Sunset Park and Chinatown...

I feel certain things are going to be okay. Not because I have some window into the future and I know how things will turn out and what will happen; but because I'm beginning to have faith in my own ability to make the best out of my situation. At first, the prospect of not having a job and only having a short amount of time (two months) to find one before my money runs out (I told you rent was expensive) was a bit harrowing, to say the least. But now I've decided to look at this as an opportunity to really learn something about myself, try some new things and have some fun. For instance, I might try a couple of film jobs to fill in the spaces between now and whenever Technicolor needs their freelance person, I'm planning on calling some casting agencies that cast movie extras, and I'm also planning on using a site called shutterstock.com to sell some of my photos. I'm pretty much going to have to learn to go after things even if I think I can't do them, or I think they won't be that lucrative enough to be worthwhile. It might even be fun and adventurous. After all, two months is not that small of a buffer to work with finding a job and I consider myself a pretty resourceful guy. I mean, I did make it up here, didn't I? And after a month of being here, I found a place, got successfully moved in and am actually starting to know my way around the neighborhood. I even got to sort of show a friend around today.

Karishma and I went to Sunset Park to take photos of Manhattan and sit and enjoy the weather (I finally took pictures but she had my camera in her bag when she left, so I can't put them up yet. I promise you'll see them soon!) Afterward we walked through Chinatown, stopping at all the grocery stores in search of tarragon for the soup I was making (Ham and Green Lentil Soup...mmmmm!). Before we finally found it we stopped at two groceries that were right across the street from each other on 8th Ave. One claimed to be the "First" Fei Grocery or something and the other was the Fei Grocery "no. 1." Kind of a ridiculous rivalry, like when you see two First Baptist Churches on the same street. One was mostly fruit and vegetable stands but with some very exotic meats in the back (black chickens, head and all, duck feet, chicken feet, pig feet, beef stomach, cow tongue, duck tongue, anything else you'd want...or wouldn't want), the other grocery though was straight up fish market with some other drug store type stuff in the back and some imported sweets in the back back. We perused both looking like a bunch of tourists and I had the epiphany that this is going to be a great place for fresh seafood being right next to the ocean and all. Duh! I don't know why I haven't gone out and bought fresh seafood yet. After the grocery stores we strolled down the block and across the street to a bakery called Long Sing Bakery. There are two of these within walking distance of my house and I had looked in before, always wanting an excuse to go in and try some of their goods. They reminded me of stuff my ex used to bring back from the Korean store. Upon entering, we could see a case filled with what looked like buns filled with various things. Randomly, they also sold croissants but my eye was drawn to the mystery buns. There was no way to say that that wasn't going to sound funny. I bought one that I thought would have cheese in it but it was some indeterminate filling that looked like chocolate and tasted like, well, sweet. It wasn't chocolate. Karishma got one that was dubbed "shredded pork." The shredded pork was only on the top of the bun and there was, in fact, no filling with this one. Altogether enjoyable though.

Anyway, I was just thinking about how nice it is that I have close friends up here even if we can't hang out every waking second like we could when I was in Greensboro and all we had was class and a few part time jobs that happened to be fun. (I'm thinking Tate Street Coffee House here!) It's going to be different with everyone a subway ride away but we'll make it happen. Like today.

With that, I might go to sleep soon and get an early start tomorrow on job hunting and phone calling, etc.