Bear, cutest pooch ever

Bear, cutest pooch ever
Originally uploaded by megasoul.

meet bear. he is the new workspace mascot and so damn cute! we love bear!!! you should too.

jersey camping

this weekend i joined terra and kevin and their 4 other (couple) friends on a jersey camping excursion. their other "single" friend was supposed to come but bailed out so i was the lone single. it wasn't actually that bad. t & k are not couple-y so it was fine. but the other 2 were constant hands on... just reaffirming my singlehood. eh, whatever, i'm a big girl. the other problem was that i was a tad bit under the weather. don't know if it was a cold or bad allergies, but i wasn't feeling my usual "let's party in the woods" self. strike two. last bad thing was it rained on saturday right after we put up our tents. of course i brought my shitty one person tent that has poor waterproofing and thus got wet inside. basically, i slept in a puddle feeling not so great by myself in my lowly one person crappy tent. HA! belive me, i'm not bitching, i'm just laughing at the situation.
other than all that, it was great! it was so nice to be out of the city. the campsite was gorgeous. the trees were at their peak bright spring green! we did a fantastic hike on sunday. and we ate and ate and ate delicious camping food (burgers, dogs, s'mores, bacon and eggs, the whole bit). mighty enjoyable!
for images, go here.

weekend to do list

friday:
-meet terra and cindy for after work drinks.
-drink beer, eat free pizza, get tipsy.
-head to cool bar and dance to brazilian drums.
-go home, pass out.

saturday:
-meet frenchie for brunch.
-talk about being conflicted about dating him (and resolve to keep it super mellow).
-go to office and work on suba ud website.
-go back to fort greene, check out the cafe habana outpost, get some delicious corn... stoked!
-head home and rearrange apartment (turn old office into new bedroom).
-pass out early.

sunday:
-wake up in new bedroom, make tea and read in bed.
-meet towers and laura to see the new star wars movie at the ziegfeld theater.
-use new membership card to kill some time at MOMA.
-head down to CampInteractive office for an ICO meeting.
-accompany a few ICO members to check out a jazz band a few blocks away.
-meet up with brent and friends for his 30th birthday celebration.
-go home, pass out.

in with the new

it's official... i no longer work out of my home. woo-hoo!!! it feels so damn good to get up and go to work. whenever i want! ha.
and i've actually been getting going early. it's amazing what this has done for me so far. i worked a full day yesterday and got so much done. i'm pretty pleased. not only that, but i got three calls for more work yesterday. see, you change things up and the universe grants you good things. i snapped a couple pics of space which can be viewed here. so far, it's just olia (owner of the space and jewelry designer extraordinaire) and myself. soon enough the empty spaces will be filled with more creative people. more on that when it happens. it's new and raw and exciting. i'm very happy with the decision thus far.
oh, and if you'll notice, i changed the title of this here blog. although "megasoul takes manhattan" was a fantastic title (thanks to ariel), i realized how little time i spend in manhattan these days. i've really become quite the brooklynite. and am loving it. thus, the name change. what do you think? guess you have to know i came from fallbrook to really get it. but now you know.

stevie is my god

"wonder-full" was just that... wonderful. a packed dance floor of all ages, colors and creeds with giant smiles on their faces singing along and dancing to the genius that is stevie wonder. what is it about that man's music that just exudes positivity? the energy in the place was about as happy and blissful as could be. even when it was too hot and someone was stomping your on feet, you just smiled and kept on singing and dancing. when they played "heaven is 10 zillion light years away" it became a religious experience. picture 100s of people singing along to the words "in my heart i can feel it, feel his spirit," all hands raised in the air, feeling the love. the church of stevie wonder. too bad they don't have that party every month instead of once a year... i think we could all use a little more wonder in our lives.

hard core!

something about riding a bike through the streets of brooklyn makes me feel hard core. just got back from a fantastic bike ride up to prospect heights to pick up the tickets to this tomorrow night (i can't tell you how much i'm looking forward to this party!). it was so lovely out and i was so much enjoying being out on the bike that i decided to keep going and rode up through prospect park. it was gorgeous! so many brooklynites chillin and playing in the park. i rode through the whole place checking out the pretty trees and ponds and stuff. only one chink along the way... my chain got stuck as i was coming out the park. as i was fiddling with it, a nice man came over and helped me and gave pointers to the bike novice. loving the friendly community of bikers.
i had so much energy when i got home that i decided to make a shirt for tomorrow night. i was going back and forth between what i wanted the shirt to say and went with "TOO HIGH." seemed fitting since that's one of my favorite stevie songs and i'm expecting to be too high on stevie tunes tomorrow. heh.
report on "wonder-full" to come.

turn that frown up-side-down

ok, so i had a little set back yesterday. i thought it over and i decided i'm going to go for the studio work space. i did a test bike ride over there this morning to check out the space again and i think it's going to be good for me. i really really need to get out of the house. i think it'll be great for me to be around other creatives rather than locked in my little head with no one to exchange ideas with and feed off of. i need this. and i'm gonna make it work. new goals are in order. it's time to change things up!

so next week i will be commuting 20 minutes away to williamsburg (yeah, i know... i think it'll be nice to work there... lots of resources... but i still get to come home to the park and the brownstone and trees!). i will have to get dressed and brush my teeth and leave the apartment in the morning! i will get my coffee down the street on my way to work and i'll be like a regular working person... BUT working for myself. i got a couple new business ideas in the works, graphics stuff and silk screening stuff and this space will be perfect for all new ventures. i will be working around a jewelry designer, a book designer, an indie film production company, a painter/sculptor, and possibly some screen printers. sounds good to moi.

here are a couple pics of the space... i'll take more when i get in there next week!
click studio space

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

why, oh why did i not read the fine print??? why, oh why did i assume that i was signing a document which stated what was talked about instead of what was actually written? i'm kicking myself! i'm so pissed off.

today i learned that my rent is going to increase because my lease is up. i was 99% sure that i had originally signed a 2 year lease when i got this place. i specifically remember sitting there with the manager and the broker. the broker said i should sign a 2 year lease to keep the "prefered" rental rate instead of the legal rent. i remember being hesitant, but agreeing to the 2 year lease. well, when i looked at the paper today, questioning why i had to sign a rental renewal, i noticed that sure enough, the lease i signed had a little check mark next to 1 year lease, not 2. and for my stupid stupid stupid misfortune, i will now be charged the legal amount which just so happens to be $150 more than what i've been paying! arrrrrrrrrrg!

this also just so happens to fall on the day that i decided i was going to take my business out of my apartment. my friend recently got a big work space that she's dividing into smaller spaces for artists to share. she had an opening this weekend and i thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get my ass out of the house and start being ultra productive on the work front. working from home has it's advantages, sure. but i do notice an increase in productivity when i don't have the option for a nap or watching oprah. getting up and out of the house seems to be much better for my psyche.

so here in lies my dilemna... do i suck it up and take the work space, hoping that i will be ultra productive and won't have a problem paying more for home rent and work space? or do i stay put? moving into a new apartment is not an option for me at the moment. it would mean paying the same amount for an equal sized space in the same area or sharing (which i will not go back to). the good thing about the work space is there is no lease involved (month to month basis and it is very affordable). i think i'm gonna go for it, attempt to get in crazy busy work mode and hope for the best. they always say the risk takers are better in business anyway. thoughts? opinions?

may the forth be with you

mark was passing through town last night, on his way back to LA coming from vienna. when he arrived at my place, he told me that his friends invited us to a party in williamsburg (why is shit always in williamsburg?). anyway, i was a little leary, since we were told it was some weird star wars party. i was picturing a bunch of dorky dudes swillin a few in a heated star wars roll playing game.

don't get me wrong. i love a good dork party, but when we were told it was a wednesday night kegger, we were there. getting out of the car on a dark industrial street off broadway, we saw two other people looking around the decrepid building. as we walked up to them, the girl looked at me and questioned "may the forth be with you?" i wasn't sure if she had a lisp or if i was missing something, but i figured it had to have something to do with the star wars party.

we found the entrance to the basement loft style apartment and it seemed empty. but as we walked back into the depths of the creepy place, we saw the sausage fest happening in the back... lots of boys wearing "revenge of the sith" and "jedi knight" shirts milling around with plastic cups of cheap beer. perfect! we found our friends in a quiet nook in one of the make-shift bedrooms. pouring our cups' worth of keg beer and making ourselves comfortable, we settled into the weird star wars party.

sure, it was a strange place, but i was having a good time. about 1am, the party host threw on the disco version of the star wars theme song by meko. HA!! i was loving it and got into some serious chair dancing. not too much later, the host went back to his itunes and put on a super cheesy dance party mix... we're talking one of those cd's you can buy off tv called "sizzlin' hot party jams" or something. soon enough the dorks streamed into the little bedroom and started shaking their rumps to the likes of "in da club" and "big poppa." hilarious! all of us got up and got into it too. an impromptu geek fest wednesday night kegger dance party, with a star wars theme. OH, and i found out what was up with the girl with the lisp earlier... it was may 4th... may the forth be with you!!" pretty clever!

dating 101

why have i never done this dating thing before? it's so good. so telling. making decisions about dudes seems so much easier. (thanks amy, you were right!!)

here's the current scenario. frenchie is date boy #1, musician is date boy #2. i had met musician before i left for california a few months ago and he had that whole cool persona thing down. so freakin typical of me to go for a musician. so predictable, but it's what i know and i went with it. we had gone out the night before i left for cali and had a lot to say to each other. he was funny, into the whole pop culture thing, knew his music (stevie wonder being his favorite won him major bonus points) and we the chemistry was there. basically he seemed like a fun guy and i was eager to hang out when i got back to ny. when i did get back it seemed impossible to find a time to get together. either i had plans the night he was free or he had some gig til the wee hours of the night and i wasn't too keen on starting this thing off as a late night booty call situation. i was genuinely interested in getting to know him, to see what he was all about.

in the meantime, i met frenchie who was musician's complete opposite. was terrific at making a plan and following through, kept regular job hours, didn't have the joe cool persona, could talk about smart stuff instead of tv shows (heh), etc, etc. like i said in an earlier post, i thought he was a nice boy but i wasn't totally sure yet.

so the weekend rolled around and i finally had a date set up with musician. he said he had rehearsal until 8 that night and could we hang out after. 8 seemed doable. he didn't have a plan either, just wanted me to come by his place and we'd figure it out. fine. whatever. it already wasn't going the way i would have liked, but i was giving it a chance. during the day, he calls me to ask if i can pick up a bottle of wine because he's too busy (but he'd pay me back for it of course). uh, ok, i guess i could do that. so 9 rolls around, he calls, says he's so tired and needs to lay down for a bit and could we make it 10? sure, fine buddy, whatever. he lives close-ish, so i walk over there at 10 at night... and his hood was sketchy. i wasn't a very happy camper.

when i arrive, no plan is made. he's hungry (it was past 10 and naturally i had already eaten) so i accompany him to get some food around the corner. after he eats and the bill comes, he realizes he doesn't have enough cash and can i front him some money. so i fork over half the bill. lovely. we ended up just going back to his place to drink the wine that i brought (in which he throws me a couple 5's to cover the cost... which didn't cover it, but who's counting?) and play a board game (which was mildly entertaining). during the few hours of hanging out the jerk takes 2 cell phones calls. and long ones! no "oh, i've got a friend over, can i call you back later?" straight up 10 minute conversations while i'm sitting there twiddling my thumbs (although he made the "i'm sorry gesture," he still didn't get off). ooo, that irritates me. basically, i was not impressed in the slightest and frenchie was looking damn good.

and let me tell you... last night with frenchie was fantastic. none of that first date gitters stuff. he came to my neighborhood and let me pick the restaurant. we talked and talked and talked about interesting stuff... politics, economy, education, etc. he's so freaking smart (slightly intimidating, but intelligence is the ultimate turn on). his phone rang once during the meal and he just turned it off. when the bill came, there was no weird stuff. like a perfect gentleman, it wasn't even a question. in my old age, i sure have come to appreciate chivalry and the old fashioned ways. he said he had brought me a bottle of wine (he brought ME wine!) and so we went back to my house to drink some and watched a movie. and i'll just say that i'm not questioning whether i'm into him or not. he totally won me over and things worked out just fine. who knew that a person could grow on you? amazing.

the funniest part about this whole dating thing is this... if frenchie wasn't around i KNOW i would be making excuses for musician's shitty behavior. and if musician weren't around i may still be unsure about frenchie. one cancels out the other. and the smart, sweet gentleman wins!

New friends

New friends
Originally uploaded by megasoul.

My first inner city outings adventure. We took a group of kids from Flatlands Family Residence (a homeless shelter) out to Harriman State Park for a rainy day hike. A great day even in the wetness!

my alter ego?

megan hill: ...great versatility... should enable her to quickly adapt to a high level of play ... great attitude and mentality is motivating to teammates. GO NAVY! HAHA (provided by google image search for megan hill)

why i suck

i've mulled it over in my head and i feel like a big jerk for my thoughts on last night's date. i thank you kind friends for sending your words of wisdom about my lame dating philosophy, enlightening me to think otherwise. you cannot judge someone by one meeting. it's impossible. i've just been one for gut feelings, that's all. i've always gone with my instincs but let's take a good hard look at where it's gotten me. yes ladies and gentlemen, i'm still single. i kind of pride myself on being picky with men but let's not forget some of the lame-o's i've ended up with. it'd be nice to try a new way. getting to know someone gradually instead of jumping on them the first night, getting hot and heavy the next few months and then letting the fire die because all you really had in common was steamy loving. new experiment... wait it out, take it slowly and see what happens. that's what i'd like to do next time. i'm still a jerk, but a jerk who's trying to learn from her past mistakes and make herself better. the end.

no sex and the city

dating. what a novel concept. i don't think i've ever really "dated" before. the way it's worked for me in the past is i usually like a boy, go out with him and then he's my boyfriend. or not. but i've never done this "testing the waters" with different guys sort of thing. and i'm still not totally sure how i feel about it. i'm not possitive how to handle the situation.

last night i went on an actual proper date. it's been about a year since i've done that. i met this nice young man (let me emphasize the word young) last week at a function. he was cute and very smart and we had a lot to talk about. we were both a little tipsy, the conversation flowed nicely and i gave him my number. like a good boy, he called me the next day to set up a date. huh. i like when things work that way.

so i met him at a lovely italian restaurant last night in williamsburg. i was sort of dreading the whole "official date" thing. i usually prefer a casual encounter because for some reason the dinner thing puts an added pressure on an evening. but it was fine. i think he was a little nervous as the coversation started out a little forced. but as the wine flowed, so did the chatting.

after dinner we headed to this awesome bar. super french (like this boy), great atmosphere and a fantastic african jazzy band. loved it. we drank mint tea and talked about dating histories (always a fun topic of conversation on a first date... allows one to gage what the other is thinking... like are they into just dating or a serious something). this boy seemed pretty into me, complimenting me, saying how he was having such a nice time, bla bla bla. these are usually good things, but i'm an asshole and made me doubt him. i don't know. i suck. he was a perfect gentleman. he's very intelligent, was funny and sweet, is ambitious with a great job, the whole bit. and i just don't know how i feel. he seemed to be missing that certain something that makes me giddy for a boy at first. like he's not a poor as fuck asshole who treats me shitty. goddammit. will i ever learn???

the question is, do i go out with him again? i had a very nice time with him. i'm sure he would treat me wonderfully and we'd continue to have fun times. BUT i don't know if he's someone that would grow on me or not. can you continue going on dates with someone without it leading to sex right away? perhaps an experiment is in order... can it be done?

my new bike

my new bike
Originally uploaded by megasoul.

check it! this was my weekend purchase. freedom on the streets on NYC. look out summer, here i come!

hurts so good.

i've lived in nyc for a little over a year and a half now and i finally found my ideal african dance class last night. YAY!! besides my friends, the main thing i miss about LA is my african dance class... the famous nigerian dance and drum ensemble taught by omowali with drums lead by her husband, francis awe. i always looked forward to wednesday nights... heading down to pico and la brea to "move that back" and sweat to the drums. it was always a spiritually uplifting experience and since i've been in ny, i've really missed it.

i honestly didn't make a huge effort to find an equivalent class in ny just because i knew there could never be a replacement for omowali and awe's class. i had heard about djoniba dance and drum center but i was wasn't convinced. i did actually take a class there when i first got here. it was something like haitan and was really really really hard, thus detering me from going back. i kind of gave up on finding the perfect class.

well, it just so turned out that one of my friend's had been taking djoniba's class all winter long. when i got back last weekend i had an email telling me that she was going to be in a performance for the center. so i went, hoping that i'd be inspired to go back. that was just what the doctor ordered. those drums! those hotties playing the drums! the dance moves! the energy! and the widely diverse group of men and women performing made me want to check it out for sure.

so i went to djoniba's class last night and it was GREAT!!!! granted, it's no nigerian talking drum ensemble, but it was damn close. the warm-up was super intense. i haven't done that many crunches and leg lifts in years (and man, do i feel the pain today. ouch!!). then was the break-down of a routine which i actually amazingly caught on to. next the drummers came in and wailed on those skins. the energy in the room was buzzing. and then we did the routine, ten times faster then we had learned it of course.i couldn't quite keep up but with a little more practice, i think i'll be just fine. so excited... i can already visualize my new hard bod. HA!

hipper than thou

ah williamsburg. the mecca for wanna-be cools. i still can't quite figure out how such a seemingly small area encompasses so many youngsters that are too hip for their own good. it boggles the mind.

last night was my friend's benefit fashion show. it was for a good cause. support for the north brooklyn alliance, hosted by this cool store in williamsburg. needless to say it drew a rather interesting crowd. there were some of the strangest outfits imaginable. i just can't see how some one can look in the mirror wearing a small, weird shaped piece of fabric they call a dress, with their free-flowing tits all over the place, bad un-brushed hair, ugly old moccassin boots and think they look good. i guess it's that "i'm too cool for fashion" fashionista thing. or something. i don't get it.

even though some of the outfits were strange, the crowd was enthusiastic and full of energy, whooping it up and hollering for their friends' designs. and it wasn't your standard fashion show either. each designer came up with a routine for their models. it was more like a performance which was pretty fun. the acts ranged from song and dance numbers, to hoopers (yes ariel, hoopers!), acrobats, and strippers. and there were a few actual performers in between designers. my favorite was a woman who freakin rocked it! she did a strip tease that may be the best strip tease i've ever seen. first the dress came off, then the bra, then the pasties, then the underwear. as she strut around totally butt naked, she actually lip synced the rock song with her butt cheeks. then faced forward and lip synced with her "other" lips. i was dying. and although it sounds nasty, it was pretty rad.

the night ended at the after party at capone's (yes terra, the free pizza place!!). when you order a beer, you get a free delicious pizza. what a deal!! i chatted it up with a nice young french boy. a smarty stanford grad. and i'll just stop it right there. loving spring time in NYC! weeeeeee.........

happy to be back

at the moment, NY is the most beautiful i've ever seen it. it's been absolutely perfect weather since i got back... sunny, blue skies, cool breeze. and the blossoms are outrageous. my park, fort greene park, is a vision of perfect spring time activity. kids out playing, adults having picnics, people tossing the frisbee, young folks reading on a blanket on the hill. pure springy joy! i'm definitely enjoying the return. kinda planned that one just right.

unfortunately, i've been super buys (still) and can't run around and play outside. i got some good weekend chilling in, but now that it's back to the work week, i gotta get to it. juggling 6 projects which have me a little stressed out, but it's all getting done and there will finally be a little cash flowage coming through. which means i can pay off my debt and start saving for the next trip.

i'm still set on south america, but africa has been calling my name too. in the book i'm reading right now (yes, another travel book) the traveler is in kenya and it just seems amazing. i never had a huge desire to go, but recently i'm fascinated. and to top it off, i got sucked into a PBS program last night about animals emotions. i don't know what got into me but it was like a waterworks show. every little story about these amazing animals had me tearing up. the mere-cats of africa staying with their dying mother til the bitter end. the momma elephant who saved her baby who fell in the quick sand. and oh god, the real tear-jerker... the dog who risked his own life to save the little boy. jeezus! i was a blubbering idiot and laughing at myself for bawling over a tv show. needless to say, i'd love to be up close and personal with animals in their own habitats in africa some day. more travelling to come. but first, some NY spring time adventures. i promise i'll have a good city story next time i write.

SPRING!!

yellow up close
Originally uploaded by megasoul.

spring time is in full effect in NYC. LOVING!

can't make up my mind

i know i've changed this damn blog template a bunch of times and i apologize for my inability to make a decision and stick with it. if it were up to me, i'd design my own damn blog template, but i can't deal with a bunch of code right now, when all i really have to do is choose one of the 20 templates blogger gives me and click "use this template." it's too easy and i'm lazy, ok? maybe someday i'll get off my ass and do it, but for now, i've gone back to the original. clean, simple, a little bubbly with a touch of design. the last one was nice for a while, but amy was right, it was a little on the pirate-y side (and the sidebar was pain to change). so here you are. hopefully i'll stick with this one (until they decide to come up with some new fancy templates).
if you'll notice, i added some links in the sidebar. please check out the suba ud site and the handy paypal donation button. it's easy to donate now. even just a couple bucks will help!
and if i you have a site i left out, lemme know!