Hipsters in Bed Stuy and Chubby Basketballers in Sunset Park...

Like a lot of people I know, I like to think things happen for a reason, even if that reason is so that another thing can happen for a reason and on and on until you've gone completely mad wondering where the hell your life is going.

It seems as though this stuff only started to get bad (sure before it was stupid but bearable) once I had already come up with the idea of getting out of here. I was inspired to get out of here for purely monetary concerns initially but now, it's making more and more sense to do it.

If they're going to be out there later and later every night playing basketball (last night it was 330 in the morning or later when I finally called 311) then I'm just going to go mad. 311 is not very effective, I can't go out there and talk to these thugs and expect results (I heard them making fun of someone else who said they had to work in the morning) and I tried cotton balls and sleeping with my hand over my ear and my other ear buried in the pillow. None of these work.

So, maybe it's just a sign that I'm on the right track thinking of getting out of here. Maybe I needed more inspiration to get out of here. Because I may not survive at this rate paying this much in rent but I was hesitant to do it before because I

I had a heck of a time last night though before coming home to those idiots. I went to a Rubalad party in Bedford Stuyvesant with my poker night friends. Basically it's a huge loft building with multiple floors, bands and DJs in different rooms on each floor, art covering every inch of the place (including things like a papier mache cave in one room and slinkys and other random things hanging from the ceiling) and sweaty hipsters. It was wholly impromptu on my part as I wasn't even invited until about 9:00 that night. The party started at 11pm or so and we arrived shortly after. Read more reviews here. I can't seem to find an official website for it and all I could find out for any reason behind the party was this blurb in the email that was forwarded to me:

"20 years ago this summer, 200 eastern European picnickers broke through the iron curtain into the West. We celebrate them, as we exercise our freedom to celebrate."

Their was an option to come in costume. The theme? Picnics. We opted not to try and figure out what that could mean and devise some kind of costume ourselves. Instead we just went as is and people watched all night. But what a weird scene it was. I wish I could say more. After hanging out on the roof with the friends I'd come with, I went back in with a few of the guys, into the muggy dimness of the rest of the loft, I wound up waiting in line for the only bathroom for about twenty minutes. Well, the only bathroom that had a door and was not a mere sheet labeled "pee tent" draped over a structure on a corner of the roof. It was wild.

But anyway, back on the topic of getting the heck out of here. I also have a few options for places to stay cropping up. A friend that I made at a party back in March is looking for someone to fill a spare room where he and his girlfriend live. I'm going to proceed with caution on this one because it might not be for me. It's a three bedroom for one, and I think it's in Bed Stuy, the neighborhood I was in last night (famous for being seedy...seriously there's a Billy Joel lyric about this place), and also it may be too small for me and my stuff. I've decided, though, if I end up cheap enough on rent, wherever I end up moving, I should have enough extra money to rent a storage space for the stuff I can't bring.

And so the logistical nightmare begins. But I'm okay with that. I guess I have to pick which nightmare I want to deal with right now. And I think a little bit of shuffling of my stuff around is worth potentially removing myself from a place where I have to endure a couple of tubby high school kids playing basketball shirtless outside my apartment until 4am, then I'm game. It's goes without saying, of course, that any place I do move to must be quieter in that respect, i.e. a few floors up or at least not street side.

And so and so forth. I'm going to the West Side tonight with Karishma to watch the fireworks. Hopefully, it won't be a total cluster and hopefully we'll be there soon enough to actually catch them. Wish me luck. Pictures ensuing to include my day around Madison Square Park with cousin Katrina.