wonder-full

how the fuck did i miss this?
saw a guy in line at the bank wearing a shirt with stevie wonder that said "wonder-full" and of course, had to comment.
"did you go?" he asked.
"go to what?"
"the stevie wonder tribute show. happens every year."
"shit. on his birthday right?"
"yep."
"nooooooo!"
"yeah, i won't go into details, you'll just get depressed," he says back.
i'm kicking myself!

signed, sealed, delivered

guess what? i just got back from signing the lease to the apartment. it's officially mine starting june 1st!
i'm so happy.
now i have to figure out how i'm gonna furnish the place.
i have a ton of my shit being stored in at my mom's which could be great. but how to get it here?
i looked up renting a u-haul and it was outrageous (literally $1500 just for the truck, not the gas or lodging expenses).
and i've heard of renting out a space in a semi, but heard not the best things about that.
if anyone has any suggestions (or anyone that might know), i'd love some good ideas/horror stories/what have you.
thanks!

soup's on!

saturday night was great. alex had offered to cook for a few friends at the fancy apartment that zak was watching.
turned out to be 7 of us and the meal was superb.
olga and i were his preps and we learned some valuable cooking lessons... how to chop lemon grass and basil properly, not to mention how to make a fantastic strawberry sauce (so easy!). i was too tipsy to take photos of the actual meal, but here are a couple of the process...

chef alex sautees fennel:


close up:


prep olga and the chef:


me pointing in awe of my cute chef boyfriend (how did i get so lucky?):


the menu consisted of salad of mixed greens, sprouts and papaya with some amazing asian-style dressing,
medley of sauteed veggies (fennel, spinach, asparagus, bok choy) and steamed red snapper with some fancy "reduction" (of which i have no idea what was in it, but it was damn good). OH, and dessert. oh god, dessert! vanilla ice cream with sliced strawberries, fresh whipped cream and strawberry sauce (that i MADE!). YUM!
mr. chef got lots of props from the guests, which made me all proud and shit. so lame, but i can't help it. the boy is good.

I GOT IT! I GOT IT!

thanks to each of you for sending your positive energy my way because it paid off! i got the apartment!!! the one right on the park! i gave my deposit today. i sign the lease on monday. AND i got to see it again and took some pics. yes, i'm now the dork blogger with digi cam in hand prepared to take the photos to share with y'all.
so here you have it. ladies and gentlemen (drum roll please)... i give you megan's first very own NY apartment...

first view when you walk in (nice decorative fireplace):


right side of apt (kitchen and bathroom):


left side (two big sunny windows with TREES!):


back side (door to second room which will be my office):


nice big closet in office:


the private deck (which supposedly is a hazard to use, but i WILL find a way to get out there):


view of main room from office (check those amazing high ceilings!!!):


the happy tenant:


so, what do you think? it's smallish yes, but will be perfect for just me.

when alex and i went to look at the place today this weekly farmer's market was happening ON MY STREET:



AND, last night alex and i went to the hood to check out the wong kar-wai festival happening at BAM (which is about a 5 minute walk from my new pad). we saw happy together which was amazing! i LOVED it. highly recommended.
we then stubbled upon the cutest little french bistro that ever was, on the trendy de kalb ave. (two blocks from my place).
basically, i'm already in love with my new neighborhood and i haven't even moved yet.
life is good.

red tape

i'm still doing time in corporate world. apparently, this particular project is going to last through august and they asked if i could come help with it a couple days a week. it's easy enough and the money is good, so i said why not. can't complain about a steady gig, can i?

the thing that's really annoying is that i'm here as a "temp employee," not a freelance contractor, which means i have to fill out a time card, go up to accounting on specific thursdays (which i always forget), and pick up my check from random people (it hasn't been the same person yet and thus gets rather confusing if i'm not here on payday). well, when i came back from my little "vacation" i knew i had a check waiting for me. but nobody seemed to have it know where it was. grrr...

first i had to ask my supervisor who didn't know anything about it. he directed me to kim. who the hell is kim? i thought it was this chick in HR, who gave me my start paperwork. she didn't have it either and directed me to accounting. all the way upstairs, i had to ask more unfamiliar people if they'd seen my check. nope, nope and nope. i was getting pissed. finally one of the accountants looked up my info and sure enough, it had been issued, but not cashed. no one knew where it was. at this point, I'M HATING THIS CORPORATE BULLSHIT! I JUST WANT SOME BREAD!

finally, after 3 email correspondances with accounting, we decided to put a stop payment on the check and she'd re-issue a new one that i wouldn't get til next week. by the time i went back upstairs, signed off on some shit saying she was doing that, i came back downstairs and KIM said "oh megan, i have your check!" mystery solved. so i hurried back upstairs, hoping the accountant lady had not gone through with the stop payment. luckily, she hadn't. and after all that, i got my measly, taxes-taken out check. pain in my ass. but it's steady pay, right?? that's what i have to keep telling myself to make it through.

good news though: i have a potential big awesome dream client meeting next week! hope that works out.

fort greene baby!

when i went to look at another (possible future home) apartment yesterday, i snapped some pics of the area to show you guys.
so here's my future hood. prepare to be jealous. :)

the streets around the park:


the park (right across the street from my HOPEFULLY future building):


and there's the building (fingers crossed!!!)


i know that posting this shit will totally jinx my getting the place RIGHT THERE, but oh well.
even if i don't get that particular place, you still get an idea of the area. YAY for fort greene.
i heard that in the summer there are little concerts going on in the park, not to mention outdoor movie screenings (my favorite)!
i just know i'm gonna love it.

coachella pics!

the group:



rv after party:



amy crashes:



the stage:



the sunset:



drug-induced photos:

rain!!

last night i couldn't sleep. i had been on the phone most of the evening talking to various folks. the last one i was talking to was brett, my new friend, born and raised in NYC. this cat is cool. i really like him and he cracks me up. he totally reminds me of my good friend rick... music nerd, collector of oddities, smarty pants.
anyway, he does this radio show out of jersey which starts at 3am. unfortunately, i haven't been awake to hear it yet, but he said he was gonna do a little rainy day theme show cuz of the rain outside. and let me tell you, it was coming DOWN! crazy crazy thunder echoing through my place, and the lightning was practically coming through the windows.

i thought the rain songs was a cool idea, so i started making suggestions.
cry me a river (has that rainy intro--justin)
i can't stand the rain (missy elliot version)
singin in the rain (duh)
raindrops keep fallin on my head (burt bacharach)
come rain or come shine (billy holiday)

any more suggestions? this game is fun! no internet searches though! that's cheating...

honey: not so sweet

from time to time i like to change up my netflix rental que from the usual foreign, documentary, 60s new wave, indie, art house selections to really cheesy movies, just to keep things real. right.
so i'll admit, i sort of wanted to see the film honey when it came out. another hip hop dance drama staring the very hot jessica alba. girl from the bronx gets her big break as a music video dancer. sounds like my kinda movie. well, i never saw it in the theater and it seemed to be the perfect netflix rental.

ok, so the movie was poor at best. horribly cliche script and the dance numbers weren't even that good. i mean you got served was a god awful script with some of the worst acting on film, but those DANCE NUMBERS were insane! i was screaming like a little girl for MORE! anyway, honey was bad news, BUT, the DVD redeemed itself.

of course after viewing, i had to check the special features. and low and behold, there was this: "learn to dance like honey" NICE!
the choreographer from the movie came on and went through a step by step of a short but sweet hip hop routine. i moved the coffee table out of the way and actually learned it! HAHAHA! i kill myself. it was totally fun. and i can't wait to break out my new honey number at the next club. "and 3 and 4 and ATTITUDE!"

lov-ing-ah

thanks to ariel, i discovered the updated blogger templates! so so so cool!!!
now i don't have to shell out the cash for typepad or any of the others out there. YAY!

so yes, i'm back in NY. things are going very well. spring is here. the weather is perfect and everyone seems to be in good spirits everywhere.
and a few things are happening with me too!

1. i made the decision to move out of my little italy apartment. it's been thee perfect transitional place to NY. getting to know NY from here has been great. jessica is an awesome roommate. but the fact of the matter is, this place is TOO SMALL for me. and to be honest, i can't deal with the tourist bullshit of mulberry street in the spring either. i walk out my door and have to dodge not only all the tables from the restaurants that are now on the sidewalks, but also the hoards (and i'm talking hoards) of foreign dumbasses that won't GET OUT OF MY WAY!!! so i'm making the move to brooklyn. june 1st.
do i have a place yet? no. am i looking? yes.
i've decided that fort greene is my ideal hood and i've been actively looking since i got back. i found one place i really like that i put an application in for, but who knows. getting a place seems to be really hard here. they look at everything! bank statements, tax returns, employment stubs, landlord and personal references. jesus! do they want my unborn children as collateral damage?
cross your fingers that i get this one place. it's rad, but i'm sure that wanting it so bad means i won't get it. but think good thoughts anyway.

2. things with alex (yes, that's his name. i'm not calling his new boy anymore) are better than ever. i made the decision that he's my "boyfriend." YIKES! no, i'm excited. it was so nice to come back to NY and especially to him. we spend a good 72 hours together when i returned and i wasn't needing space! that's a miracle for me. we just fit. he's so chill. and we care a great deal for each other. i'm very happy about that.

3. the work is pouring in. got about 8 projects lined up. don't know how i'm going to get everything done, but i will. after my little post-dad not wanting to work much trauma, i decided it's time to get back into work. and hopefully my new pad will be a great work environment and condusive to lots of productivity.

and i guess that's all for now.
please leave a comment so i know you're reading. thanks!

coachella--the hottest festival EVER (and i don't mean "good" hot)

the festival weekend was really fun but way way way too hot. i'm just not a fan of extremely hot weather and unfortunately, the heat put a pretty big damper on the fun.

first, the bad points and disappointments of the weekend:
the drive from LA to indio took us 4.5 hours. there was a horrible accident and we arrived at the RV rental place past closing time.
because we arrived late, the man running the joint took his own sweet time getting the RV and the paperwork together and that took 2 more hours!
got lost trying to find the RV park in the dark and by that time i was on my wit's end (pms/heat/anxiety driving the huge rv/just wanting to be there already).
saturday morning breakfast--yuck!
saturday day was about 103 degrees.
sunday was 107.
the hour+ wait to park.
my car's battery dying on the way into the parking.
amy getting her really good weed taken by strict security.
getting impatient with trying to keep a big group of people together.
missing part of the flaming lips due to waiting for one of the group who didn't show up at the specified place.
missing lots of the bands i was looking forward to seeing sunday afternoon... we opted to go after the sun went down that day.
the cure's set (besided the encore).

the good points:
the pools at the RV park.
karaoke night on friday... namely trevin & peymon's performances.
getting unexpected v.i.p. wristbands which let us chill in the shadier areas, gave us access to misting fans, and shorter lines for the bathrooms and bars.
smoking great cali weed all day/night.
when the sun went down sat/sun!... the night time.
taking the best e ever both nights!
the pixies' thoroughly enjoyable performance.
when the e kicked in for the radiohead set.
radiohead (quite possibly the best live band i've ever seen... could be the e talking, but i don't think so).
bright eyes... sooooooo good!!!! and sooo cute!!!
sidestepper... finally my chance to dance! excellent lively set. super fun people listening/dancing to them.
mf doom... good hip hop that i was totally in the mood for that night.
prefuse 73's surprisingly great set.
the RV after party and the crazy entertaining guy on stilts.
hanging out with new and old friends and having a chance to let loose.

that pretty much sums up the weekend. would have been superb if it hadn't been that hot. the setting was pretty neat... giant grassy flat ground and it was set up very well in terms of navigation. but who's idea was it to have it in the desert? bad. if i have to compare this US festival to the UK's the big chill, i'd have to pick big chill. much better in terms of setting and overall vibe. just more my speed. beautiful locations, chilled out people, way less people, way friendlier people, no commercialization, no visible special privileges to "industry" people, and excellent food! but the coachella line-up was something else. just wish it hadn't have been so hot or i would've been able to see all of the acts i went to see!

wait, how old am i?

as i was leaving for LA today, my mom said to me "now don't go too crazy in the desert." then my aunt chimed in, "yeah, don't take any drugs."
HAHA! they were kidding of course. sort of.
silly parentals. i'm 29 years old for christ's sake! give a kid (i mean adult) a break.

3 more days

only 3 more days til i'm kicking it at coachella and i can't wait. i've been cooped up in boring-ville for too long. performing unpleasant activities in ungodly weather.
the friends are hooking it all up. 3 camp sites. 3 RV's. 17+ friends! it'll be like our own mini burning man. minus the nudie factor. eh, but who knows. these so-cal kids are known to get pretty wild in the old desert. give em a fatty sound system, plenty of booze and a little ecstacy and shit can get pretty crazy. i honestly don't know what to expect, but i have a feeling, it's going to be a great time.
yay for fun! i need some!

packing it up

the last few days haven't been great.
i've had the task of packing up my dad's house. it's been hard, but not terrible. i've kind of just put emotional blinders on and got down to business, without thinking too much about it. but you kind of can't help but think "what's it all about" while boxing up 57 years worth of a life. we accumulate so much stuff. papers and bills and photos and notes and knick knacks and furniture and TOOLS! what does all of this stuff mean? and when it comes down to it, when we die, it really is just stuff.

i think i've been pretty good about only saving the things that have any sort of meaning to me. the sentimental stuff. the peruvian treasures. the items i remember growing up with. the other stuff is going in the garage sale and donation piles... and so far, those piles are pretty significant compared to the keep pile.

my friends michele and patrick came down on saturday. patrick knows his tools and was willing to help me go through the garage. this was the first time i'd had people over to the house that had never met my dad and that was a whole different ballgame. patrick was looking over the 30+ years of tools and was in awe. he kept saying stuff like "wow, this guy had an amazing collection. he must have been a cool guy." that just killed me. i really lost it. that tool collection was his baby. apparently it was all quality stuff in really good condition. leave it to my dad. needless to say, patrick was impressed and that made me happy.

michele saw that i was getting all emotional. i'd obviously been bottling that stuff up for a while because it came out pretty bad. hadn't lost it that bad since i was originally there in january. anyway, michele was awesome and did some reiki and chakra stuff on me. when she did my heart i really let some stuff go. and was calmed down later. it was cool and i felt like i was able to let some of that bottled shit out. thanks michele! i needed that.

later that day, we headed to glen ivy hot springs for a little relaxation. it was nice. some mineral baths, club mud, hot tub action, moisturizing treatment. it was great. needed that too. a good day all around.

not much else to report from fallbrook. life is mellow here. been about 90 degrees. just packing and getting little bits of work done on the laptop here and there. and that's about it. been missing alex too. we've talked about every other night. NY sounds super springy and i'm sad i'm missing out on it. can't wait to see him again.

i am looking forward to coachella this weekend. i hope it's not too hot. and that everything goes smoothly without any major catastrophes. we're gonna have a little pseudo burning man set up... 3 camping spaces next to each other with 3 RV's full of friends. something to look forward to after all these unpleasantries.

goin' back to cali

originally written, wed. apr. 14

on a plane on my way back to cali. listening to a little jane's addiction to get me in the mood.
i have mixed feelings about this trip. on one hand, i'm excited to see my friends and family, to hang out and spend time with them in warm weather. but on the other hand, i'm not at all excited to deal with the tasks at hand, which include an "intervention" with my grandma about my dad's house, setting up care arrangements for her, cleaning out my dad's house, more lawyer meetings and bank crap, dmv trip, etc, etc. blah! it's gotta get done though. i feel like i've sort of created a little wall in my NY world, where i don't really have to think of that stuff. sure, i've thought of my dad every single day and i wonder how my grandma and debbie are doing, but it's not a constant. i've got work and my new boyfriend and the city to keep me occupied and i quite like it that way. aren't we supposed to take care of ourselves a little too when bad things happen? well, now it's time to take care of the ones who've been suffering most. it's my duty as the only daughter to fly out and TCB (take care of business). i just hope it doesn't turn into the potential nightmare that it could.

i'm flying into LA first. gonna be there for a few days before heading down. staying with amy. gonna see all the kids too. that'll be fun. i wonder what i'll think of LA this time? the more i'm away from it, the more i gain varying perspectives on the place. i know i'm gonna love the nice weather. that's a given. i've just really grown to love NY. i never dreamed i'd like it as much as i do. example: last night. first off, i went back to my new favorite neighborhood to check out a place. then stopped into a restaurant/bar that looked really cool last time i was in the area. it was about happy hour time and a guy i saw on the subway was standing outside. he recognized me and said i should join him, so i did.
i was welcomed into the place by every person working there. OMIGOD, this place was the cooooolest. a south african joint, run by the grooviest set of people i've met in one place. the bartender was chatting me up, really interested in who i was and what i was into, etc. meanwhile the gorgeous dead-headed man to my left was spinning some of my favorite tracks (many in my own collection) on the turntables. i had a couple beers and some delicious s. african soup and then the cool bartender gave me a special concoction of his own. i was floored on my walk/ride back home at 8:30pm.
later on, i met up with alex and we went to the one year anniversary party for rude movements. ig culture made his US dj debut and played a wicked set. the place was just bumpin on a rainy tuesday night. that crowd is really great. so mixed and fun-loving. i just know that vibe doesn't exist in LA and if it does, i never witnessed it. everyone was shaking it on the steamy sweaty sorta-dance floor. ipod party upstairs where andrew andrew greeted me warmly, asking if i was going to grace their ipods that night. HA! "not tonight guys." followed by a heavy joint session wtih 5 other fellow stoners on the patio out back. back to the damp bar below for more fun. it was the perfect NY send-off.
now, let's see how LA compares.

loviness on both coasts

i'm in LA right now. it's beautiful here. the sun shining, no clouds around, light cool breeze. i thought i had it made leaving rainy NY, but it turns out, it's just as lovely over there now. kinda bummed i'm missing the spring thing back east. but at least it's nice in both places.

not much to report here. i got sick over the weekend and have just been laying low. taking care of what little business i can. sold one car. preparing to sell two more. hope they go without hassle. also prepping the packing of my dad's house. what a daunting task! the house itself shouldn't be too bad, but the garage! oh the garage! if anyone knows how to sell a shit load of tools (ranging from power tools to regular ones to all sorts of woodworking materials), i'm accepting suggestions. i would do the ebay thing, but what a pain to list every item. sad thing is, i don't even know what any of the stuff is. talk about being a stupid girl who has no clue about tools. it would take me years to research what it was, what it did and what it's worth. ugh! i wish i could just call someone and say give me x amount of money to take it all. wouldn't that be nice? and there is the estate sale route, but then i loose money. i'm a bit confused on this one. any ideas, please email me!

other than that, the family drama has been tamed. grandma is moving into my dad's house. her house will be rented for the time being. it's strange to be back in fallbrook so soon, but somehow, it's rather comforting. everyone is so nice and friendly and truly wants to help. i know smalltown USA is what i so desperately wanted to get away from, but it really does feel like home.

international fare

dating a chef means you eat really really well.
last weekend's menu included...
friday night: traditional spanish tapas and wine (felt like i was in spain! delish).
saturday morning: mexican brunch (i'm used to huevos rancheros, but it was damn tasty).
saturday night: egyptian food (never had it before. kinda like moroccan and it was soooo yum!!!)
sunday brunch: vegetarian dim sum (who knew it even existed).
like that cheesy mcdonald's slogan that i can't get out of my head "I'M LOVING IT." ha!

boy oh boy

it's getting heavy.
last night, when i was with new boy, i was trying to remember the last time i felt like the way i do with him.
i searched and searched through the past relationship database in my brain and couldn't remember.
then i realized, that's because i've never felt this way with anyone else.
when i told him this, he said he was thinking the same thing.
kinda huge.
me = really happy.

small world

last night was the last time i was going to see my friend poth before he left for london today, so i took him out for a couple drinks.
we met up at my new favorite little neighborhood bar, shebeen at around midnight and it was dead. basically just us and the cute bartender.
we sat at the bar and ended up chatting with this cool fellow for a bit.
we stayed longer than expected when bartender boy started pouring us shots. btw, new favorite shot: a godfather. a couple beers later and we were still chatting it up with this guy. get this: turned out he went to emerson college too! he was a few years younger, but was there when i was! he also did the castle well program. we gabbed and gabbed about the castle. then i find out he knows some of my good friends from emerson who used to frequent the old bar he worked at.
too too weird. now i've got a friend behind the bar at my fave watering hole 5 blocks away. YES!

best commercial (maybe) ever

i LOVE this.