dressed up like a whole oven/stove, with his head popping out of a pot on the stove. So good!! We actually walked in the parade because it was easier to get to where we were going and that was the best seat in the house. We saw so many good outfits. LOVED IT!
Then it was off to brooklyn where we met up with Sara's friends who were dressed up like a pack of cheerleaders. They were a fun group and knew about some good parties around town. I think we went to a good 5 parties that night. All were pretty great too. The best was where the band !!! played. Got wasted and had a blast.
Saw a few of my KILL BILL enemies where we had some fake fight showdowns. Saw a couple other GO GO's too, but mine was by far the best! I was getting mad props all night. So satisfying. Sara's elf costume rocked too. She ran into some guy at a bar that just happened to be a producer for the movie elf and was freaking out on her costume, saying he was going to call will farrell the next day. That made her night!
Ended the night at a pizza joint for a late night drunken stuper slice and headed home. Worked all the next day in a haze. More work on Sunday, then went out last night...again in Brooklyn. Went to fantastic live dub night. So fun. That place made me wish I lived in Brooklyn man. Will definitely go back.
Sent in my presentation today, and now just playing the waiting game again. Fingers crossed that they like it!! I foresee lots more work in my future. But this is a good thing.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Halloween Mayhem in the streets of NYC
So I just got home from a very new york city adventure. First I took the subway (the 6 - which happens to be my favorite train) to Union Square to drop off the cd files of the project from hell...up to the 17th floor of one of those fance new yorky high rise office buildings. I got props for my skill and "enthusiasm" on the project from the art director, so that made me feel a bit better about the whole thing. After that, I walked down to St. Mark's where I had to purchase some Halloween gear and do a little research for my new project. The people were out in droves, sorting through hot pink wigs, glitter socks, vinyl nurses outfits and fake scars, madly grabbing what they could to make their outfits complete. I got most of what I needed for my GO GO outfit. Still need to make the ball and chain prop somehow. I had the brilliant idea of finding a costume shop and buying a fake ball and chain for a prisoner's costume. I found the closest shop and there was a line literally around the corner to get in the door. I was in a hurry and somehow made my way in without getting noticed by the folks in line. The place was crawling with hallo-weiners. I'm serious. As I was browsing through the prisoner prop section, the couple behind me was joking to themselves saying "I know honey, I'll be a nun and you be a priest and we can make out all night." huh-huh. That's a good one. Not that my school girl outfit is anything new, but come on people. Buying your manufactured costumes sealed in a plastic bag for $49.95 just seems to take the fun out of it. How about using what you've got or MAKING something? I guess I'm not one to talk...I'm so busy this year that I haven't had time to make anything good or come up with a really fun idea...but still. At least I'm not buying that pirate uniform from a bag. Needless to say, the ball and chain props sucked and I couldn't fathom standing in that line, so I left. I'm hoping to find a styrofoam ball at a craft store, and some plastic chain and silver spray paint at my local hardware store and make it work. I do love Halloween though!
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
yay...it's OVER
The job from hell is over. FINALLY. Very pleased about it. Just gotta drop off the cd to the office tomorrow.
Can't wait to get that fatty paycheck though! It'll pay off my latest purchase: the casio exilim.
The funny thing is...I still haven't officially started design comps for the "cool project." A favor design job came back...tonight.
It's been going for quite some time and I was happy to get that off my plate (at least for the time being). Still gotta watch a movie tonight for research as well. Don't really want to watch it either...it's a scary one and I'm home alone. My imagination gets the best of me in these scenarios...like some creepy man will pop out from behind the shower curtain when I go to bathroom in the middle of the night. UGH! Gotta do it though.
Can't wait to get that fatty paycheck though! It'll pay off my latest purchase: the casio exilim.
The funny thing is...I still haven't officially started design comps for the "cool project." A favor design job came back...tonight.
It's been going for quite some time and I was happy to get that off my plate (at least for the time being). Still gotta watch a movie tonight for research as well. Don't really want to watch it either...it's a scary one and I'm home alone. My imagination gets the best of me in these scenarios...like some creepy man will pop out from behind the shower curtain when I go to bathroom in the middle of the night. UGH! Gotta do it though.
Biting lips, pulling out hair, chewing nails
Work update...the project from hell is NOT GOING AWAY!!! I swear to god, if my art director calls me with one more fucking change, I'm gonna go postal. I NEED to start my new project and this one will not end. Just venting while I open quark ONE MORE FUCKING TIME!
mmm...music
First I gotta say...I'm annoyed. Just had a nice post going, went to find a link and explorer crashed out on me. I've been hearing good things about the latest netscape. Perhaps I'll try switching. Not sure yet.
Anyway, I wanted to mention this fatty freakin internet radio show I'm bumping to...soul patrol. If you click on the latest show, about an hour and 20 minutes into the set, it just gets FUN-KAY! Mad Mats gots the skills for sure!
So yeah, basically what I was saying before...I'm gonna be busy as hell with an actual cool project that I'm psyched about (a little nervous about as well) and I'm worried it's going to interfere with my friend Sara's visit this weekend. I really want to hang out and go out and get drunk and have fun, but I must excersize some self discipline and give my new clients a kickass presentation...not only for them, but for me too. That being said, I'm giving myself Halloween to go crazy, then I'll crack down. Halloween is my favorite holiday anyway and I've never been in NY for the occassion. Got a couple plans in the works. Still sorting out my costume, but I think it might be good. A last minute job. I'm usually much more prepared for these things, but the girl has been busy! I'll get it together.
Anyway, I wanted to mention this fatty freakin internet radio show I'm bumping to...soul patrol. If you click on the latest show, about an hour and 20 minutes into the set, it just gets FUN-KAY! Mad Mats gots the skills for sure!
So yeah, basically what I was saying before...I'm gonna be busy as hell with an actual cool project that I'm psyched about (a little nervous about as well) and I'm worried it's going to interfere with my friend Sara's visit this weekend. I really want to hang out and go out and get drunk and have fun, but I must excersize some self discipline and give my new clients a kickass presentation...not only for them, but for me too. That being said, I'm giving myself Halloween to go crazy, then I'll crack down. Halloween is my favorite holiday anyway and I've never been in NY for the occassion. Got a couple plans in the works. Still sorting out my costume, but I think it might be good. A last minute job. I'm usually much more prepared for these things, but the girl has been busy! I'll get it together.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Thoughts from a tiny workspace
So I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I'm living in a small room. Within this room is my bed, my dresser, my sort-of closet, and my office (i.e. my desk, computer, etc). Needless to say, it's cramped. As I sit at my desk, I can rest one elbow in the edge of my bed and the other against the dresser. And well, since I'm working from home, I'm thinking this may prove to be really annoying in the weeks to come...especially since I'm all of a sudden, busy as hell! I'm trying to complete this really frustrating project before I can start on the really cool project. But the frustrating project does not seem to be going away...just more changes, more tweaks. GGGRRRR...
The good news is that I got myself a proper work chair today. I noticed on craigslist that there was an office that was moving and they were getting rid of a bunch of stuff. I was desparate for a chair, since I'd been using my roomie's dining room hard as hell wooden chair for the past week! So I showed up in mid-town at the advertised time of noon, walked right in and said "I need a chair." The nice woman showed me what they had to offer and I picked out the best one. Only $30! Not bad, as this model goes for over $100 new!! I just took the elevator down, got myself a cab, and carried the bitch up to the top of my 5 floor walk-up. Now my ass rests on a nice cushion with a backrest and armrests. tra la...
It's the little things.
Now back to the annoying project.
The good news is that I got myself a proper work chair today. I noticed on craigslist that there was an office that was moving and they were getting rid of a bunch of stuff. I was desparate for a chair, since I'd been using my roomie's dining room hard as hell wooden chair for the past week! So I showed up in mid-town at the advertised time of noon, walked right in and said "I need a chair." The nice woman showed me what they had to offer and I picked out the best one. Only $30! Not bad, as this model goes for over $100 new!! I just took the elevator down, got myself a cab, and carried the bitch up to the top of my 5 floor walk-up. Now my ass rests on a nice cushion with a backrest and armrests. tra la...
It's the little things.
Now back to the annoying project.
Friday, October 24, 2003
Here we are...
So upon ariel's urging, I've decided to try to do a blog again. Reasons for this include A) my new move to NYC - now I can update my pals without having to email/call each and every one of them; and B) to keep a little online journal of my new life chapter.
It's been a little over 3 weeks since the big move. Seems like a lot has happened in a short amount of time. I moved into my apartment in Little Italy with my new roomie Jessica. The apt is cute, tidy, and yes, small. This is I was expecting. I've got my little office set up in my bedroom and it's quite snug, but I'm dealing. My room is cute though - I painted the walls (first time painting an apt) white with an aqua trim - to keep things bright and to remind me of the beach. I've got my bed, my make-shift closet (there was no closet), my k-mart dresser, my desk and my computer and that's about it. It's minimal living. And I must admit, it's kinda great not having all my stuff. Only thing I'm really missing is my stereo system and my records. But luckily, I downloaded most of my cd collection to the itunes...and will hopefully be doing some mp3 trading with friends.
Jessica has been great. I feel fortunate to have met her and gotten this apt. She works all day and has been coming home and cooking at night! I hope I'm not cramping her style by being here a lot of the time...I work from home, so what do you want? Speaking of work...I have not been in working mode at all. I have some random projects that I'm taking care of and I'm slacking! Have some logo concepts due today and look what I'm doing...writing this!! I'll get to it...
Also still waiting to hear back about a big website job that I'm praying I get. I met with the powers that be last week, sent in my proposal and am now just playing the waiting game. Fingers crossed...that would be such a cool job. Not going to jinx it just yet though.
The people I've met so far have been great as well. I don't know if 9/11 has something to do with it, but pretty much everyone I've come across couldn't be nicer or more helpful. Really, the NYers have kind of blown me away. Everyone I've met has offered to help with whatever they can when I say I'm new to town. It's quite refreshing. I don't remember anyone offering their services when I moved to LA. But that was a different time too. Who knows. All I can say is, so far, I've been lucky with the kind folks I've met.
There is much more of this and that and here and there that I could go on about, but I won't. So far, I'm just happy to be in a new environment, to explore a new city, to meet new people who've already expanded my little horizons. It's nice. But I'm cold...
It's been a little over 3 weeks since the big move. Seems like a lot has happened in a short amount of time. I moved into my apartment in Little Italy with my new roomie Jessica. The apt is cute, tidy, and yes, small. This is I was expecting. I've got my little office set up in my bedroom and it's quite snug, but I'm dealing. My room is cute though - I painted the walls (first time painting an apt) white with an aqua trim - to keep things bright and to remind me of the beach. I've got my bed, my make-shift closet (there was no closet), my k-mart dresser, my desk and my computer and that's about it. It's minimal living. And I must admit, it's kinda great not having all my stuff. Only thing I'm really missing is my stereo system and my records. But luckily, I downloaded most of my cd collection to the itunes...and will hopefully be doing some mp3 trading with friends.
Jessica has been great. I feel fortunate to have met her and gotten this apt. She works all day and has been coming home and cooking at night! I hope I'm not cramping her style by being here a lot of the time...I work from home, so what do you want? Speaking of work...I have not been in working mode at all. I have some random projects that I'm taking care of and I'm slacking! Have some logo concepts due today and look what I'm doing...writing this!! I'll get to it...
Also still waiting to hear back about a big website job that I'm praying I get. I met with the powers that be last week, sent in my proposal and am now just playing the waiting game. Fingers crossed...that would be such a cool job. Not going to jinx it just yet though.
The people I've met so far have been great as well. I don't know if 9/11 has something to do with it, but pretty much everyone I've come across couldn't be nicer or more helpful. Really, the NYers have kind of blown me away. Everyone I've met has offered to help with whatever they can when I say I'm new to town. It's quite refreshing. I don't remember anyone offering their services when I moved to LA. But that was a different time too. Who knows. All I can say is, so far, I've been lucky with the kind folks I've met.
There is much more of this and that and here and there that I could go on about, but I won't. So far, I'm just happy to be in a new environment, to explore a new city, to meet new people who've already expanded my little horizons. It's nice. But I'm cold...
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