Thursday, January 08, 2004
Wind Like a Heaven-6
Months ago I had a phone conversation with Tony where I told him I was moving to NYC. And I remember the first thing he said. “Bring blankets.”
Last night we walked from Mat’s down to Union Pool, a local bar. We could have taken the train two stops down but I said, “let’s walk, I want to get acclimated.” Man, I’ve never felt the cold make the plastic of my glasses drain the heat off the tops of my ears and the bridge of my nose. How inhaling through the nose is like chugging a slurpie. The way the cold air creeps around and under blankets at night and makes getting out of bed to use the bathroom a dreadful necessity. Lotion is cold from the bottle, earings inject cold into the earlobes like needles. The wind walking down a street feels like stepping through a briar or maybe some crazy attacker doing a heaven-6 (see paragraph 2) slashing pattern over me.
It’s insidious really.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
YAY
Holy cow I need to acclimate to this kind of cold. The wind around my office building is so cold because we’re close to the water. I haven’t walked down to the river yet, on the manhattan or the brooklyn side, but I want to do that soon. Perhaps I can get the brother to make a field trip with me. I heard the sunset was especially pretty last night, and I haven’t noticed because of my hours. Must remedy.
YAY. got my keys last night, did the commute from work to the new place and was very happy with it - like 2 blocks from my subway stop. the apartment is even slightly bigger than i remembered. I’m going to call the storage people today and see when I can get my junk moved in. There’s a big ugly dresser the previous people left. Why is it always the big ugly stuff that gets left?
no new tales to tell, just in general, in a very happy place.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
And But Also
I decided to take a break.
Sooooo I have an idea for a book that I’ve been thinking about for like a year and I’m looking forward to doing it now that I have enough material. Other ideas float around and I’ve not decided if they lend better to screenplays, short stories, or animation.
I have an idea for doing the blog differently, or at least, it’d be a form of blog and story telling supplement, and hope to roll one or two out before long. And perhaps what’s bugging me most, is as I adjust to my new routine, figuring out a good time for posting everyday. Maybe I’ll post before I leave the house in the morning, that’s kinda what I’m thinking. And once I get a proper connection again, I can upload the pix I’ve been taking. Camera phone now too, whoo!
All in all, I’ve no intention of slacking off.
Monday, January 05, 2004
A Week and a Day
About to leave here, de new office. It’s a whole nother ballgame. Monster tricked out this space back before the dotBomb and I keep getting lost. But the people are all nice so far, I’ve been orientated. Got my unix box and pc just hooked up. They have a new initiative where the developers install all their own stuff so I’ve just installed Apache and still have Oracle, PHP, PHP command line interpreter, mcrypt and cURL to go. But i’ve got a UPS under the desk and the biggest, gushiest, blackest, leatheryest chair i’ve ever had ... so it’s nice. The little things, you know. My bosses are super geniuses and I’m planning on learning all I can.
Course the new discipline means no blogging during the day, no aiming, not so much with the emails. not so much with the anything that isn’t work, since we’re all open-dot-com style. i’m sitting smack next to my CTO, which is great, but i don’t dare slack. it’s good for me. :p
The next update.... I threw myself into the apartment hunt like I throw myself into any good hunt, and saw many many places and walked all over the place. In keeping with learning from past things I hated about apartments (could be a whole, warning post) I settled with one that’s just a “2 room efficiency”. It had a good energy when I walked in, has come nice touches (like a tin ceiling) and it’s in a great spot. Brooklyn Heights.... feels familiar in a hyped up and exaggerated way. I’ve lived in an efficiency before and though everyone who visited me thought the place was tiny, and me insane, i really loved it.
Must admit also that it was really fun strong-arming my way through the throng of people who showed up for the open house. It was a really nice afternoon - I met up with Mike and Rachel - Rachel for the first time in person, and they brought me to a yumma Italian place. Rachel gave me a really good map of Brooklyn that I’ve used constantly since, and they humored my desperation for an internet connection so I could do more craigs list and mapping out online. You guys rock on with your bad selves.
I almost waited at least another week before choosing a place, got a lot of advice to keep looking around. But I know I’ll be happy there. It’s been fun staying at Matt’s, no doubt. He’s extended my welcome indefinitely. I don’t know when exactly I’ll start shacking at the new place. Matt’s on a Family Guy binge since buying every season on DVD with Christmas gift cards and his only prereq for me is that I don’t mind watching it all the time. His tiny little sister cats - Luna and Lili -like to place and fight. One’s got more of a grappling style and the other uses the crane technique. I can say these things and he knows what I mean. In a good way, it feels like I’ve been around here so much longer than a week and a day.
Though, I must admit… There was a very strong moment on New Year’s Eve that I’d forgotten about last time I posted. It was almost 4 in the morning, I was at a bar with a group of familiar people and friends. Suddenly I was so homesick, I wanted so badly to go home to my old apartment. (mom, don’t follow this link) “I want my old friends/ I want my old face / I want my old mind / Fuck this time and place” but I just let it go. All night my brain kept trying to apply familiar faces to all the strangers, and it’s doing it to places and street names too.
“New York is cold / But I like where I’m living / There’s music on Clinton Street all through the evening.” And I still sing to myself when I walk and can think no one hears.
Friday, January 02, 2004
Recovery
The recovery from New Years Eve can sometimes feel as long as the half life of plutonium-234.
... the slow release of toxins. We went to one party that was a bit small and uninteresting at a gallery space then were on our way into Manhattan when we walked past signs of a really good party. So we crashed it. They had an awesome space, two dj’s, lots of crazy people, a disco ball and lights, dancing dancing dancing. We had so much fun. I danced until my hair was sweaty. People who’d never seen Tony dance were amazed and enthralled, because he’s gravity defying and completely beautiful. I’m laughing at him because he says his left butt cheek is still sore today.
I got in around 7am, only because I bummed a ride with someone who’d also had enough of being “out”. Otherwise I would have walked home in broad daylight with Tony many hours later. Felt so good to wash my face. I was downright grimey. Filthiest fingernail night so far in nyc. Man this is a dirty place, just overall. We parted ways and it was actually kinda nice to have a day apart. In the warm glow of the previous evening, we were planning on finding a fabulous loft together.
“we could do that!”
“i mean, i could do that, sure. yeah!”
“we’d be cool. we have good communication.”
Next day we decided it’d be much better to keep apppreciating each other’s presence like we do now, and NOT live together. So that makes things incredibly easy for me. I’m going to live alone, like I know I’m happiest doing. Now I just need to pinpoint my location and get to it. yay. Apartment hunting is like shopping except on a bigger scale. And then there’s the apartment set-up. That’s my favorite. I know when my stuff’s out of storage I’ll be singing “reunited and it feels so goooood”
I have some pictures from New Year’s Eve, but haven’t uploaded yet. I’m on computer of the guy who sits next to my brother in his office, most people are still out so i’m not getting any “hey, you’re early” attention at this office. Nice to not be paying by the minute at the rate I compose.
Well I’m going to get off here and start perusing craig’s list.
Hooked on the Village Voice’s horoscopes, since Susie Q’s been sending them to me.
“PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): After having dined at the Urasawa sushi bar in Los Angeles, I’m prepared to give you advice about your love life in 2004. It should have a lot in common with the sake I drank there: delicate yet potent, so unique as to be almost (but not quite) strange, enjoyed most when sipped slowly, and made from individually polished grains of rice grown next to sacred groves of sakaki trees and fed by an ancient underground spring.”
they’re always really good, and actually helpful. teehee
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Procrastination(tion)
So at the 11th hour I signed up for my Cobra benefits (thanks Dawn!) in case I bash my head open before Jan 5 when my new benies kick in. And it’s totally possible. I skateboarded in Mat’s living room this morning (i’m house and kitty sitting for him until Sunday woo!!) while brushing my teeth until I had a vision of choking on a toothbrush and stopped. A few nights ago Carolina and I butted heads in the back of a car because we were laughing so hard, and she hit my nose in that same spot that always gets hit, and it’s still hurts. I’m gonna need a nose job one day. Not for vanity (right!) but just cuz it’s getting harder to breath.
Adding to the procrastination, I still haven’t hit the DMV, the Tmobile store or the bank. Well I’ve tried, but the bank was closed yesterday. And I’m going to Tmobile right after this. I have all my proof of ID but don’t know if the DMV will want something with my address on it. I suspect they will even though the web site only talks about ID conf, not address conf.
To add to the excitement, I changed my address with the post office to be in effect (in effect yall) as of last friday. When I got back from the mamasita’s I was expecting a week’s worth of mail jammed into my box. (oh my, google can now find “jammed into my box” LOL i’m not deleting that.) But there was none, nor did more come, nor has any arrived at the new address. So I just REsubmitted. SUBMIT! damn your eyes!
I miss all yall very muchly, the DC contingent. I talked with Maria the other night and it was great to hear her voice calling all the way from London. I’m not telling any of her stories cuz they’re hers to tell. But I think her life is unfolding beautifully and she’s really earned it.
So excited for the New Year. Normally it’s just a night of forced celebration but this year I have lots to look forward to because of the timing. And I know of quite a few friends who are on the verge of something big themselves. Happy for all of us, because we work hard, we stick with it, we chew it up and spit it out. We rock on with our bad selves. Go us!!! Happy New Year everybody!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Any Moment Now
One thing I decided the moment I got here was to participate in the cliche of wanting to become famous. I’m just going to work until I’m discovered. Any moment now...... Yeah baby! And they will call me brilliant. teeheehee. I don’t know for what yet, but it hardly matters. Perhaps I’ll form a speed metal band called The Dissident Shareholders. but I’m talking more fame than that. And at least I’m mature enough to handle my fame, so it all works out. and don’t steal my band name!
Again in the Go Cafe where the internet connections exist and the atmosphere is lacking. I lost/forgot my phone at Mat’s last night, and he’s gonna swing by here on his way from work. Let’s just hope we find the dang phone. A bunch of us watched Kung Pow Enter the Fist and it was kinda really funny and kinda really dumb. The Netflix dvd flaked out and stopped playing, so we don’t know how it ends. And it doesn’t matter.
And I’ve learned that I can’t think in this internet cafe place. It’s just not condusive to organized thought or writing. Whenever I’m away from the machine I have ideas, or funny stories to tell and then they go right outa my head when I get here.
The only thing really troubling me is that I did an online request to forward mail at the USPS and um, I haven’t gotten any mail at either address for 2 weeks. And that’s NOT a good thing at all when mail is bills, checks, etc. But I’m planning on getting a new phone today, and a new NYC bank account. Getting entretched, yep. But I’m still so on vacation. It’s wonderful.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Aight, Peace
Got into Brooklyn yesterday, had a really cool Russian cab driver who I could talk to about Vassily Aksyonov, and arrived at Roebling and Grand to see my brother on the roof of his building, waving his arms. Felt so damn good to finally get here.
Moving was excrutiating, as to be expected, but Jon was an amazing help via cheesecake, moving equipment, humor and patience. God it took forever and I was all kinds of tired, with a plethora of pain. But it’s over. YAAAY!*!*!
I haven’t had net access since Thursday and that’s sucked ass. I’m going to make friends with a guy in my bro’s building to see if I can tap into his wireless network (my brother couldn’t get it to work yet). And the other guy I’m staying with doesn’t have access either. WTF is wrong with these people? All the more reason to get an enabled phone asap. Right now I’m in an internet cafe next to the health food store paying 15 cents a minute. Welcome to Williamsburg eh? The guy at the counter thought he recognized me and was really helpful. Funny how that happens.
Yesterday was Carolina‘s 29th bday so we went out and it felt soo soo good to be doing something normal and pleasant again.
Today I have several missions I’m going on but it’s great to not have to start work until next monday. Fantfreakingtabulous!! A little to do, and a lot of trouble to get in. heehee
Paying at this rate, i’m going to QUICKLY check some blogs and read some email but dammit!!! hehehe just call me 202 361 6429 ha! that’s stupid but hell, I’m canceling this phone soon anyway. call me call me cuz i’m overtime.
aight, peace, kittens. talk soon!
