I now, finally after all these years, understand how holidays can be stressful to some people. In just under a week, I will be cooking my first Thanksgiving bird for my girlfriend and her parents. I bought a 12 lbs. turkey at the Park Slope Food co-op yesterday and am planning on cooking the poor thing in my own kitchen...which means also hosting the dinner at my apartment.
So naturally, I'm in organizational mode and have been taking on more than I can handle, it seems. Lukcily, I was able to outsource the pie and some of the sides to my girlfriend and her parents. But Meanwhile, here's a few of the things I've decided to make:
Sweet potato and turnip mash, because we went back and forth about whether to have mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes or one or the other, or turnips, or not turnips and then this recipe surfaced:
Gluten free rolls, which I'm going to adapt to be as close to my mother's onion rolls that she would always make on Thanksgiving.
And as for that pie I'm outsourcing, Alexa found this.
Now, it's all a matter of cleaning up the apartment, planning the timing of everything I'll be cooking, and somehow, finding two extra chairs. Thinking about seeing if I can borrow something like that from my neighbors or buy cheap ones. As it stands I have 2 kitchen chairs, a piano bench, an office chair and two sofas but I think I'd rather have everyone sitting on something as chair like as possible.
The trick to all this is to do lists and time management. I've found them to be invaluable all these years for the enormous amount of stuff I try to accomplish in the 16 or so waking hours I have every day. Without to do lists my brain would melt into an incomprehensible pool of obligations and deadlines and I wouldn't know what to do with myself. And without time management, I would never get anything done...or at least I wouldn't get nearly as much done.
My current remixing project would be nowhere without the lengthy to do list I have in place as there are multiple pieces I'm working on. It's fluid and each piece has it's own sub-to-do list, with tasks to complete before I get to the creative phase of changing things around (tasks like separating out all the individual tracks and putting them into a new project file in Logic). I'm changing things daily and deciding which songs I should cut as well. Hopefully, with the technical stuff out of the way, I'll be getting on with the creative aspects, which are better taken care of in the lair, i.e. when I'm at home. So I'm doing all of the technical stuff while I'm on the move and here at work. That's time management.
With that said, I need to take care of a few more of those technical things before I leave tonight. And then figure out the seating arrangement for Thanksgiving dinner. Wish me luck.
Showing posts with label eating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eating. Show all posts
Friday, November 16, 2012
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Breaking in the new apartment...
I finally posted a clip from the finished DVD of Sides of the Track on the new website. Had a little time this afternoon around the apartment since I was preparing to host my friend Lauren for dinner. The first guest we've had in the apartment since moving in. Also, put some more touches on the piano and electronics piece that I've been working on. I've got a neat workflow going on with the laptop and the piano. With the piano being in my room I can put the laptop behind me on the bed with my notation software open and all I have to do is just swing around on the bench and enter notes in Sibelius as I riff on the piano. It's great.
While I was at it, I couldn't resist, since the apartment was looking so nice after I tidied up for my guest, taking a few pictures of what the place looks like, specifically my den/lair/studio/bedroom. Here they are:
Some of those were taken on another night when we were bored playing with the cat.
I can't describe how amazing it is to have a space that I enjoy working in…and cooking in. I made a nice roasted root vegetable soup for my friend to break in the kitchen…unfortunately though, I had to come in to work tonight, for my fifth overnight in a row. Tomorrow's technically a day off but I'll be working until 7am Friday so it won't really feel like one. I go back in to work at 10am Saturday and straight afterwards, I go to the location for the film shoot. Another shoot, same time on Sunday and then I come back in for another overnight at NY1. Five more in a row and then I'm back on my regular schedule. If I survive this, I can do anything.
While I was at it, I couldn't resist, since the apartment was looking so nice after I tidied up for my guest, taking a few pictures of what the place looks like, specifically my den/lair/studio/bedroom. Here they are:
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| New Apartment all set up best |
Some of those were taken on another night when we were bored playing with the cat.
I can't describe how amazing it is to have a space that I enjoy working in…and cooking in. I made a nice roasted root vegetable soup for my friend to break in the kitchen…unfortunately though, I had to come in to work tonight, for my fifth overnight in a row. Tomorrow's technically a day off but I'll be working until 7am Friday so it won't really feel like one. I go back in to work at 10am Saturday and straight afterwards, I go to the location for the film shoot. Another shoot, same time on Sunday and then I come back in for another overnight at NY1. Five more in a row and then I'm back on my regular schedule. If I survive this, I can do anything.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Prospect Park and Snug Harbor...
Fantastic weekend. A huge group of friends from the UU church were gathering in Prospect Park Saturday for a picnic to see off one of our friends who is leaving town to go grad school in Charlottesville, VA. I joined a little later because of not getting off work until 6, but after wandering for a bit, using a group of soccer players as my main landmark, I found the crowd near Nellie's Lawn, snacking on picnic food and passing around a book in which we were all writing recipes for our friend to take with her to VA. The idea of checking out the bandshell to see the music there had been considered but ultimately, as the crowd dwindled to about 8 of us, we all decided to go grab drinks in Prospect Heights at Soda. I had been here once before but had never seen the couch room and patio. Awesome vibe at this place and there were a couple of DJs that we got a laugh out of. Have you ever seen a DJ that doesn't move when he/she is spinning?
Anyway, I left around midnight because Sunday was Juneteenth and I had been roped into singing with the ensemble so I had to be up at 8am like usual. I had previously thought that the choir season was over but was okay with not sleeping in on Sunday...the guy who usually does music whenever our regular choir director isn't in is a really good guy who always picks good music to do. He's a composer as well and speaks French. It was a really fun service and we had some guests performing with us as well. One guy sang "What's Going on?" by Marvin Gaye and Bob Dylan song as well which escapes me at the moments, another guy sang A Woody Guthrie song, "Deportee." The service itself related Juneteenth not just to the ensuing civil rights struggle after the emancipation of all the slaves, but to all civil rights struggles from women's rights to LGBT rights as well.
Afterward, there was a pot luck picnic out in the street and some of the same friends I had hung out with Saturday all stuck around. The friend who had the going away party was planning on going to go to Snug Harbor on Staten Island and invited a ton of us to join. Snug Harbor is a cultural center and botanical Garden a short bus ride away from the ferry terminal in Staten Island. I had only vaguely heard of it before so I was excited to take an impromptu trip, especially one that involved a boat ride and a borough I never go to. My Sunday nap was looming but as I turned the idea over in my head a few times, I became much less interested in sleeping and much more interested in adventure.
So, I agreed and joined the group, Stephanie, Koren (who is moving soon), Markus, Lisa and myself and we all walked to Siggy's to get liquid refreshment and/or caffeine and water for the trip. It's starting to get hot up here these days and an afternoon in the sun would probably have been a little dicey without water. Then we walked down to Borough Hall, grabbed the 4 train to Bowling Green which is a short walk to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and from there hitched the ferry to Staten Island. Waiting for the bus once there was a bit of a spectacle. There was a long line of people all trying to get on the bus when it pulled up and what started out as a perfectly peaceful bus riding adventure devolved into a shouting match between a much older gentleman and the bus driver probably about the fact that a lot of people who were further back in line boarded the bus first through the back door. We decided ultimately to take a few cabs to Snug Harbor instead of watching the debacle unfold and wondering when they were going to just let us all board the bus and get underway.
A much better idea, we arrived at Snug Harbor in a matter of minutes and, though the clouds that we had watched getting darker from the ferry threatened to burst, we set off into the park gravitating toward a particularly cozy looking garden and an ivy covered walkway. The park was quiet that day and felt far removed from the din of the city. The gardens themselves are well kept and diverse, and the grounds are scattered with old buildings, the current use of which I never made the effort to discover, wanting mainly to say outdoors despite the threat of rain. Strolling further on we wound up in a hedge enclosed grassy area with two benches, perfect for whiling away the time doing spontaneous yoga poses until the sun came out and started to scorch again. From that point we sat for a while at a cafe in the park and re-hydrated, munching on some leftover risotto that Markus happened to be carrying with him.
I had my eye on the time and kept calculating how long it would take to get home and if I'd have time to squeeze in a nap. But, of course, I wanted to enjoy my day so I made my best effort not to preoccupy myself with such worries. The park closed at 5pm allegedly so we found the bus stop and waited, debating whether or not to just walk to the ferry terminal. The bus was yet again overcrowded but we made it back to the ferry terminal just in time to miss the 6pm ferry. They run every half hour so we cooled off in the waiting area's air conditioning and subsequently piled onto the next ferry, where I almost fell asleep, pulling into Battery Park city about fifteen minutes later.
Now, it didn't take much convincing for me to step into the adjacent beer garden with my friends to cap off the night, especially since it was only 7pm and I only needed an hour to get ready and 45 minutes to commute to work. The ride home from Whitehall St. alone would have taken only 20 minutes on the R train. This particular beer garden had burgers on the grill so Markus and I both had one along with two pitchers of beer between the five of us. While there, we witnessed yet more animosity in the vain of our earlier encounter with the angry bus riders. Some guy threw a patio chair and upon watching the drama the unfolded before us we surmised that the bartender who served us our pitcher had found out her boyfriend or husband (the chair thrower) had been cheating on her. I think it was the screaming of the phrase, "Get out of my life!" that tipped us off.
Post scuffle, I finished my glass and the conversation we were having and parted from my friends to go get ready for work. Bummed that I had to because I read later via facebook posts that there was double the adventure after I left, the details of which are still vague to me. Something about trespassing in construction sites and narrowly avoiding arrest. Oh when will I get a normal job schedule?
Anyway, I left around midnight because Sunday was Juneteenth and I had been roped into singing with the ensemble so I had to be up at 8am like usual. I had previously thought that the choir season was over but was okay with not sleeping in on Sunday...the guy who usually does music whenever our regular choir director isn't in is a really good guy who always picks good music to do. He's a composer as well and speaks French. It was a really fun service and we had some guests performing with us as well. One guy sang "What's Going on?" by Marvin Gaye and Bob Dylan song as well which escapes me at the moments, another guy sang A Woody Guthrie song, "Deportee." The service itself related Juneteenth not just to the ensuing civil rights struggle after the emancipation of all the slaves, but to all civil rights struggles from women's rights to LGBT rights as well.
Afterward, there was a pot luck picnic out in the street and some of the same friends I had hung out with Saturday all stuck around. The friend who had the going away party was planning on going to go to Snug Harbor on Staten Island and invited a ton of us to join. Snug Harbor is a cultural center and botanical Garden a short bus ride away from the ferry terminal in Staten Island. I had only vaguely heard of it before so I was excited to take an impromptu trip, especially one that involved a boat ride and a borough I never go to. My Sunday nap was looming but as I turned the idea over in my head a few times, I became much less interested in sleeping and much more interested in adventure.
So, I agreed and joined the group, Stephanie, Koren (who is moving soon), Markus, Lisa and myself and we all walked to Siggy's to get liquid refreshment and/or caffeine and water for the trip. It's starting to get hot up here these days and an afternoon in the sun would probably have been a little dicey without water. Then we walked down to Borough Hall, grabbed the 4 train to Bowling Green which is a short walk to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and from there hitched the ferry to Staten Island. Waiting for the bus once there was a bit of a spectacle. There was a long line of people all trying to get on the bus when it pulled up and what started out as a perfectly peaceful bus riding adventure devolved into a shouting match between a much older gentleman and the bus driver probably about the fact that a lot of people who were further back in line boarded the bus first through the back door. We decided ultimately to take a few cabs to Snug Harbor instead of watching the debacle unfold and wondering when they were going to just let us all board the bus and get underway.
A much better idea, we arrived at Snug Harbor in a matter of minutes and, though the clouds that we had watched getting darker from the ferry threatened to burst, we set off into the park gravitating toward a particularly cozy looking garden and an ivy covered walkway. The park was quiet that day and felt far removed from the din of the city. The gardens themselves are well kept and diverse, and the grounds are scattered with old buildings, the current use of which I never made the effort to discover, wanting mainly to say outdoors despite the threat of rain. Strolling further on we wound up in a hedge enclosed grassy area with two benches, perfect for whiling away the time doing spontaneous yoga poses until the sun came out and started to scorch again. From that point we sat for a while at a cafe in the park and re-hydrated, munching on some leftover risotto that Markus happened to be carrying with him.
I had my eye on the time and kept calculating how long it would take to get home and if I'd have time to squeeze in a nap. But, of course, I wanted to enjoy my day so I made my best effort not to preoccupy myself with such worries. The park closed at 5pm allegedly so we found the bus stop and waited, debating whether or not to just walk to the ferry terminal. The bus was yet again overcrowded but we made it back to the ferry terminal just in time to miss the 6pm ferry. They run every half hour so we cooled off in the waiting area's air conditioning and subsequently piled onto the next ferry, where I almost fell asleep, pulling into Battery Park city about fifteen minutes later.
Now, it didn't take much convincing for me to step into the adjacent beer garden with my friends to cap off the night, especially since it was only 7pm and I only needed an hour to get ready and 45 minutes to commute to work. The ride home from Whitehall St. alone would have taken only 20 minutes on the R train. This particular beer garden had burgers on the grill so Markus and I both had one along with two pitchers of beer between the five of us. While there, we witnessed yet more animosity in the vain of our earlier encounter with the angry bus riders. Some guy threw a patio chair and upon watching the drama the unfolded before us we surmised that the bartender who served us our pitcher had found out her boyfriend or husband (the chair thrower) had been cheating on her. I think it was the screaming of the phrase, "Get out of my life!" that tipped us off.
Post scuffle, I finished my glass and the conversation we were having and parted from my friends to go get ready for work. Bummed that I had to because I read later via facebook posts that there was double the adventure after I left, the details of which are still vague to me. Something about trespassing in construction sites and narrowly avoiding arrest. Oh when will I get a normal job schedule?
Monday, April 19, 2010
My musical mind and the Cloisters...
I've spent the past week working on the music for the dance piece. Sampling the piano tuning was a good idea and has provided me with a nice palette from which to draw ideas. I've composed the main ideas of the piece, strung it all together and gotten the music up to the right length and am pretty close to finishing a first cut. Still left to do is to smooth out some of the rougher parts, add some reverb and effects, do a final mixdown and master. Of course, the bulk of the remaining work lies in smoothing out those rougher parts.
The piece is ambient for the most part, meaning essentially sustained sounds that slowly change over time (most of the work I did tweaking the samples was time-stretching them, slowing them down and reversing them). However, I had an idea at the beginning of the piece to use silence (rests) in the music in between the first few sounds you hear. If it were a stand-alone piece that might have worked but I found that, introducing those rests hinted at a rhythm that is not present in the dance. Since, the music was never intended to mimic the rhythms in the dance, I knew the solution was to keep the piece completely and strictly ambient, i.e. no obvious or implied rhythms that would either have to sync up with the dancers or else not work. So, I have to go back to the beginning of the piece and rework some things.
Feeling pretty good about the way things are sounding though and I think the piece works well with the dance. It's eight minutes long. I haven't composed something this long since grad school.
Meanwhile, I spent Saturday at the Cloisters with a friend (the French girl) whom I also had to help file a police report at the Midtown police precint. She had her wallet stolen at a club last weekend and, before she could block her accounts, the thief had spent about 1000 Euros (read: many more dollars) between two of her cards, charges that didn't show up until Friday. In order to refute the charges, she needed a police report. So that was the first order of business Saturday, a trip to Times Square and about a half hour of sitting in the police precinct talking to a desk clerk and subsequently (and rather briefly) to a detective.
Afterward, we hopped the subway up to 81st Street to hit the Upper West Side Shake Shack, because I had been craving a burger and wanted to convince yet another person that Shake Shack has the best burgers in the world. I also wanted to investigate the allegation that Shake Shack has gluten free options (stupid gluten). They do. Unfortunately it was as I suspected...their solution to the gluten pollution? Have a burger without the bun. Be that as it may, you can be sure I had a bunless burger. Though it was chilly for a Saturday in April, the two of us scarfed our burgers outside while sitting on a bench across the street by the History Museum.
After that we headed all the way up to Claire's place in Washington Heights to regroup (and locate the Cloisters) before heading to our destination. Now, I had never been further north than 125th Street before but I have to say, it's another world up there. The call it Heights and they're not kidding. I thought I was in San Francisco crossed with the mountains of North Carolina or something. Check out some of the pics of Washington Heights and our long walk to the Cloisters (and of course pics of the Cloisters themselves):
The Cloisters, for those of you who don't know, are a branch of the MET Museum comprised of fragments of old Medieval and Rennaisance architectural elements, tucked away in a northern most corner of the isle of Manhattan. Complete with quiet courtyards and terraces overlooking the Hudson River and Engelwood Cliffs.
I had a great time up there. And as I sat in one of the courtyards listening to a fountain babble, meditating, I thought, "I'm never leaving this place." Not the Cloisters, because I obviously came back. I mean New York City. I have almost everything I need here. There's such a diversity of locales here in the city that I will, one, never get bored, and two, never be without a place to escape the more hectic and busy aspects of life here. And if all else fails and I really just need to get away, I can always take a train Upstate for a few days.
The piece is ambient for the most part, meaning essentially sustained sounds that slowly change over time (most of the work I did tweaking the samples was time-stretching them, slowing them down and reversing them). However, I had an idea at the beginning of the piece to use silence (rests) in the music in between the first few sounds you hear. If it were a stand-alone piece that might have worked but I found that, introducing those rests hinted at a rhythm that is not present in the dance. Since, the music was never intended to mimic the rhythms in the dance, I knew the solution was to keep the piece completely and strictly ambient, i.e. no obvious or implied rhythms that would either have to sync up with the dancers or else not work. So, I have to go back to the beginning of the piece and rework some things.
Feeling pretty good about the way things are sounding though and I think the piece works well with the dance. It's eight minutes long. I haven't composed something this long since grad school.
Meanwhile, I spent Saturday at the Cloisters with a friend (the French girl) whom I also had to help file a police report at the Midtown police precint. She had her wallet stolen at a club last weekend and, before she could block her accounts, the thief had spent about 1000 Euros (read: many more dollars) between two of her cards, charges that didn't show up until Friday. In order to refute the charges, she needed a police report. So that was the first order of business Saturday, a trip to Times Square and about a half hour of sitting in the police precinct talking to a desk clerk and subsequently (and rather briefly) to a detective.
Afterward, we hopped the subway up to 81st Street to hit the Upper West Side Shake Shack, because I had been craving a burger and wanted to convince yet another person that Shake Shack has the best burgers in the world. I also wanted to investigate the allegation that Shake Shack has gluten free options (stupid gluten). They do. Unfortunately it was as I suspected...their solution to the gluten pollution? Have a burger without the bun. Be that as it may, you can be sure I had a bunless burger. Though it was chilly for a Saturday in April, the two of us scarfed our burgers outside while sitting on a bench across the street by the History Museum.
After that we headed all the way up to Claire's place in Washington Heights to regroup (and locate the Cloisters) before heading to our destination. Now, I had never been further north than 125th Street before but I have to say, it's another world up there. The call it Heights and they're not kidding. I thought I was in San Francisco crossed with the mountains of North Carolina or something. Check out some of the pics of Washington Heights and our long walk to the Cloisters (and of course pics of the Cloisters themselves):
 |
| Best of the Cloisters |
The Cloisters, for those of you who don't know, are a branch of the MET Museum comprised of fragments of old Medieval and Rennaisance architectural elements, tucked away in a northern most corner of the isle of Manhattan. Complete with quiet courtyards and terraces overlooking the Hudson River and Engelwood Cliffs.
I had a great time up there. And as I sat in one of the courtyards listening to a fountain babble, meditating, I thought, "I'm never leaving this place." Not the Cloisters, because I obviously came back. I mean New York City. I have almost everything I need here. There's such a diversity of locales here in the city that I will, one, never get bored, and two, never be without a place to escape the more hectic and busy aspects of life here. And if all else fails and I really just need to get away, I can always take a train Upstate for a few days.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A year's worth of...
One more week left in Sunset Park. When I look at it like that, this finally feels like a year later. One lease, twelve unlimited monthly metro cards, and a year's worth of Time Out New York magazines. 8 months of job uncertainty, and 4 more of adjustment to a full time schedule, 11 months of amazing food in NYC and, after one near earth-shattering diagnosis of Celiac Disease, one month of grieving over the loss of Joe's Pizza, Rocco's Pastries, Magnolia's cupcakes, Ruthie's bagels and Amy's Bread. Three trips back to Raleigh, two to Upstate NY, countless train trips and bus rides, even some long harrowing walks in strange neighborhoods trying to find better ways to get home at late hours when the trains weren't running on time...I even estimated that I've probably spent about a week out of the past year waiting for the train in the West 4th Street/Washington Square subway stop and another week waiting for the train at 9th Avenue in Brooklyn.
What a year. How about a year in pictures?
I feel like I've gotten one hell of a start here, though, I've been thinking about my current path and next steps and that sort of thing lately. It seems like I've gotten a dozen different directions I could go in next and I'm feeling more and more like the answer is not in which direction to go but in how many or how to incorporate them all and still satisfy myself. I've got my electronic music side project baking but also my contemporary music...which more and more I'm wanting to coincide with the electronic project. I know I need to revamp the website and I'm thinking more and more about ways to make a little cash on the side through selling scores or trying to license some of the music I have written and have yet to write.
I've even been thinking about reigniting my interest in starting some kind of voice over work...I've yet to use the word career with this yet because I don't know if I have the energy to simultaneously do that, music and my full time and freelance gigs. But enough people lately have commented on my voice (it's really deep, it's resonant when I want it to be, some even say it's soothing) that I think it's certainly worth considering and I think I would even enjoy doing this kind of work...Plus, the idea occurred to me today that it's something I could incorporate into the business of writing music for people. Why the heck not? Here's the pitch: I can provide voice over and music for your corporate videos and advertisements. Your one-stop shop for creative services.
Sound all right? Anyhow, that's what's on the drawing board at present. But not to distract from the musical stuff. I regret to say that the pressure of finding an apartment and moving have, at least for the moment, have distracted from any kind of progress in that arena. Most importantly, once I get settled I think I'll get to work on the website and also make new business cards. Will probably get new head shots done soon as well. More on that later.
For now, I'm going to bed. There's nothing that'll tire you out like the prospect (not even the act) of packing your things in anticipation of a move, however small.
What a year. How about a year in pictures?
 |
| Best of NYC |
I feel like I've gotten one hell of a start here, though, I've been thinking about my current path and next steps and that sort of thing lately. It seems like I've gotten a dozen different directions I could go in next and I'm feeling more and more like the answer is not in which direction to go but in how many or how to incorporate them all and still satisfy myself. I've got my electronic music side project baking but also my contemporary music...which more and more I'm wanting to coincide with the electronic project. I know I need to revamp the website and I'm thinking more and more about ways to make a little cash on the side through selling scores or trying to license some of the music I have written and have yet to write.
I've even been thinking about reigniting my interest in starting some kind of voice over work...I've yet to use the word career with this yet because I don't know if I have the energy to simultaneously do that, music and my full time and freelance gigs. But enough people lately have commented on my voice (it's really deep, it's resonant when I want it to be, some even say it's soothing) that I think it's certainly worth considering and I think I would even enjoy doing this kind of work...Plus, the idea occurred to me today that it's something I could incorporate into the business of writing music for people. Why the heck not? Here's the pitch: I can provide voice over and music for your corporate videos and advertisements. Your one-stop shop for creative services.
Sound all right? Anyhow, that's what's on the drawing board at present. But not to distract from the musical stuff. I regret to say that the pressure of finding an apartment and moving have, at least for the moment, have distracted from any kind of progress in that arena. Most importantly, once I get settled I think I'll get to work on the website and also make new business cards. Will probably get new head shots done soon as well. More on that later.
For now, I'm going to bed. There's nothing that'll tire you out like the prospect (not even the act) of packing your things in anticipation of a move, however small.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Chinatown...
Good morning all. Yeah, I know it's afternoon. It always messes me up when I'm working the overnight and I'm talking to my co workers who actually get to sleep normal hours. Most conversations in the morning involve me mentioning tomorrow when I'm actually referring to their today and then my "this morning" was their "yesterday afternoon." Gets confusing.
Sunday I didn't get an ounce of nap time after returning from brunch after church. It dawned on me mid shift at work that night that, as a result of that and being up early for choir practice, it was going to be 24 hours before I got to sleep. Strangely, I wasn't tired until I actually got on the train. I think I dozed a few times and almost dropped the book I was reading once.
With a lack of material to work with for the last music cue for the score, I decided to spend yesterday afternoon in Manhattan before work. And while I had thought about coming back to the apartment before work, I had so much fun I wound up staying straight through until work.
So, I met Karishma in the West Village at her boyfriend's place and sprung an impromptu idea on her of going to Chinatown and hitting the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory among other things. So we hopped the 1 train to Canal Street and wound our way into the thick of it, searching for Bayard Street where the Ice Cream Factory can be found. We sort of lost our direction, at least I did, and managed to wander on to Bayard Street completely by accident because we were mainly navigating on our hunger instince. We decided on stopping first at a Hong Kong Style noodle shop on Bayard Street, where you could build your own noodle dishes (complete with ingredients like beef tripe, cow stomach and pig's blood). Karishma got the congee while opted to build my own noodles dish with thick egg noodles, mushrooms, cabbage and the fish balls. After that we wandered up Bayard Street again and stumbled on the Ice Cream Factory almost right away. This was of course, the first point at which I realized we were even on the right street. Karishma though, not having been satisfied by her rice porridge decided that she was rather determined to get fried dumplings, so onward we marched promising the Ice Cream Factory that we'd come right back. Turning the corner onto Mott Street, it suddenly became plain to me that I'd been down there before...12 years ago as a wide-eyed 17 year old kid on a choir trip to NYC with my high school class. Memories rushed in of a rainy day wandering the streets with a bunch of 16-year-olds who found things funny like "Big Wong Resataurant" and a Chinese man trying to sell us Baoding Balls and yelling at us for "breaking his balls" when we dropped one. I also totally remembered a pastry shop and bakery that I went into with two of my friends and one of the chaperones. It was still there. So was the Big Wong Restaurant.
After hitting Worth Street, we almost decided to head to a dumpling shop we knew of, away from all the coolness we had stumbled on that day. On a hunch, however, I said we should double back and check out a few side streets. It's funny how these places are always on side streets. Not the tiniest yet and certainly not the dingiest no name dumpling crevice, but it was there on Mosco Street, a rather short alley posing as a street between Mott and Mulberry. It thought we wouldn't find it, hahahahahah!
I didn't partake because, for some reason, my speedy recovery from the stomach virus I had the other day notwithstanding, I wasn't all appetite that evening. (Regretting my decision now as I type this) Plus the noodles filled me up and I was saving room for the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Lychee Sorbet sounded good to me and Karishma got some chocolate ice cream flavored with Pandan. Good stuff all around.
Walking through Chinatown then, on a practically balmy January evening I realized it's been too long since I just picked up Time Out New York, found something cool to do and did it on a whim. I grabbed some photos with the new camera and then we headed up to Chelsea so I could drop things at work and show Karishma around before heading over to Fat Cat on Christopher Street. We were meeting some of Karishma's friends there for a birthday get together so I figured it'd be a perfect way to kill time before work.
There was live jazz which made me realize that I have lived in NYC almost a year and had never gone and seen live jazz in the city until then. In another year in this city, I'm sure I'll come across several hundred more things that I haven't done and probably should have already. One that immediately comes to mind is missing a chance to see a concert at Radio City Music Hall. The Swell Season is playing there tonight and I have to miss it because I didn't plan well enough.
But I have my work cut out for me tonight. Now, I have the final track that I need to remix for George's short film and nothing else to do except laundry today. An update soon on how that goes. Meanwhile, pictures of last night's adventure and some miscellaneous shots around town:
Sunday I didn't get an ounce of nap time after returning from brunch after church. It dawned on me mid shift at work that night that, as a result of that and being up early for choir practice, it was going to be 24 hours before I got to sleep. Strangely, I wasn't tired until I actually got on the train. I think I dozed a few times and almost dropped the book I was reading once.
With a lack of material to work with for the last music cue for the score, I decided to spend yesterday afternoon in Manhattan before work. And while I had thought about coming back to the apartment before work, I had so much fun I wound up staying straight through until work.
So, I met Karishma in the West Village at her boyfriend's place and sprung an impromptu idea on her of going to Chinatown and hitting the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory among other things. So we hopped the 1 train to Canal Street and wound our way into the thick of it, searching for Bayard Street where the Ice Cream Factory can be found. We sort of lost our direction, at least I did, and managed to wander on to Bayard Street completely by accident because we were mainly navigating on our hunger instince. We decided on stopping first at a Hong Kong Style noodle shop on Bayard Street, where you could build your own noodle dishes (complete with ingredients like beef tripe, cow stomach and pig's blood). Karishma got the congee while opted to build my own noodles dish with thick egg noodles, mushrooms, cabbage and the fish balls. After that we wandered up Bayard Street again and stumbled on the Ice Cream Factory almost right away. This was of course, the first point at which I realized we were even on the right street. Karishma though, not having been satisfied by her rice porridge decided that she was rather determined to get fried dumplings, so onward we marched promising the Ice Cream Factory that we'd come right back. Turning the corner onto Mott Street, it suddenly became plain to me that I'd been down there before...12 years ago as a wide-eyed 17 year old kid on a choir trip to NYC with my high school class. Memories rushed in of a rainy day wandering the streets with a bunch of 16-year-olds who found things funny like "Big Wong Resataurant" and a Chinese man trying to sell us Baoding Balls and yelling at us for "breaking his balls" when we dropped one. I also totally remembered a pastry shop and bakery that I went into with two of my friends and one of the chaperones. It was still there. So was the Big Wong Restaurant.
After hitting Worth Street, we almost decided to head to a dumpling shop we knew of, away from all the coolness we had stumbled on that day. On a hunch, however, I said we should double back and check out a few side streets. It's funny how these places are always on side streets. Not the tiniest yet and certainly not the dingiest no name dumpling crevice, but it was there on Mosco Street, a rather short alley posing as a street between Mott and Mulberry. It thought we wouldn't find it, hahahahahah!
I didn't partake because, for some reason, my speedy recovery from the stomach virus I had the other day notwithstanding, I wasn't all appetite that evening. (Regretting my decision now as I type this) Plus the noodles filled me up and I was saving room for the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Lychee Sorbet sounded good to me and Karishma got some chocolate ice cream flavored with Pandan. Good stuff all around.
Walking through Chinatown then, on a practically balmy January evening I realized it's been too long since I just picked up Time Out New York, found something cool to do and did it on a whim. I grabbed some photos with the new camera and then we headed up to Chelsea so I could drop things at work and show Karishma around before heading over to Fat Cat on Christopher Street. We were meeting some of Karishma's friends there for a birthday get together so I figured it'd be a perfect way to kill time before work.
There was live jazz which made me realize that I have lived in NYC almost a year and had never gone and seen live jazz in the city until then. In another year in this city, I'm sure I'll come across several hundred more things that I haven't done and probably should have already. One that immediately comes to mind is missing a chance to see a concert at Radio City Music Hall. The Swell Season is playing there tonight and I have to miss it because I didn't plan well enough.
But I have my work cut out for me tonight. Now, I have the final track that I need to remix for George's short film and nothing else to do except laundry today. An update soon on how that goes. Meanwhile, pictures of last night's adventure and some miscellaneous shots around town:
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| miscellaneous around town and Chinatown best |
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Whirlwind...
It's about time I posted these. I haven't been taking very many pictures but I have taken some. These cover the changing leaves, my brother's visit in October and my friend Katie's visit last weekend. There's more of this weekend but they're on my cell phone at the moment and it's tricky getting them off of there.
A few things I did this weekend that are of note:
Thursday, Katie and I took a cab from the airport, ate dinner here at my place, then went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see An Education. Pretty good film, plus I love going to BAM because the theaters are so cool.
Friday morning, I had to work at 8am so I set Katie up to roam around on her own, purse full of maps of NYC etc. I got off at 5 and came and met her where she was circulating midtown. From Rockerfeller center, where I haven't been since around March (yeah, I tend to avoid Midtown), we walked to Fifth Avenue and then up to 59th and Lex, stopping at a few of the expensive clothing stores that line the route. Then we grabbed the 6 to Union Square and walked down through Washington Square to Caffe Reggio on MacDougal where we had a quick dinner. Caffe Reggio is famous for its owner who popularized the cappuccino in America back in the early 1900s. The decor in this place was amazing and none of my pics came out. They had all manner of old paintings and an early espresso machine on display that was designed to run on a coal or wood fire. The Manicotti was great as well as the pastries. I had something called Sfogliatella while Katie went with the chocolate cannoli. Satisfied, we went to the Hookah bar across the street and smoked some honey berry hookah and chatted with a few New Yorkers that were seated next to us, talking about how early they got up for the Yankee parade (in case you're living under a rock, which there's nothing wrong with, the Yankees won the world series). Passing by a Picasso sculpture on NYU campus, we headed to Broadway Lafayette and went home to sleep off exhausting day #1.
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast, sort of taking our time getting out. Katie had a meeting at one of the art schools she's checking out up here at 2. So, even though the Manhattan D trains were running over the N line, adding a bus ride to our trip into the city, we had time to get out at 8 St. NYU and walk to Astor Place to get coffee. We were going to walk all the way to 9 st. and 3rd av, where my favorite coffee shop in the East Village is but we didn't have to. The Mud truck was parked in Astor Place. Imagine my glee. We grabbed a few lattes and then took our time getting up to Union Square and subsequently Madison Square Park via Broadway, snapping pics along the way. In Madison Square, in front of the Flatiron building, we met a few guys who happened to have a Holga almost like Katie's so we chatted with them a bit. I was planning on having Shake Shack while waiting for Katie to get done with her meeting down on 21st street. So after we looped through Chelsea, checking out a gallery and a furniture store, I dropped Katie off and headed back to Madison Square to stand in line at Shake Shack. The wait was only about 50 minutes from the time I first stepped into the line until the moment I grabbed my food. Not terrible, because these burgers are worth it. So tasty.
So, having two hours to kill and an interest in locating a French restaurant for dinner that night that I had eaten at before, I set off through Murray Hill on what would be a mostly fruitless search. I had my cousin, who would meet us for dinner later, on the phone since she knew the neighborhood, asking her if she could scour the internet for the place that I could neither remember the exact location of nor even the name of (I later learned from Karishma that it's called L'Express and is actually on 20th street and Park Ave. I was way off). We settled on a place called Serge on Madison and 33rd for after the MET. At 4, Katie came and met me in Bryant Park where I sat with my feet up attempting to give them some reprieve from the relentless pavement pounding that I had been doing. We strolled around the corner to the Kati Roll company on 39th street so she could partake of some of the best Indian Street Food I know of in NYC. After that we took the 4 train up to 86th street and finally hit up the MET. I think we gave ourselves about two and a half hours and managed to sort of scratch the surface of the museum and see some of the exhibits I hadn't seen before. There was an exhibit of photography by Robert Franck from his book, The Americans, then the Modern Art, The European Sculpture, the Medieval art and, one of my favorites, the medieval weapons!
Serge, our choice for dinner was a bit pricey but nice. I had escargots. Planning to be up at 8am Sunday, we headed back home to my place, watched an episode of the British Office and crashed.
Sunday, we kind of decided to blow off a lot of our plans in favor of having a more relaxing time doing the things we did end up doing. So, we went with my contingency plan of touring Brooklyn mainly. I took Katie to a ton of clothing stores in Park Slope, and then we finally went to Gorilla Coffee on 5th ave. Gorilla coffee, as I've been hearing, is pretty fantastic. The espresso is great and the baristas know their stuff, but, bonus, they have a maple latte on the menu, made with real Vermont syrup. Katie got one and it was pretty damn good. After Gorilla, we hit a few more boutiques and a thrift shop and then headed up Union Street to Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park where we rested for a bit before taking the 3 to Clark Street.
There we grabbed falafel at Heights Falafel, took it to the Brooklyn Heights promenade (one of the best views of lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn side) and ate it there. The Brooklyn Flea Market was not far off and I had almost forgotten about it being Sunday. So we just stumbled across it on our way to the Bridge, spent some time there checking things out, then walked up to and over the Bridge.
That night we had tickets to Avenue Q, so we went home to get ready and had some dumplings in my neighborhood from Prosperity dumpling on 44th and 8th. Avenue Q was moved off Broadway a few weeks ago and is now showing at the New World Stages on West 50th Street, a newer theater built on the site of the old Madison Square Garden. Pretty cool, I must say. And the show, we laughed our asses off at. Racist puppets. Afterward, we strolled up to 59th street Colombus Circle, so I could show Katie where I worked and so we could investigate the cost of a carriage ride around Central Park. Pricey. But we weren't tired, no! So we went in search of cupcakes. A search that led us up to 72nd Street, past Strawberry Fields, over to Amsterdam Avenue where the first shop was closed, on the 1 train down to the West Village where we detoured to Two Boots Pizza on 7th and Greenwich Avenues, and then finally down the street to Bleecker Street where cut northwest to hit up Magnolia, which was thankfully open. We sat and devoured our cupcakes and then moseyed over to the Riverside walk at Bank Street and sat on a pier out there for a bit until we were thoroughly chilled and headed home.
Did I say whirlwind in the title of this blog? Yeah, I still enjoy being a tourist here. Especially when I'm showing someone around. I love seeing reactions to things, although I probably was getting a bit annoying with the amount of times I pointed out the Empire State building from various vantage points throughout the city.
Anyway, I'm back from my second shift of work since the weekend and am again exhausted but strangely energized. I'm working 10 hour shifts this week to make up 40 hours because of difficulty in scheduling. Long story. Luckily, I have one more shift this week and then a lot of bill paying to do on pay day, which I will have off. Saturday night, I'm finally getting to jam with my new composer friend. I'll have more to say Thursday on some things that have been on my mind, more related to more troubling aspects of my life here. So long for now.
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| Autumn in New York |
A few things I did this weekend that are of note:
Thursday, Katie and I took a cab from the airport, ate dinner here at my place, then went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see An Education. Pretty good film, plus I love going to BAM because the theaters are so cool.
Friday morning, I had to work at 8am so I set Katie up to roam around on her own, purse full of maps of NYC etc. I got off at 5 and came and met her where she was circulating midtown. From Rockerfeller center, where I haven't been since around March (yeah, I tend to avoid Midtown), we walked to Fifth Avenue and then up to 59th and Lex, stopping at a few of the expensive clothing stores that line the route. Then we grabbed the 6 to Union Square and walked down through Washington Square to Caffe Reggio on MacDougal where we had a quick dinner. Caffe Reggio is famous for its owner who popularized the cappuccino in America back in the early 1900s. The decor in this place was amazing and none of my pics came out. They had all manner of old paintings and an early espresso machine on display that was designed to run on a coal or wood fire. The Manicotti was great as well as the pastries. I had something called Sfogliatella while Katie went with the chocolate cannoli. Satisfied, we went to the Hookah bar across the street and smoked some honey berry hookah and chatted with a few New Yorkers that were seated next to us, talking about how early they got up for the Yankee parade (in case you're living under a rock, which there's nothing wrong with, the Yankees won the world series). Passing by a Picasso sculpture on NYU campus, we headed to Broadway Lafayette and went home to sleep off exhausting day #1.
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast, sort of taking our time getting out. Katie had a meeting at one of the art schools she's checking out up here at 2. So, even though the Manhattan D trains were running over the N line, adding a bus ride to our trip into the city, we had time to get out at 8 St. NYU and walk to Astor Place to get coffee. We were going to walk all the way to 9 st. and 3rd av, where my favorite coffee shop in the East Village is but we didn't have to. The Mud truck was parked in Astor Place. Imagine my glee. We grabbed a few lattes and then took our time getting up to Union Square and subsequently Madison Square Park via Broadway, snapping pics along the way. In Madison Square, in front of the Flatiron building, we met a few guys who happened to have a Holga almost like Katie's so we chatted with them a bit. I was planning on having Shake Shack while waiting for Katie to get done with her meeting down on 21st street. So after we looped through Chelsea, checking out a gallery and a furniture store, I dropped Katie off and headed back to Madison Square to stand in line at Shake Shack. The wait was only about 50 minutes from the time I first stepped into the line until the moment I grabbed my food. Not terrible, because these burgers are worth it. So tasty.
So, having two hours to kill and an interest in locating a French restaurant for dinner that night that I had eaten at before, I set off through Murray Hill on what would be a mostly fruitless search. I had my cousin, who would meet us for dinner later, on the phone since she knew the neighborhood, asking her if she could scour the internet for the place that I could neither remember the exact location of nor even the name of (I later learned from Karishma that it's called L'Express and is actually on 20th street and Park Ave. I was way off). We settled on a place called Serge on Madison and 33rd for after the MET. At 4, Katie came and met me in Bryant Park where I sat with my feet up attempting to give them some reprieve from the relentless pavement pounding that I had been doing. We strolled around the corner to the Kati Roll company on 39th street so she could partake of some of the best Indian Street Food I know of in NYC. After that we took the 4 train up to 86th street and finally hit up the MET. I think we gave ourselves about two and a half hours and managed to sort of scratch the surface of the museum and see some of the exhibits I hadn't seen before. There was an exhibit of photography by Robert Franck from his book, The Americans, then the Modern Art, The European Sculpture, the Medieval art and, one of my favorites, the medieval weapons!
Serge, our choice for dinner was a bit pricey but nice. I had escargots. Planning to be up at 8am Sunday, we headed back home to my place, watched an episode of the British Office and crashed.
Sunday, we kind of decided to blow off a lot of our plans in favor of having a more relaxing time doing the things we did end up doing. So, we went with my contingency plan of touring Brooklyn mainly. I took Katie to a ton of clothing stores in Park Slope, and then we finally went to Gorilla Coffee on 5th ave. Gorilla coffee, as I've been hearing, is pretty fantastic. The espresso is great and the baristas know their stuff, but, bonus, they have a maple latte on the menu, made with real Vermont syrup. Katie got one and it was pretty damn good. After Gorilla, we hit a few more boutiques and a thrift shop and then headed up Union Street to Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park where we rested for a bit before taking the 3 to Clark Street.
There we grabbed falafel at Heights Falafel, took it to the Brooklyn Heights promenade (one of the best views of lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn side) and ate it there. The Brooklyn Flea Market was not far off and I had almost forgotten about it being Sunday. So we just stumbled across it on our way to the Bridge, spent some time there checking things out, then walked up to and over the Bridge.
That night we had tickets to Avenue Q, so we went home to get ready and had some dumplings in my neighborhood from Prosperity dumpling on 44th and 8th. Avenue Q was moved off Broadway a few weeks ago and is now showing at the New World Stages on West 50th Street, a newer theater built on the site of the old Madison Square Garden. Pretty cool, I must say. And the show, we laughed our asses off at. Racist puppets. Afterward, we strolled up to 59th street Colombus Circle, so I could show Katie where I worked and so we could investigate the cost of a carriage ride around Central Park. Pricey. But we weren't tired, no! So we went in search of cupcakes. A search that led us up to 72nd Street, past Strawberry Fields, over to Amsterdam Avenue where the first shop was closed, on the 1 train down to the West Village where we detoured to Two Boots Pizza on 7th and Greenwich Avenues, and then finally down the street to Bleecker Street where cut northwest to hit up Magnolia, which was thankfully open. We sat and devoured our cupcakes and then moseyed over to the Riverside walk at Bank Street and sat on a pier out there for a bit until we were thoroughly chilled and headed home.
Did I say whirlwind in the title of this blog? Yeah, I still enjoy being a tourist here. Especially when I'm showing someone around. I love seeing reactions to things, although I probably was getting a bit annoying with the amount of times I pointed out the Empire State building from various vantage points throughout the city.
Anyway, I'm back from my second shift of work since the weekend and am again exhausted but strangely energized. I'm working 10 hour shifts this week to make up 40 hours because of difficulty in scheduling. Long story. Luckily, I have one more shift this week and then a lot of bill paying to do on pay day, which I will have off. Saturday night, I'm finally getting to jam with my new composer friend. I'll have more to say Thursday on some things that have been on my mind, more related to more troubling aspects of my life here. So long for now.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Blurb #14
Somehow my weekend activities tired me out more than a week of work. ?
This weekend was a blast though. Managed to do something just about every night, from sending Karishma off in style (and helping her pack), to hitting a co workers house warming party (in a high rise in Long Island City on the 28th floor with stellar views of midtown Manhattan). Sunday, I sang at the UU with the choir, had pancake breakfast, and made some more new friends, one with whom I went to lunch and walked all over Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO. After she and I split even, I walked the entire length of the Atlantic Antic festival and eventually, after stopping at Target walked all the way to Crown Heights to help Karishma with some more packing while we watched Darjeeling Limited for the 1,000th time. Mid movie we strolled to a West African restaurant on Franklin Avenue and manged a little bit there. Exciting stuff, they had a sort of sold-by-weight buffet with all manner of charred meats and couscous.
So there's definitely a reason behind my exhaustion last night. I'm quite sure I walked more yesterday than I had all week to and from work and running on only five hours of sleep. I am a little bummed that I didn't have my camera because I caught a lot of sights on the way but I did map the walk for my own curiosity. Turns out it was 8.34 miles from the where I started at the Brooklyn UU to Crown Heights, including all the twists and turns in between and the walk to dinner and then back to the subway at Franklin Avenue.
But it's back to the grind today. Luckily I'm not going in until 1:30 so I could at least sleep in this morning. (Not like that actually happened though, I was up at 8:30).
This weekend was a blast though. Managed to do something just about every night, from sending Karishma off in style (and helping her pack), to hitting a co workers house warming party (in a high rise in Long Island City on the 28th floor with stellar views of midtown Manhattan). Sunday, I sang at the UU with the choir, had pancake breakfast, and made some more new friends, one with whom I went to lunch and walked all over Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO. After she and I split even, I walked the entire length of the Atlantic Antic festival and eventually, after stopping at Target walked all the way to Crown Heights to help Karishma with some more packing while we watched Darjeeling Limited for the 1,000th time. Mid movie we strolled to a West African restaurant on Franklin Avenue and manged a little bit there. Exciting stuff, they had a sort of sold-by-weight buffet with all manner of charred meats and couscous.
So there's definitely a reason behind my exhaustion last night. I'm quite sure I walked more yesterday than I had all week to and from work and running on only five hours of sleep. I am a little bummed that I didn't have my camera because I caught a lot of sights on the way but I did map the walk for my own curiosity. Turns out it was 8.34 miles from the where I started at the Brooklyn UU to Crown Heights, including all the twists and turns in between and the walk to dinner and then back to the subway at Franklin Avenue.
But it's back to the grind today. Luckily I'm not going in until 1:30 so I could at least sleep in this morning. (Not like that actually happened though, I was up at 8:30).
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Pounding pavement...
Every once in a while, despite lack of sleep and despite working a long day, I still get the energy to do crazy things. Like:
After work, I strolled down 15th Street from the Chelsea Market to Union Square where I was planning on meeting Karishma. We've been trying to hang out as much as possible because, out of some unfortunate circumstances she's had to drop out of school and, because of her visa, she has less than 15 days to leave the country for India. It makes me sad but I'm sure she's going to make it back at some point. It's all very complicated and I won't go into it. But anyway, she was running behind so I made a few phone calls to kill time, sat for a bit and then, on a whim, decided to walk up to Madison Square Park, on 23rd Street. Once I arrived, I realized I was in the perfect spot because Karishma had never eaten at Shake Shack, and since the name of the game has been doing things that Karishma has yet to do after living here for a year, I figured I would just wait there. So she came and met me and we stood in the mile long line for the Shake Shack which appears to never move because it's always the same length. But this is just a testament to the fact that Shake Shack is awesome. These are the best tasting fast food burgers I have had, (and you will ever have). They almost melt in your mouth.
While sitting and digesting our food we started brainstorming what to do with the remainder of a very young evening. Some of her friends from her brief period as an NYU student were out and about, one's band had a show but we ultimately opted to take a really long walk. Because that's what you do on a night like tonight in Manhattan when you don't want to spend too much money. (Who wants to pay $7 a beer at some random bar anyway?) So, the path we decided on was Broadway from Madison Square Park all the way to Chinatown.
We stopped in Union Square on the way to check out several different bands, one a budding pop star named Chloe Temtchine, who was interviewed recently by my TV station. She recently came up with a genius marketing idea, to play out of the back of a truck that would randomly show up in different parts of the city and to promote the events on her website. So she likes to come to Union Square and perform on the back of her truck with her other guitar player. I wasn't terribly impressed by the music until she started to beat box then sing in Spanish. Another group we saw a few feet away consisted of a drummer, bassist and two saxophonists jamming out (sounded like Morphine), and yet another a group of guys with acoustic guitars, an electric bass and a box drum singing strange ska influenced songs in German and subsequently covering a Beatles song, A Little Help From My Friends. The last guys were the best of all, they had a vigorous stage presence that manifested in frenetic dancing and walking around the space in which they were performing, all the while harmonizing their raspy vocals. They were pretty tight and really amusing.
Contented, we continued on down Broadway past NYU and into Soho, stopping briefly at UNIQLO, where I fell in love with an article of clothing for the first time (weird). $100 pea coat. It'll be getting cold soon. Walking further we watched the architecture and the demographic change and drank in the fall air which is quite intoxicating right now...or is that the urine smell wafting up out of the subway vents?
Either way, the smell in Chinatown itself was a force to be reckoned with but that didn't stop us from stumbling into another hole in the wall Chinese restaurant once we got there that served five fried dumplings for $1.00. I'm not even kidding. On the way we spotted my favorite building on Eldrige Street, which I see out the window of the train from the Manhattan bridge every day on the way into Manhattan.
View Larger Map
We decided not to eat in the dumpling restaurant, mainly because it was so small. So, we carried our snack to Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Chrystie Street, sat on a park bench and chowed down while watching some kids play football in the park and talking about how adventures like this can only be had in a big city like this. All total we walked about 5 miles. I went to www.mapmyrun.com and mapped out the walk. I'm that geeky.
But all that said, I love this city. And it breaks my heart that my best friend has to leave it, even if for a little bit. I know she'll be back though. We dreamers can't be held down. Good night everybody.
After work, I strolled down 15th Street from the Chelsea Market to Union Square where I was planning on meeting Karishma. We've been trying to hang out as much as possible because, out of some unfortunate circumstances she's had to drop out of school and, because of her visa, she has less than 15 days to leave the country for India. It makes me sad but I'm sure she's going to make it back at some point. It's all very complicated and I won't go into it. But anyway, she was running behind so I made a few phone calls to kill time, sat for a bit and then, on a whim, decided to walk up to Madison Square Park, on 23rd Street. Once I arrived, I realized I was in the perfect spot because Karishma had never eaten at Shake Shack, and since the name of the game has been doing things that Karishma has yet to do after living here for a year, I figured I would just wait there. So she came and met me and we stood in the mile long line for the Shake Shack which appears to never move because it's always the same length. But this is just a testament to the fact that Shake Shack is awesome. These are the best tasting fast food burgers I have had, (and you will ever have). They almost melt in your mouth.
While sitting and digesting our food we started brainstorming what to do with the remainder of a very young evening. Some of her friends from her brief period as an NYU student were out and about, one's band had a show but we ultimately opted to take a really long walk. Because that's what you do on a night like tonight in Manhattan when you don't want to spend too much money. (Who wants to pay $7 a beer at some random bar anyway?) So, the path we decided on was Broadway from Madison Square Park all the way to Chinatown.
We stopped in Union Square on the way to check out several different bands, one a budding pop star named Chloe Temtchine, who was interviewed recently by my TV station. She recently came up with a genius marketing idea, to play out of the back of a truck that would randomly show up in different parts of the city and to promote the events on her website. So she likes to come to Union Square and perform on the back of her truck with her other guitar player. I wasn't terribly impressed by the music until she started to beat box then sing in Spanish. Another group we saw a few feet away consisted of a drummer, bassist and two saxophonists jamming out (sounded like Morphine), and yet another a group of guys with acoustic guitars, an electric bass and a box drum singing strange ska influenced songs in German and subsequently covering a Beatles song, A Little Help From My Friends. The last guys were the best of all, they had a vigorous stage presence that manifested in frenetic dancing and walking around the space in which they were performing, all the while harmonizing their raspy vocals. They were pretty tight and really amusing.
Contented, we continued on down Broadway past NYU and into Soho, stopping briefly at UNIQLO, where I fell in love with an article of clothing for the first time (weird). $100 pea coat. It'll be getting cold soon. Walking further we watched the architecture and the demographic change and drank in the fall air which is quite intoxicating right now...or is that the urine smell wafting up out of the subway vents?
Either way, the smell in Chinatown itself was a force to be reckoned with but that didn't stop us from stumbling into another hole in the wall Chinese restaurant once we got there that served five fried dumplings for $1.00. I'm not even kidding. On the way we spotted my favorite building on Eldrige Street, which I see out the window of the train from the Manhattan bridge every day on the way into Manhattan.
View Larger Map
We decided not to eat in the dumpling restaurant, mainly because it was so small. So, we carried our snack to Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Chrystie Street, sat on a park bench and chowed down while watching some kids play football in the park and talking about how adventures like this can only be had in a big city like this. All total we walked about 5 miles. I went to www.mapmyrun.com and mapped out the walk. I'm that geeky.
But all that said, I love this city. And it breaks my heart that my best friend has to leave it, even if for a little bit. I know she'll be back though. We dreamers can't be held down. Good night everybody.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Work and the impromptu tom-foolery that keeps me sane despite it...
An early, mid-week blog to sort of spew some of the contents of my head. I just had a shit day at work coupled with a great jaunt around parts of Manhattan with Karishma afterward, rounding out the day quite nicely while successfully tiring me out. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight, that's if the stretch of 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenue will have mercy on me tonight and turn down its loud rap music and send its screaming kids indoors.
The shit day at work was really only because of a few misunderstandings resulting in a little bit of unnecessary crossfire between my department and another (coming from the other direction obviously). Nothing that a little perspective couldn't fix though. I don't usually buy into horoscopes and other types of mystical stuff but I read them for the fun of it anyway. I actually get one in my mailbox from a website that purports itself to be Buddhist (it's fairly close) but it's often tinged with a bit of mysticism. Nonetheless it's full of uncanny wisdom and today, it happened to really ring true. This isn't a horoscope in the traditional sense, but more just everyday advice, which is why I read it, because even if there's not the eerie notion that some horoscope writer is predicting my future, it usually contains some gem of wisdom. At any rate, point being, it was right on today and then funny thing is, the horoscope usually ends up in my email box at the end of the day so I have to look back on my day and say, "oh, I guess I could have applied that earlier this morning," or something like that. It's even better when it's telling me how to handle a certain situation and I find that, despite not having read the thing, I already handled said situation exactly, or relatively closely to, the way it told me to.
Weird. Anyway, enough of this. The example. I won't reproduce the whole thing here but it opens like: "You may be on the receiving end of criticism or judgment today, and this could cause you to feel a bit insecure or inadequate." Uh, yeah. So that happened. So I got a little miffed but held it in and then went to my manager to find out whether or not I was in the wrong in this particular situation (instead of fuming about it all day and trying to sweep it under the rug, in case they went over my head with it). Turns out there were steps I or my coworker could have taken that we didn't, let's just put it that way. The details are not important. At any rate, I think I handled it pretty well, even though there was a lot of tension going on throughout the day. The horoscope goes on to say: "Remind yourself of the skills you possess and the work and dedication you’ve put into developing them. If you do receive criticism today, you might consider taking it as constructive feedback. Absorb the information that is helpful and discard the rest."
Sounds like a plan...and that's what I did. Good to know that I instinctively do these things. I knew that if I didn't address my own role in it and forget about how angry I was that my coworker had yelled at me over the phone, then I would gain nothing from the scenario. So that's what I did.
Then, I left work, the second I could and met Karishma at Union Square. We were talking about going to the UWS (okay, okay for all you non-New Yorkers, The Upper West Side), but I randomly suggested we do the Roosevelt Island Tram since Karishma never had. So we grabbed the N Train up to 59 Street Lexington Ave. and walked one block over to the tram. I took loads of pictures. This is the same tram that Spiderman saves Mary Jane from falling out of at the end of I can't remember which Spiderman movie. It glides along beside the Queensboro Bridge (also known as the 59th Street Bridge, Feeling Groovy?). Here are the pics:
After that we walked to 73rd and York Ave. to grab Mexican food at this little hole in the wall called Palazio Azteca that I've eaten at with my friend Matt before. Great stuff. The place is BYOB but luckily there's a little bodega two doors down so we grabbed a tall Corona Extra and brought it in with us.
So, our bellies full, and the weather beckoning we considered going to the Upper West Side anyway, since we were on the Upper East Side and all we'd have to do is traverse the width of the entire island. No small feat so we settled for walking to Central Park and sitting on the Great Lawn and watching the softball games finishing up and the players trickling off the fields.
Such a great night for a walk. And now I'm exhausted and I need to sleep. But first I gotta make a sandwich.
The shit day at work was really only because of a few misunderstandings resulting in a little bit of unnecessary crossfire between my department and another (coming from the other direction obviously). Nothing that a little perspective couldn't fix though. I don't usually buy into horoscopes and other types of mystical stuff but I read them for the fun of it anyway. I actually get one in my mailbox from a website that purports itself to be Buddhist (it's fairly close) but it's often tinged with a bit of mysticism. Nonetheless it's full of uncanny wisdom and today, it happened to really ring true. This isn't a horoscope in the traditional sense, but more just everyday advice, which is why I read it, because even if there's not the eerie notion that some horoscope writer is predicting my future, it usually contains some gem of wisdom. At any rate, point being, it was right on today and then funny thing is, the horoscope usually ends up in my email box at the end of the day so I have to look back on my day and say, "oh, I guess I could have applied that earlier this morning," or something like that. It's even better when it's telling me how to handle a certain situation and I find that, despite not having read the thing, I already handled said situation exactly, or relatively closely to, the way it told me to.
Weird. Anyway, enough of this. The example. I won't reproduce the whole thing here but it opens like: "You may be on the receiving end of criticism or judgment today, and this could cause you to feel a bit insecure or inadequate." Uh, yeah. So that happened. So I got a little miffed but held it in and then went to my manager to find out whether or not I was in the wrong in this particular situation (instead of fuming about it all day and trying to sweep it under the rug, in case they went over my head with it). Turns out there were steps I or my coworker could have taken that we didn't, let's just put it that way. The details are not important. At any rate, I think I handled it pretty well, even though there was a lot of tension going on throughout the day. The horoscope goes on to say: "Remind yourself of the skills you possess and the work and dedication you’ve put into developing them. If you do receive criticism today, you might consider taking it as constructive feedback. Absorb the information that is helpful and discard the rest."
Sounds like a plan...and that's what I did. Good to know that I instinctively do these things. I knew that if I didn't address my own role in it and forget about how angry I was that my coworker had yelled at me over the phone, then I would gain nothing from the scenario. So that's what I did.
Then, I left work, the second I could and met Karishma at Union Square. We were talking about going to the UWS (okay, okay for all you non-New Yorkers, The Upper West Side), but I randomly suggested we do the Roosevelt Island Tram since Karishma never had. So we grabbed the N Train up to 59 Street Lexington Ave. and walked one block over to the tram. I took loads of pictures. This is the same tram that Spiderman saves Mary Jane from falling out of at the end of I can't remember which Spiderman movie. It glides along beside the Queensboro Bridge (also known as the 59th Street Bridge, Feeling Groovy?). Here are the pics:
 |
| Roosevelt Island and Other Stuff_1 |
After that we walked to 73rd and York Ave. to grab Mexican food at this little hole in the wall called Palazio Azteca that I've eaten at with my friend Matt before. Great stuff. The place is BYOB but luckily there's a little bodega two doors down so we grabbed a tall Corona Extra and brought it in with us.
So, our bellies full, and the weather beckoning we considered going to the Upper West Side anyway, since we were on the Upper East Side and all we'd have to do is traverse the width of the entire island. No small feat so we settled for walking to Central Park and sitting on the Great Lawn and watching the softball games finishing up and the players trickling off the fields.
Such a great night for a walk. And now I'm exhausted and I need to sleep. But first I gotta make a sandwich.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Brooklyn Flea, DMV, West Village and Chelsea, a packed couple of days...
Sunday, I went with friends for falafel after the service at the Unitarian church. It was good cheap stuff served up in a little hole in the wall by a rather nice Arabic gentleman. I got a combo with hummus, tabbouleh and a stuffed grape leaf all crammed in with the falafel in a pita. Awesome stuff. My new friends from the UU are really cool. Just in the past few weeks we've been heading out immediately after church and having lunch/brunch and just chatting. The group was smaller this week than last but great times nonetheless. Afterward, when the crowd of us dwindled to just three of us, we cooked up a plan to go over to the Brooklyn Flea Market...well, it was sort of my idea because I knew that I was in need of that one last piece of equipment for home brewing...the all important fermentation lock. Mine went missing somehow in the move.
At any rate, my new friends were game for a stroll despite the already oppressive heat so we headed up Cadman Plaza towards the bridge. The Brooklyn Flea Market is underneath the Brooklyn Bridge...like directly underneath it, so we had very little trouble finding it. We were almost there when we asked directions from someone at the nearby farmer's market. The pictures are here:
I'm already thinking about going back when the weather gets better because it was far too hot to do much besides stroll around and check things out before we had to get out of the sun. The Brooklyn Brew Shop, that has a tent there, promotes all grain brewing and sells bags of pre-mixed grains to get you started...and they make it sound so much easier than any book I've read says it is. I think I'd like to check out what they sell and give it a shot.
We stopped at a grocery and grabbed some cool beverages after and went on our way, then I came straight home and did errands around the house and got so tied up in that, I forgot that my cousin and I were going to see a movie. I was so far into cleaning my room and all the cat hair that I ended up going ahead and trying out my desk against a different wall and reorganizing everything. Now, I've got designs on actually getting rid of some old documents and throwing away some extra weight.
I just feel like if I can do that, it'll start to feel like my life is more in order and I'll be more productive in everything else I attempt. Another extension of this notion is that if I can get my NY driver license and fully move my accounts up here, I will be even closer to organizational nirvana. (I know that this is a ridiculous way to look at things, and am fully aware that I will soon find something else with my life that is not in order and may spend the rest of my life chasing perfection as such, but bear with me for a second here. I'm trying to tell a story). So Monday morning, I went to the DMV with just about every official document that proves I exist tucked in a folder in my shoulder bag and a determination that no line could staunch...even if said line started at the front door of the building and snaked down a hallway to the elevator to the 8th floor. I freaked for a second but then I realized the place opened only fifteen minutes before I got there so they were probably still trying to slowly funnel people up the elevators. The line upstairs couldn't be that bad. It wasn't except for the fact that the guy behind me felt the need to sing whatever was on his iPod and crowd my space every time the line moved forward.
Now, I won't even bother going into the utter frustration that exchanging an out-of-state driver's license has been. Suffice it to say that it's a bureaucratic mess. See here the list of acceptable documents for proof of ID and birth date.
Once I was out of there, it was only about 10:00am so I walked down to Madison Square Park, freshened up in a Starbuck's and then figured I would head down to the West Village, sit in a coffee shop for a bit and then, walk around taking pictures like a tourist. I managed to sit in Christopher Park on 7th Avenue for a bit and rest, and then, finally, I was able to get some pictures of the Chelsea Market, the building where my main job is. I've been avoiding it so long because, knowing how annoying the actual tourists can be, I didn't want to contribute to the mayhem by stopping in the middle of the walkway taking photos or otherwise gawking. It can be crazy. Sometimes I wish us NY 1 employees had a private back entrance to the place so we wouldn't have to weave between strollers and zoom lenses to get to our elevator.
Anyway, enjoy these pics!
At any rate, my new friends were game for a stroll despite the already oppressive heat so we headed up Cadman Plaza towards the bridge. The Brooklyn Flea Market is underneath the Brooklyn Bridge...like directly underneath it, so we had very little trouble finding it. We were almost there when we asked directions from someone at the nearby farmer's market. The pictures are here:
 |
| Brooklyn Flea Market |
I'm already thinking about going back when the weather gets better because it was far too hot to do much besides stroll around and check things out before we had to get out of the sun. The Brooklyn Brew Shop, that has a tent there, promotes all grain brewing and sells bags of pre-mixed grains to get you started...and they make it sound so much easier than any book I've read says it is. I think I'd like to check out what they sell and give it a shot.
We stopped at a grocery and grabbed some cool beverages after and went on our way, then I came straight home and did errands around the house and got so tied up in that, I forgot that my cousin and I were going to see a movie. I was so far into cleaning my room and all the cat hair that I ended up going ahead and trying out my desk against a different wall and reorganizing everything. Now, I've got designs on actually getting rid of some old documents and throwing away some extra weight.
I just feel like if I can do that, it'll start to feel like my life is more in order and I'll be more productive in everything else I attempt. Another extension of this notion is that if I can get my NY driver license and fully move my accounts up here, I will be even closer to organizational nirvana. (I know that this is a ridiculous way to look at things, and am fully aware that I will soon find something else with my life that is not in order and may spend the rest of my life chasing perfection as such, but bear with me for a second here. I'm trying to tell a story). So Monday morning, I went to the DMV with just about every official document that proves I exist tucked in a folder in my shoulder bag and a determination that no line could staunch...even if said line started at the front door of the building and snaked down a hallway to the elevator to the 8th floor. I freaked for a second but then I realized the place opened only fifteen minutes before I got there so they were probably still trying to slowly funnel people up the elevators. The line upstairs couldn't be that bad. It wasn't except for the fact that the guy behind me felt the need to sing whatever was on his iPod and crowd my space every time the line moved forward.
Now, I won't even bother going into the utter frustration that exchanging an out-of-state driver's license has been. Suffice it to say that it's a bureaucratic mess. See here the list of acceptable documents for proof of ID and birth date.
Once I was out of there, it was only about 10:00am so I walked down to Madison Square Park, freshened up in a Starbuck's and then figured I would head down to the West Village, sit in a coffee shop for a bit and then, walk around taking pictures like a tourist. I managed to sit in Christopher Park on 7th Avenue for a bit and rest, and then, finally, I was able to get some pictures of the Chelsea Market, the building where my main job is. I've been avoiding it so long because, knowing how annoying the actual tourists can be, I didn't want to contribute to the mayhem by stopping in the middle of the walkway taking photos or otherwise gawking. It can be crazy. Sometimes I wish us NY 1 employees had a private back entrance to the place so we wouldn't have to weave between strollers and zoom lenses to get to our elevator.
Anyway, enjoy these pics!
 |
| West Village and Chelsea Market best |
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bronx zoo...
...or, I was thinking of titling this blog "Four Boroughs in One Day," or, "Sorry Staten Island, I just didn't have time." But anyway, I had wanted to go to the Bronx zoo for some time so when my cousin told me Friday night that her parents would be in town Saturday and wanted to go, I said yes, right away. It's something I've avoided because of the potentially two hour long subway ride from Sunset Park to the central Bronx area. And for once, I'm off on a Saturday. Something that'll probably be happening more, now that there's another freelancing employee at NY 1. More on that later.
I met Flip (his real name is Phillip) and Cheryl (my aunt and uncle) and Katrina at Katrina's place in Astoria and we hopped in their car and headed straight for the Whitestone bridge. They had seen the traffic on the Tri-Borough Bridge going the other way and said that it was way out of control and therefore, not worth attempting. Hence the detour. It didn't take us too long surprisingly to get up to the general area where the zoo is, though, but it did take a few turns to figure out the way into the park.
When we arrived, we parked in C parking up on the southwest side of the park and immediately sat down to eat and hydrate as, yes, it's finally gotten above 90 degrees up here. Flip was set on the Africa exhibits and I was just along for the ride, so we wandered in that direction, passing the polar bear exhibit first (something I've never understood is zoos not doing a better job to simulate the polar bear's natural environment; they have to be burning up down here). It's hard to remember what exactly we saw except by looking at pictures and that's much more interesting than me giving a blow by blow. I did take some video though, mainly because it makes much more sense when an animal or group of animals is moving to take video rather than try, with a non-SLR digital camera, to take a good picture. So here's the album:
Some highlights that I videoed were the two black leopards we saw in the Jungle World exhibit, the sea lions, (always love these guys) and of course, the monkeys. One of my favorite aspects of the park is that they let Pea Hens and Peacocks roam freely throughout the park, and they will walk right up to you. Here are the videos:
Black Leopard
Sea Lions
There were more videos and they're up on my youtube channel, so check them out too.
Afterward, we took a rather scenic accidental tour of the Bronx from the expressways while we tried to find our way back to the Tri-Borough Bridge. Just off the expressway in Queens, and really close to both the N train and Katrina's place, is this little place called Neptune Diner where we decided to go for dinner. A little Greek run diner with a pretty massive menu and incidentally, a fairly cheery staff. Our waiter was doing tricks, flipping over our full water glasses too quick for any water to spill out, just to keep us on our toes. He brought me a lot of butter for the bread when he saw I had eaten most of the first basket by myself. (Hey, I was hungry.) Cheryl got clams stuffed with crab meat and Flip got the lamb, which came with a soup (a fantastic looking Manhattan clam chowder). Katrina and I both had the Pasticio, which was pretty awesome. Nice, light fluffy custard on top (that the waiter explained to me exactly how to make...water, eggs, milk, nutmeg, etc.), and nice minced lamb and macaroni underneath. Heavenly. Either because of the amount of time spent in the heat or because of the long time up on my feet and not having eaten much for lunch, I was starving so I almost ate the whole half pound portion on my plate and half of the Greek salad that came with it.
So stuffed, satisfied and a little tired I said goodbye and headed back on the N train all the way home to Brooklyn and just crashed and watched the rest of Zodiac. Great film, by the way. Overall, a pretty good day. It preempted my original plans to head to the Rockaways to spend some time on the beach like a bum, but I'm okay with that. I think I'll do that next weekend because a new friend of mine at church today was giving me pointers on getting out there from my area. More on my adventures today after I get those pics up.
I met Flip (his real name is Phillip) and Cheryl (my aunt and uncle) and Katrina at Katrina's place in Astoria and we hopped in their car and headed straight for the Whitestone bridge. They had seen the traffic on the Tri-Borough Bridge going the other way and said that it was way out of control and therefore, not worth attempting. Hence the detour. It didn't take us too long surprisingly to get up to the general area where the zoo is, though, but it did take a few turns to figure out the way into the park.
When we arrived, we parked in C parking up on the southwest side of the park and immediately sat down to eat and hydrate as, yes, it's finally gotten above 90 degrees up here. Flip was set on the Africa exhibits and I was just along for the ride, so we wandered in that direction, passing the polar bear exhibit first (something I've never understood is zoos not doing a better job to simulate the polar bear's natural environment; they have to be burning up down here). It's hard to remember what exactly we saw except by looking at pictures and that's much more interesting than me giving a blow by blow. I did take some video though, mainly because it makes much more sense when an animal or group of animals is moving to take video rather than try, with a non-SLR digital camera, to take a good picture. So here's the album:
 |
| Bronx Zoo |
Some highlights that I videoed were the two black leopards we saw in the Jungle World exhibit, the sea lions, (always love these guys) and of course, the monkeys. One of my favorite aspects of the park is that they let Pea Hens and Peacocks roam freely throughout the park, and they will walk right up to you. Here are the videos:
Black Leopard
Sea Lions
There were more videos and they're up on my youtube channel, so check them out too.
Afterward, we took a rather scenic accidental tour of the Bronx from the expressways while we tried to find our way back to the Tri-Borough Bridge. Just off the expressway in Queens, and really close to both the N train and Katrina's place, is this little place called Neptune Diner where we decided to go for dinner. A little Greek run diner with a pretty massive menu and incidentally, a fairly cheery staff. Our waiter was doing tricks, flipping over our full water glasses too quick for any water to spill out, just to keep us on our toes. He brought me a lot of butter for the bread when he saw I had eaten most of the first basket by myself. (Hey, I was hungry.) Cheryl got clams stuffed with crab meat and Flip got the lamb, which came with a soup (a fantastic looking Manhattan clam chowder). Katrina and I both had the Pasticio, which was pretty awesome. Nice, light fluffy custard on top (that the waiter explained to me exactly how to make...water, eggs, milk, nutmeg, etc.), and nice minced lamb and macaroni underneath. Heavenly. Either because of the amount of time spent in the heat or because of the long time up on my feet and not having eaten much for lunch, I was starving so I almost ate the whole half pound portion on my plate and half of the Greek salad that came with it.
So stuffed, satisfied and a little tired I said goodbye and headed back on the N train all the way home to Brooklyn and just crashed and watched the rest of Zodiac. Great film, by the way. Overall, a pretty good day. It preempted my original plans to head to the Rockaways to spend some time on the beach like a bum, but I'm okay with that. I think I'll do that next weekend because a new friend of mine at church today was giving me pointers on getting out there from my area. More on my adventures today after I get those pics up.
Friday, August 7, 2009
6 months...
6 months in New York City today. Well, yesterday. It all kind of hit me when I bought my metro card for the month on Thursday and realized it was my seventh one since I moved here. But I've been so busy I couldn't blog on the day of. It's funny when you look up after all you've been through and realize for the first time how far you've come. I kind of got into this in my last entry, feeling accomplished and finally satisfied with the pace of things even though I still can't see how this will all fall together. Anyway, the 6 month mark seemed like as good a place as any to pay homage to the fact that I have indeed come this far and might just go a little farther yet.
It's just been 6 days in a row of work (at both jobs combined, so no overtime, unfortunately). The weather has been amazing. Dry, mild, and windy. I wish I could send you this weather in a text message or something. Think of the warmest, sunniest day in September and raise the temperature two degrees. That's here, right now. The kind of weather you wish you could drink out of a tall glass with a few ice cubes.
At NY 1, there are plenty of parks in the vicinity to hang out in on my breaks. The Highline is one, Hudson River Park is another and I can even walk down to the riverfront and eat my lunch if I should so choose. Yesterday though, I had eaten lunch prior to my break so I just walked down to 7th avenue to a pizzeria near the corner of 15th and 7th, grabbed a slice of cheese pizza for $2.50, folded it in half and walked down the block back to the Hudson River Park on 10th Avenue, a favorite spot for business people, sunbathers and that bum that's always sitting at the corner of the park near 15th and 10th.
One thing that happens in six months in any new place is you start to get these little routines going. They're the backbone of your own stability and they sort of ground you and make you start to feel like you belong, like you get what this place is about and you're cool with it. I'm finding out little secrets as well. Things I'm sure other New Yorkers have noticed but don't tell anybody.
I was riding the D train in to work the other day and, somewhere between the Broadway Lafayette stop and West 4th Street, I looked up out the window of the train and where you usually see blackness or tunnel lights flashing by, I could see, on a track somewhere above us, another train running along side us. I knew it had to be the A, C, or E train since we were about to pull into West 4th street where both the blue lines and the orange lines connect, which meant the train I needed to connect to would be at West 4th street at the same time as the train I was riding. To connect from one train to the other I have to go up two flights of stairs and I'm never sure if I need to bother rushing up the stairs because I can never tell if the train will be there or not. That was before. Now, I have my little secret that I can look up between Broadway Lafayette and West 4th and see if the A, C, E train will be there at the same time as the D train...which could save me a good ten minutes depending on how long I have to wait for the next train.
At any rate, these little things like where to get a good cheap slice of pizza on my break and how to make sure I don't miss my train connection are starting to make me feel fully integrated into life on this little island. Who knows how I'll feel in a year. Beyond having steady employment that I can count on, I'm hoping to make my next move to a better neighborhood and apartment in a year so I think I'll focus on learning everything I can about the real estate in my ideal neighborhoods so I don't have to find some squatters hell hole in East Williamsburg or something. I have a good six more months to think about what I want out of my new living situation and to figure out how to go about getting it. And if those first six months went by so quick, it'll be no time at all before I'm looking again. Wish me luck.
It's just been 6 days in a row of work (at both jobs combined, so no overtime, unfortunately). The weather has been amazing. Dry, mild, and windy. I wish I could send you this weather in a text message or something. Think of the warmest, sunniest day in September and raise the temperature two degrees. That's here, right now. The kind of weather you wish you could drink out of a tall glass with a few ice cubes.
At NY 1, there are plenty of parks in the vicinity to hang out in on my breaks. The Highline is one, Hudson River Park is another and I can even walk down to the riverfront and eat my lunch if I should so choose. Yesterday though, I had eaten lunch prior to my break so I just walked down to 7th avenue to a pizzeria near the corner of 15th and 7th, grabbed a slice of cheese pizza for $2.50, folded it in half and walked down the block back to the Hudson River Park on 10th Avenue, a favorite spot for business people, sunbathers and that bum that's always sitting at the corner of the park near 15th and 10th.
One thing that happens in six months in any new place is you start to get these little routines going. They're the backbone of your own stability and they sort of ground you and make you start to feel like you belong, like you get what this place is about and you're cool with it. I'm finding out little secrets as well. Things I'm sure other New Yorkers have noticed but don't tell anybody.
I was riding the D train in to work the other day and, somewhere between the Broadway Lafayette stop and West 4th Street, I looked up out the window of the train and where you usually see blackness or tunnel lights flashing by, I could see, on a track somewhere above us, another train running along side us. I knew it had to be the A, C, or E train since we were about to pull into West 4th street where both the blue lines and the orange lines connect, which meant the train I needed to connect to would be at West 4th street at the same time as the train I was riding. To connect from one train to the other I have to go up two flights of stairs and I'm never sure if I need to bother rushing up the stairs because I can never tell if the train will be there or not. That was before. Now, I have my little secret that I can look up between Broadway Lafayette and West 4th and see if the A, C, E train will be there at the same time as the D train...which could save me a good ten minutes depending on how long I have to wait for the next train.
At any rate, these little things like where to get a good cheap slice of pizza on my break and how to make sure I don't miss my train connection are starting to make me feel fully integrated into life on this little island. Who knows how I'll feel in a year. Beyond having steady employment that I can count on, I'm hoping to make my next move to a better neighborhood and apartment in a year so I think I'll focus on learning everything I can about the real estate in my ideal neighborhoods so I don't have to find some squatters hell hole in East Williamsburg or something. I have a good six more months to think about what I want out of my new living situation and to figure out how to go about getting it. And if those first six months went by so quick, it'll be no time at all before I'm looking again. Wish me luck.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Staten Island Ferry...
Took a little ride to Staten Island last night. Karishma and I had never been on the Staten Island ferry and, as it's free, we wanted to put that experience under our respective belts. She had never even been out on the bay nor seen the Statue of Liberty up close. On the way back we joked about how if we were on the other side of the boat we could see some random green statue that sits in the middle of the bay that stands for something, or something.
Here are the few pics that came out well.
Remember my camera is screwed beyond repair so taking photos at night where there is any need for setting up prior to taking a shot, it's all a crap shoot. I want my next camera to be a good one but I'm not able to afford one at present so I'm going to just have to make do with what I have.
At any rate, riding the ferry was a fun, er, interesting experience. There's a huge crowd of people waiting in a giant room facing one wall, which, it becomes obvious, is lined with sliding glass doors through which you board the ferry when it arrives. Everybody sort of funnels in and, thankfully, it doesn't turn into a stampede like it appears it will.
Upon boarding, we tried to get as high up as possible and then realized we should get on the side where we'd see the Statue of Liberty. The sights are gorgeous at night. I found myself looking back at Manhattan mostly but the Statue is pretty as well. Jersey's all right.
When we got to the ferry terminal in Staten, we were told we had to exit the boat and wait for the next ferry, instead of waiting on board to go right back to Manhattan. I assume a lot of people try to do this. I hear that there's not much to see or do in Staten Island, and no one has tried to tell me otherwise. I've even heard that there's especially not much within walking distance of the terminal. There's the baseball stadium which is walkable and then the subway leaves from the bottom floor of the terminal, so I assume if you weren't coming for a game you'd have to get on a train to get anywhere of interest. The Staten Island Museum, I did see but, as we were there at 9:00 at night, I don't think it was open.
At any rate, we exited the boat and snapped a few photos, went back in and looked at the schedule and, when we saw that the next boat came at 10:00pm, we decided to get food. The only things in sight were a Popeye's, a pizza joint, a chinese restaurant and a few little cafes. Nothing interested us, but for good measure we hiked up a hill and a round a corner and found another pizza joint. By then, strangely, neither of us were hungry so we decided to head back to the ferry and then, once back in Manhattan, up to Greenwich Village for some Kati Rolls. This place is awesome. We've been here a couple of times and I'll keep coming back because it's cheap.
(Not nearly as cheap as another place we hit a few nights ago though called Mamoun's. Really cheap and excellent falafel!)
The ride back on the ferry was nice as we sat on the other side of the boat to take in what we hadn't seen on the outbound trip. Mainly just the edge of Brooklyn and some barges floating by but it was still nice.
Anyhow, today I'm sitting trying to get acquainted with my new software but it's quite a task. There are so many programs bundled with it to learn what they can do but I also have to actually figure out how I'm going to use them alongside my other programs for recording what I'm actually doing with these sound modules and everything. Hopefully, it won't slow the task of writing this next score too much.
I've got dinner to finish making anyway so I'd better run. More updates on the software learning curve as it unfolds. Maybe I'll post a jam later in the week once I get the hang of a few things.
Here are the few pics that came out well.
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| Staten Island best |
Remember my camera is screwed beyond repair so taking photos at night where there is any need for setting up prior to taking a shot, it's all a crap shoot. I want my next camera to be a good one but I'm not able to afford one at present so I'm going to just have to make do with what I have.
At any rate, riding the ferry was a fun, er, interesting experience. There's a huge crowd of people waiting in a giant room facing one wall, which, it becomes obvious, is lined with sliding glass doors through which you board the ferry when it arrives. Everybody sort of funnels in and, thankfully, it doesn't turn into a stampede like it appears it will.
Upon boarding, we tried to get as high up as possible and then realized we should get on the side where we'd see the Statue of Liberty. The sights are gorgeous at night. I found myself looking back at Manhattan mostly but the Statue is pretty as well. Jersey's all right.
When we got to the ferry terminal in Staten, we were told we had to exit the boat and wait for the next ferry, instead of waiting on board to go right back to Manhattan. I assume a lot of people try to do this. I hear that there's not much to see or do in Staten Island, and no one has tried to tell me otherwise. I've even heard that there's especially not much within walking distance of the terminal. There's the baseball stadium which is walkable and then the subway leaves from the bottom floor of the terminal, so I assume if you weren't coming for a game you'd have to get on a train to get anywhere of interest. The Staten Island Museum, I did see but, as we were there at 9:00 at night, I don't think it was open.
At any rate, we exited the boat and snapped a few photos, went back in and looked at the schedule and, when we saw that the next boat came at 10:00pm, we decided to get food. The only things in sight were a Popeye's, a pizza joint, a chinese restaurant and a few little cafes. Nothing interested us, but for good measure we hiked up a hill and a round a corner and found another pizza joint. By then, strangely, neither of us were hungry so we decided to head back to the ferry and then, once back in Manhattan, up to Greenwich Village for some Kati Rolls. This place is awesome. We've been here a couple of times and I'll keep coming back because it's cheap.
(Not nearly as cheap as another place we hit a few nights ago though called Mamoun's. Really cheap and excellent falafel!)
The ride back on the ferry was nice as we sat on the other side of the boat to take in what we hadn't seen on the outbound trip. Mainly just the edge of Brooklyn and some barges floating by but it was still nice.
Anyhow, today I'm sitting trying to get acquainted with my new software but it's quite a task. There are so many programs bundled with it to learn what they can do but I also have to actually figure out how I'm going to use them alongside my other programs for recording what I'm actually doing with these sound modules and everything. Hopefully, it won't slow the task of writing this next score too much.
I've got dinner to finish making anyway so I'd better run. More updates on the software learning curve as it unfolds. Maybe I'll post a jam later in the week once I get the hang of a few things.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Upstate NY escape....
I'm only now getting a chance to write a blog since I got back from Coxsackie, NY. I first had to edit the 130 pictures that I took since I can no longer see my LCD screen and have no idea what the composition of any of my pictures looks like until I get them home. It's almost like shooting film again.
Anyway, so, Sunday morning, I rode the subway in to Bryant Park and took a leisurely walk over to Grand Central, opting not to take the 7 train crosstown to Madison Avenue. I wanted to enter the train station from the street level anyway for my first time taking a train out of the busiest train station in the world. There's something neat about walking through this area here:
I know. Old pic (from 2008 in the spring actually). I didn't want to stop in there and take a photo even though I had time when I arrived. It was busy even on a Sunday morning.
The train ride itself was worth a story. I'd heard it was a beautiful ride, right along the riverside the whole time once you're past Harlem and the Bronx for the most part. And since I was the last stop on the line, I could relax without having to worry about missing my station. At times I read but often I was watching out the window at the cliffs and the action on the river. Lots of peaceful scenery, much different than the city. For once, more trees and grass than buildings and concrete. The river was so close to the train sometimes, if you leaned back from the window, it looked as if the train glided over the water.
Arriving in Poughkeepsie, my aunt was there almost immediately so I jumped in and we headed out for the hour or so car ride for Coxsackie, stopping once for burgers and ice cream at a roadside grill and once to pick up farm fresh produce from a farm stand that was self serve. When we got to Gary and Sue's house, a 200 year old historic house which they are renting half of currently, we immediately hatched a plan to go down to the lake where they keep their boat so they could show me around. That was pretty awesome and the following pictures are mainly of the houses and the lake (with a few shots from 42nd Street in Manhattan, the train ride and at the station in Poughkeepsie...oh and one pic from Celebrate Brooklyn Saturday night).
The following day we intended to drive to Bethel, NY to catch the Woodstock museum and the performing arts center there. However, it was a little farther than we had bargained for and we had to be back at 430. So we opted to turn the car 90 degrees back to the north and head past Lake Minnewaska for a nice scenic drive and a walk through beautiful, yet fly-infested Lake Minnewaska state park.
The overlooks were the best here. The countryside up there is amazing. I haven't been up to this part of NY in a few years. I guess I had forgotten all of this was just a short ride away on the train. Anyway, that night we went to a nice dockside restaurant sitting on the edge of the Hudson river where we ordered steamed clams and just watched the boats go by. No pictures from here.
Tuesday was a little more planned and we wound up going first to Catskill, NY to take a look at the cats they have on display. There's a contest every year between local artists to decorate these fiberglass cats as creatively as possible.
They are placed around the downtown area and people can vote on several different categories. So we did a quick tour and had lunch and then headed up to Olana, Frederic Church's mansion overlooking the Hudson river. We had just enough time to walk around the grounds, tour the mansion and then head to Poughkeepsie so I could catch the train back.
Captions for the pictures are coming soon.
Anyway, so, Sunday morning, I rode the subway in to Bryant Park and took a leisurely walk over to Grand Central, opting not to take the 7 train crosstown to Madison Avenue. I wanted to enter the train station from the street level anyway for my first time taking a train out of the busiest train station in the world. There's something neat about walking through this area here:
I know. Old pic (from 2008 in the spring actually). I didn't want to stop in there and take a photo even though I had time when I arrived. It was busy even on a Sunday morning.
The train ride itself was worth a story. I'd heard it was a beautiful ride, right along the riverside the whole time once you're past Harlem and the Bronx for the most part. And since I was the last stop on the line, I could relax without having to worry about missing my station. At times I read but often I was watching out the window at the cliffs and the action on the river. Lots of peaceful scenery, much different than the city. For once, more trees and grass than buildings and concrete. The river was so close to the train sometimes, if you leaned back from the window, it looked as if the train glided over the water.
Arriving in Poughkeepsie, my aunt was there almost immediately so I jumped in and we headed out for the hour or so car ride for Coxsackie, stopping once for burgers and ice cream at a roadside grill and once to pick up farm fresh produce from a farm stand that was self serve. When we got to Gary and Sue's house, a 200 year old historic house which they are renting half of currently, we immediately hatched a plan to go down to the lake where they keep their boat so they could show me around. That was pretty awesome and the following pictures are mainly of the houses and the lake (with a few shots from 42nd Street in Manhattan, the train ride and at the station in Poughkeepsie...oh and one pic from Celebrate Brooklyn Saturday night).
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| Leaving NYC, Train ride and Coxsackie, NY |
The following day we intended to drive to Bethel, NY to catch the Woodstock museum and the performing arts center there. However, it was a little farther than we had bargained for and we had to be back at 430. So we opted to turn the car 90 degrees back to the north and head past Lake Minnewaska for a nice scenic drive and a walk through beautiful, yet fly-infested Lake Minnewaska state park.
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| Long Drive, Lake Minnewaska, Overlooks |
The overlooks were the best here. The countryside up there is amazing. I haven't been up to this part of NY in a few years. I guess I had forgotten all of this was just a short ride away on the train. Anyway, that night we went to a nice dockside restaurant sitting on the edge of the Hudson river where we ordered steamed clams and just watched the boats go by. No pictures from here.
Tuesday was a little more planned and we wound up going first to Catskill, NY to take a look at the cats they have on display. There's a contest every year between local artists to decorate these fiberglass cats as creatively as possible.
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| Catskill, Rip Van Winkle Bridge |
They are placed around the downtown area and people can vote on several different categories. So we did a quick tour and had lunch and then headed up to Olana, Frederic Church's mansion overlooking the Hudson river. We had just enough time to walk around the grounds, tour the mansion and then head to Poughkeepsie so I could catch the train back.
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| Olana and Rip Van Winkle Bridge |
Captions for the pictures are coming soon.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Blurb #10
A quick blurb before I head upstate to visit my aunt and uncle. Last night, instead of listening to the asshole with the Cadillac Escalade blasting his music directly outside of my apartment like he owns the block or something, I opted to meet Karishma and her friends in Prospect Park for the Celebrate Brooklyn Concert. The headliner: Kailash Kher. Great, great show. I haven't danced that much since, well Monica knows. Afterward, we walked up fifth avenue to Calexico to get some late night Mexican food and hands down the cheapest beer in Brooklyn (all beers = $3), only to be hassled by a poor 23 year old junkie who insisted on coming and sitting with us and making the whole scene a bright red shade of awkward. It's a story for another, longer blog entry. For now, I must go and make sure the cat has food and water for two days. Bye for now.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Downtown, The Village, Midtown...
I spent most of my morning cleaning the apartment and a little bit of it looking at the film that I'm to be scoring next. Thinking I'd get out of the house despite the weather, I planned a little outing. I'm getting better at doing this these days, especially planning cheap to no cost outings. Now that I know what a hassle it is to go into Manhattan without certain things if I'm to be there most of my day, I plan for just about everything. I load lots of reading material, I bring snacks and water, my umbrella if the weather threatens, hand sanitizer, tissues, heartburn medicine (these last three are always in my bag anyway), and of course, my camera and tunes. The camera, though on its last legs, I can still take some photos with it. The screen got a little angrier at me for getting it wet today and now I can't see at all to frame any shots, so I imagine that, while editing the shots from today, I'll have to do some straightening and cropping to make them worth looking at...that's if any of them are in focus.
Anyway, on the itinerary was, first a romp through the Financial District, some place I've been meaning to explore for quite a while. Then, I planned to try and meet an old high school friend who was visiting with his wife and kids as soon as they were done at Top of the Rock. If I hadn't connected with them, I had a list of addresses and directions to thrift shops in Brooklyn as a back up plan.
After getting the D to Atlantic/Pacific, I took the 2 train to the Wall St. Stop and headed east on Wall St. then a right onto Broad St., up a few blocks then a left on Maiden Ln. which took me to the World Trade Center site. After sitting on a bench for a bit there, south on Trinity Pl. until I reached Morris St., took a left and hit Broadway where I turned South again towards Bowling Green where I sat in a park there for a bit, then down Whitehall to Water St. then back up Coenties Slip to Stone St. to William St. to Beaver St., back on Wall St. to Front St. where I eventually wandered to and through the South Street Sea Port and Pier 17.
View Larger Map
Snapping photos the whole time I eventually headed back to the Fulton Street stop and rode up to the West Village on the A to grab a snack and coffee and get out of the rain.
Instead of going to Starbuck's, I opted to hit Amy's Bread on Bleeker and Leroy. Amy's Bread has two other locations, one which I frequent as it's in the Chelsea market and their bread is excellent and cheap if I want to add something to my lunch while on break from work. While I sat and read my Time Out NY, Brendan called me and we discussed getting pizza in Midtown. I told him I'd think over a place for us to meet and immediately thought of John's Pizzeria on 44th between 7th and 8th. I had been here once before when I visited the city before my Paris trip in '07 with my cousin and a friend and my parents. Good sit down place for pizza where all the servers wear shirts that say "No Slices," because they only sell whole pies, obviously. We met and ate there, catching up on everything and chatting. It was good times and the pizza was excellent. His kids are hilarious, too. Age 7 and 10.
So, after we left I trudged in the rain, dodging umbrellas, back to Bryant Park to catch the D back home and here I sit, typing this blog. Impressions? An interesting day all around, hopping from one bustling neighborhood to the next. Downtown is very business like and there don't seem to be very many tourists, though I did see a few groups lined up behind guides, all of them wearing ponchos. There are a lot of banking types obviously, it being a huge banking center of the world, hosting the American Stock Exchange, The New York Stock Exchange and several huge banks. There are some nice park areas but everything seems so crammed together down there. In some parts the streets are extremely narrow and lined alternately with monstrous high rises and then tiny older buildings that look strange juxtaposed as such. Part of an older New York that has survived just barely. Stone street was the first paved street in New York city and it is still paved with cobblestones and is mainly for pedestrian traffic.
The West Village, you've heard me talk about before. There is such a diversity of old buildings that I make it a point to take a different route every day from work in Chelsea down to the West 4th Street subway stop, hoping I'll see something new and different. Cute little neighborhood streets cut by raucous avenues. Then there's Bleeker Street lined with boutiques and restaurants, record stores, coffee shops. And every once in a while, a park or a neighborhood garden pops up out of nowhere. The most recent find was on the corner of Bleeker and 6th Avenue on the opposite side of the street from Father Demo Square. Tucked away in the back, behind shrubs and trees, is a tree with a circular bench surrounding it and someone has left an Adirondack chair nestled right next to it. No one seems to go back here and it's shut at night. Wish I could remember the name of this park.
And Midtown is totally different. I spoke of umbrella dodging earlier. Every sidewalk packed with people, neon signs, flashing video billboards, the Theater District. Throngs of tourists aiming cameras in Times Square, the center of the universe. Slow down or block the sidewalk and you'll be run over.
Seeing all three of these in the same day really shows how diverse this city is, not just its population but the kinds of places you'll see. There's excitement mingled with history, mingled with parks, mingled with stores, mingled with the old mingled with the new. I am quite sure that I will never get bored here.
Hope you enjoy the pics and my rambling, over detailed account of my day. Meanwhile, I should get out from in front of this computer for a change. I've got some writing to do and a movie to watch.
Anyway, on the itinerary was, first a romp through the Financial District, some place I've been meaning to explore for quite a while. Then, I planned to try and meet an old high school friend who was visiting with his wife and kids as soon as they were done at Top of the Rock. If I hadn't connected with them, I had a list of addresses and directions to thrift shops in Brooklyn as a back up plan.
After getting the D to Atlantic/Pacific, I took the 2 train to the Wall St. Stop and headed east on Wall St. then a right onto Broad St., up a few blocks then a left on Maiden Ln. which took me to the World Trade Center site. After sitting on a bench for a bit there, south on Trinity Pl. until I reached Morris St., took a left and hit Broadway where I turned South again towards Bowling Green where I sat in a park there for a bit, then down Whitehall to Water St. then back up Coenties Slip to Stone St. to William St. to Beaver St., back on Wall St. to Front St. where I eventually wandered to and through the South Street Sea Port and Pier 17.
View Larger Map
Snapping photos the whole time I eventually headed back to the Fulton Street stop and rode up to the West Village on the A to grab a snack and coffee and get out of the rain.
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| Financial District and others |
Instead of going to Starbuck's, I opted to hit Amy's Bread on Bleeker and Leroy. Amy's Bread has two other locations, one which I frequent as it's in the Chelsea market and their bread is excellent and cheap if I want to add something to my lunch while on break from work. While I sat and read my Time Out NY, Brendan called me and we discussed getting pizza in Midtown. I told him I'd think over a place for us to meet and immediately thought of John's Pizzeria on 44th between 7th and 8th. I had been here once before when I visited the city before my Paris trip in '07 with my cousin and a friend and my parents. Good sit down place for pizza where all the servers wear shirts that say "No Slices," because they only sell whole pies, obviously. We met and ate there, catching up on everything and chatting. It was good times and the pizza was excellent. His kids are hilarious, too. Age 7 and 10.
So, after we left I trudged in the rain, dodging umbrellas, back to Bryant Park to catch the D back home and here I sit, typing this blog. Impressions? An interesting day all around, hopping from one bustling neighborhood to the next. Downtown is very business like and there don't seem to be very many tourists, though I did see a few groups lined up behind guides, all of them wearing ponchos. There are a lot of banking types obviously, it being a huge banking center of the world, hosting the American Stock Exchange, The New York Stock Exchange and several huge banks. There are some nice park areas but everything seems so crammed together down there. In some parts the streets are extremely narrow and lined alternately with monstrous high rises and then tiny older buildings that look strange juxtaposed as such. Part of an older New York that has survived just barely. Stone street was the first paved street in New York city and it is still paved with cobblestones and is mainly for pedestrian traffic.
The West Village, you've heard me talk about before. There is such a diversity of old buildings that I make it a point to take a different route every day from work in Chelsea down to the West 4th Street subway stop, hoping I'll see something new and different. Cute little neighborhood streets cut by raucous avenues. Then there's Bleeker Street lined with boutiques and restaurants, record stores, coffee shops. And every once in a while, a park or a neighborhood garden pops up out of nowhere. The most recent find was on the corner of Bleeker and 6th Avenue on the opposite side of the street from Father Demo Square. Tucked away in the back, behind shrubs and trees, is a tree with a circular bench surrounding it and someone has left an Adirondack chair nestled right next to it. No one seems to go back here and it's shut at night. Wish I could remember the name of this park.
And Midtown is totally different. I spoke of umbrella dodging earlier. Every sidewalk packed with people, neon signs, flashing video billboards, the Theater District. Throngs of tourists aiming cameras in Times Square, the center of the universe. Slow down or block the sidewalk and you'll be run over.
Seeing all three of these in the same day really shows how diverse this city is, not just its population but the kinds of places you'll see. There's excitement mingled with history, mingled with parks, mingled with stores, mingled with the old mingled with the new. I am quite sure that I will never get bored here.
Hope you enjoy the pics and my rambling, over detailed account of my day. Meanwhile, I should get out from in front of this computer for a change. I've got some writing to do and a movie to watch.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens...
It's mildly ironic that my last post began with the fact that I can't seem to sleep past 8:30am because this morning I did just that...in a big way. So maybe mildly is not the word I'm looking for.
I had an exhausting but fun day yesterday. I had been planning on trying to catch up with my friend Rachel who is visiting town this week. She called me while I was at Target picking up a new computer mouse (mine shit the bed on me) and we agreed on lunch in Park Slope and that we'd meet at Grand Army Plaza like we had tried to do the day before. I got there first and read for a bit and then, when she arrived we walked down Union Street to 7th avenue and stopped at Tea Lounge for a slight caffeine buzz. Afterward, we pushed onward to 5th avenue and landed at a Mexican place called Mezcals which was awesome.
Then, we walked back to Grand Army Plaza, stepped into Prospect Park for a hot second and then decided we should hit the Botanical Gardens. Great choice. They were pretty awesome. I wish you could smell these pictures and climb in the trees we climbed in.
I felt like it was the most in touch with nature I've been since I've come here. Mainly because of the huge diversity of plants here that you won't find romping around Central or Prospect Park.
After the Botanical Gardens we split up so she could meet another friend and I went and grabbed some groceries at Trader Joe's.
I was to meet a friend in the West Village later who was going to play a piece of mine for me. I just finished a piano sketch that I've been working on for a little while and had him look over it. The place where we were meeting was his friend's house and the situation was a bit odd. The guy who owns the place is in his 80s and has given a lot of money to the Juilliard and is fond of helping students and musicians out so he let's Brad, my friend, come over and use the house while he's not there to practice on his baby grand Steinway. Sweet deal for us.
Anyway, this gentleman is in the process of moving out of his West Village house so the place is in shambles and there are people, mostly movers, some family, in and out of the place. However, we didn't really expect anyone to be there at that hour. So, when we came in through the basement and heard voices upstairs we decided to split and grab a beer somewhere.
We wound up going to a place called the Village Tavern. Seemed a bit straight for the village with it's sports bar atmosphere and preppy collared shirts but they played a lot of early 90's music so we had a good time.
After a few beers we decided to go back and check the situation at this gentleman's house. There was still someone there but we had agreed to explain the situation to him. He was on the phone and didn't seem to care what we did but we weren't exactly about to start banging on the piano with him sitting there chatting on the phone. So we ultimately decided to take our beers and go down to the riverside, that same park I photographed the other night with all the strange sculptures. I didn't end up getting home until about 2:30am. Stupid R train.
So that's why this morning I slept until almost noon. But luckily, my friend Shannon, whom I was going to hang out with today, did the same thing. She's in town to see her boyfriend's band play, the Urban Sophisticates...who, strangely, I know from UNCG. Small world. More on our escapades today in a bit. To be continued...
I had an exhausting but fun day yesterday. I had been planning on trying to catch up with my friend Rachel who is visiting town this week. She called me while I was at Target picking up a new computer mouse (mine shit the bed on me) and we agreed on lunch in Park Slope and that we'd meet at Grand Army Plaza like we had tried to do the day before. I got there first and read for a bit and then, when she arrived we walked down Union Street to 7th avenue and stopped at Tea Lounge for a slight caffeine buzz. Afterward, we pushed onward to 5th avenue and landed at a Mexican place called Mezcals which was awesome.
Then, we walked back to Grand Army Plaza, stepped into Prospect Park for a hot second and then decided we should hit the Botanical Gardens. Great choice. They were pretty awesome. I wish you could smell these pictures and climb in the trees we climbed in.
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| Botanical Gardens best |
I felt like it was the most in touch with nature I've been since I've come here. Mainly because of the huge diversity of plants here that you won't find romping around Central or Prospect Park.
After the Botanical Gardens we split up so she could meet another friend and I went and grabbed some groceries at Trader Joe's.
I was to meet a friend in the West Village later who was going to play a piece of mine for me. I just finished a piano sketch that I've been working on for a little while and had him look over it. The place where we were meeting was his friend's house and the situation was a bit odd. The guy who owns the place is in his 80s and has given a lot of money to the Juilliard and is fond of helping students and musicians out so he let's Brad, my friend, come over and use the house while he's not there to practice on his baby grand Steinway. Sweet deal for us.
Anyway, this gentleman is in the process of moving out of his West Village house so the place is in shambles and there are people, mostly movers, some family, in and out of the place. However, we didn't really expect anyone to be there at that hour. So, when we came in through the basement and heard voices upstairs we decided to split and grab a beer somewhere.
We wound up going to a place called the Village Tavern. Seemed a bit straight for the village with it's sports bar atmosphere and preppy collared shirts but they played a lot of early 90's music so we had a good time.
After a few beers we decided to go back and check the situation at this gentleman's house. There was still someone there but we had agreed to explain the situation to him. He was on the phone and didn't seem to care what we did but we weren't exactly about to start banging on the piano with him sitting there chatting on the phone. So we ultimately decided to take our beers and go down to the riverside, that same park I photographed the other night with all the strange sculptures. I didn't end up getting home until about 2:30am. Stupid R train.
So that's why this morning I slept until almost noon. But luckily, my friend Shannon, whom I was going to hang out with today, did the same thing. She's in town to see her boyfriend's band play, the Urban Sophisticates...who, strangely, I know from UNCG. Small world. More on our escapades today in a bit. To be continued...
Saturday, June 6, 2009
West Village
My cousin finally got a job. I was so happy because it was a lead I was able to pass on to her from a friend of mine. The job is a marketing assistant position at the American Symphony Orchestra, so, for her, it's a career move and one that is back towards the arts, something she had been considering. Anyway, tonight we were out celebrating with dinner at a Mexican Restaurant called Tortilla Flats in the West Village.
As we were being led to our table, I looked down and realized that the gentleman sitting at the table right in front of us was none other than Zachary Quinto from, not only my favorite television show Heroes, but also from the new Star Trek movie. As it dawned on me who he was I could see a grin forming on his face, as though he could tell he had been recognized and was bracing for an awkward confrontation. I spared him and moved on, immediately leaning toward Katrina to tell her that Sylar was sitting behind us.
He left shortly after and after our meal we went for a walk around the West Village, stopping at Magnolia, a rather famous cupcake shop, and winding up back around Chelsea, where I work and eventually walking to Union Square and catching the subway, each of us in opposite directions.
Incidentally, it was the second time this week I walked from Chelsea to the West Village and I was snapping photos the whole way both times. Thursday night, after a really long shift at work (nine and a half hours), Karishma and I met at a restaurant called Baoguette for some traditional Banh Mi sandwiches (pay particular attention in that article to the bit about head cheese). After chomping down those sandwiches, we walked out past the West Side Highway to a park along the river bank and walked our feet off until we wound up down by the financial district, stopping briefly to sit on one of the piers. Again, snapping photos the whole way.
Check them out:
Those were from both nights. The West Village is one of those neighborhoods that you aspire to live in. It's so nice and it feels like a whole different city, even though there's several avenues plowing right through it. It's below 14th street where all the streets start to slant all over the place so you'll find all kinds of nooks and crannies in there.
I may write some more about the West Village but right now I'm tired so check out this link.
As we were being led to our table, I looked down and realized that the gentleman sitting at the table right in front of us was none other than Zachary Quinto from, not only my favorite television show Heroes, but also from the new Star Trek movie. As it dawned on me who he was I could see a grin forming on his face, as though he could tell he had been recognized and was bracing for an awkward confrontation. I spared him and moved on, immediately leaning toward Katrina to tell her that Sylar was sitting behind us.
He left shortly after and after our meal we went for a walk around the West Village, stopping at Magnolia, a rather famous cupcake shop, and winding up back around Chelsea, where I work and eventually walking to Union Square and catching the subway, each of us in opposite directions.
Incidentally, it was the second time this week I walked from Chelsea to the West Village and I was snapping photos the whole way both times. Thursday night, after a really long shift at work (nine and a half hours), Karishma and I met at a restaurant called Baoguette for some traditional Banh Mi sandwiches (pay particular attention in that article to the bit about head cheese). After chomping down those sandwiches, we walked out past the West Side Highway to a park along the river bank and walked our feet off until we wound up down by the financial district, stopping briefly to sit on one of the piers. Again, snapping photos the whole way.
Check them out:
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| West Village June best |
Those were from both nights. The West Village is one of those neighborhoods that you aspire to live in. It's so nice and it feels like a whole different city, even though there's several avenues plowing right through it. It's below 14th street where all the streets start to slant all over the place so you'll find all kinds of nooks and crannies in there.
I may write some more about the West Village but right now I'm tired so check out this link.
Monday, May 18, 2009
A full weekend...
After three months here, things seem to be coming a little bit easier. I'm hanging out with friends more often and not feeling like it's breaking the bank to be social. I'm meeting new people, musicians and filmmakers alike and with Technicolor finally calling me back about work, I feel like things are falling into place.
I realize that if I attempt to devote the blog to blow by blows of my weekend activities I may fail miserably because the more I fill my off time, the less time I'll devote to blogging and it'll just be entire entries about what I've done and no room for reflection. But this weekend was loads of fun, a diverse set of activities, so I feel I must comment, divulge, expound upon and otherwise treat you all to a summation of my escapades, in no particular order.
Poker night has become a staple, something I can always count on happening if I'm looking for something to do to break the monotony. Sunday night was probably the most fun it has been yet. There were seven people total there that were playing, plus Karishma who came along to observe (I sort of dragged her there after we had gone to a street festival with Emily who was visiting this weekend. More on the street festival and Emily's visit later on. Karishma said she didn't want to play but I told her she didn't have to and to come and just watch. After all, it's a $5 buy-in so it's not something to just jump in on and do horrible at, especially with so many sharks in the room. Okay, I really must close these parenthesis. It's getting ridiculous.) I must say I'm getting the hang of it. I even gave Mike a run for his money, as we went head to head for a couple of hands, just the two of us. He beat me in the end. I bluffed when I shouldn't have. I think what made it so fun was that everyone who had gotten out was on the edge of their seat watching the final hands with bated breath.
Thursday night, Karishma's parents took us out for dinner at a Korean place near Union Square called Dosirak. It was great stuff and the first time I'd had Korean food in, let's just say, a very long time, due to painful associations with the stuff. Karishma's parents are very generous, (it was her father's birthday that night), and they insisted on paying for everything even with eight of us at the table. The night before they had me over to her place and cooked a fabulous "prawn" curry with fried king fish. Her father has even invited me to come to India sometime. I accepted. Sounds like a fabulous adventure. And all of his friends are musicians including his brother so it sounds like I'd have a great welcome and they'd want me to play in their studios with them. I'm in. They are traveling around the east coast this week and will be back in NY for another week afterward.
Beyond that, I worked Friday and Saturday but, each night, there was something going on afterward. Friday night, I met Emily and Paul (a friend living in Astoria whom I've not seen since I moved up here) in Williamsburg (B Burg) at a bar called Spuyten Duyvil (silly Dutch name). Spuyten Duyvil has an amazing beer selection and a great garden in the back that unfortunately closes at 1230. Paul's friend Randy came along and we all just chatted the night away.
Saturday night, I was invited to a party up in Astoria where Paul and Emily were, incredibly close to Katrina's place. So, I stopped by Katrina's to chat and pick up some mail and then, on to the party. The party was at another UNCG grad's apartment, a couple that I knew from the dorm days. They weren't expecting me, well, Carlos wasn't, so it was neat to surprise them and I got a bit of a reaction out of people there. I've known that they lived in the area but had been putting off contacting them for no apparent reason. At any rate, we all spent the evening catching up as there were several other UNCGers there as well that I remembered from back in the day.
There being so many of my friends already up here kind of drives the point home that I was meant to come up here and be around people that have similar ambitions. I'm starting to feel like I belong and that no matter what happens to me, I'm going to find the opportunities that I need to advance my career with almost no problem. I say "almost" to avoid sounding naive or too hopeful. I think what I'm really getting at is that, as long as I'm constantly looking out for my career, meeting people who are in the business and am generally "hungry," as my dad says, I should be okay. (Footnote: hungry referring to my desire to get somewhere with my career rather than waiting for something to happen, not the other kind of hungry where there's nothing to eat in my fridge but a stick of butter and some old cheese.)
Things have been happening work-wise. Joel, whom I met at Farah's Oscars party and whom I wrote music for, invited me to come and help out on a film shoot the other day to get some experience for my resume. I'm going out next week again to help out. I'm planning on building up the film experience section of my resume using people I already know and/or just met. Meanwhile, with Technicolor back on the radar and the potential for movie and TV extra work (slim potential, I might add), I'm feeling pretty confident that, next month, I'll be able to pay rent and eat, again. Go me.
Some pics from the street fair and a little info.
I realize that if I attempt to devote the blog to blow by blows of my weekend activities I may fail miserably because the more I fill my off time, the less time I'll devote to blogging and it'll just be entire entries about what I've done and no room for reflection. But this weekend was loads of fun, a diverse set of activities, so I feel I must comment, divulge, expound upon and otherwise treat you all to a summation of my escapades, in no particular order.
Poker night has become a staple, something I can always count on happening if I'm looking for something to do to break the monotony. Sunday night was probably the most fun it has been yet. There were seven people total there that were playing, plus Karishma who came along to observe (I sort of dragged her there after we had gone to a street festival with Emily who was visiting this weekend. More on the street festival and Emily's visit later on. Karishma said she didn't want to play but I told her she didn't have to and to come and just watch. After all, it's a $5 buy-in so it's not something to just jump in on and do horrible at, especially with so many sharks in the room. Okay, I really must close these parenthesis. It's getting ridiculous.) I must say I'm getting the hang of it. I even gave Mike a run for his money, as we went head to head for a couple of hands, just the two of us. He beat me in the end. I bluffed when I shouldn't have. I think what made it so fun was that everyone who had gotten out was on the edge of their seat watching the final hands with bated breath.
Thursday night, Karishma's parents took us out for dinner at a Korean place near Union Square called Dosirak. It was great stuff and the first time I'd had Korean food in, let's just say, a very long time, due to painful associations with the stuff. Karishma's parents are very generous, (it was her father's birthday that night), and they insisted on paying for everything even with eight of us at the table. The night before they had me over to her place and cooked a fabulous "prawn" curry with fried king fish. Her father has even invited me to come to India sometime. I accepted. Sounds like a fabulous adventure. And all of his friends are musicians including his brother so it sounds like I'd have a great welcome and they'd want me to play in their studios with them. I'm in. They are traveling around the east coast this week and will be back in NY for another week afterward.
Beyond that, I worked Friday and Saturday but, each night, there was something going on afterward. Friday night, I met Emily and Paul (a friend living in Astoria whom I've not seen since I moved up here) in Williamsburg (B Burg) at a bar called Spuyten Duyvil (silly Dutch name). Spuyten Duyvil has an amazing beer selection and a great garden in the back that unfortunately closes at 1230. Paul's friend Randy came along and we all just chatted the night away.
Saturday night, I was invited to a party up in Astoria where Paul and Emily were, incredibly close to Katrina's place. So, I stopped by Katrina's to chat and pick up some mail and then, on to the party. The party was at another UNCG grad's apartment, a couple that I knew from the dorm days. They weren't expecting me, well, Carlos wasn't, so it was neat to surprise them and I got a bit of a reaction out of people there. I've known that they lived in the area but had been putting off contacting them for no apparent reason. At any rate, we all spent the evening catching up as there were several other UNCGers there as well that I remembered from back in the day.
There being so many of my friends already up here kind of drives the point home that I was meant to come up here and be around people that have similar ambitions. I'm starting to feel like I belong and that no matter what happens to me, I'm going to find the opportunities that I need to advance my career with almost no problem. I say "almost" to avoid sounding naive or too hopeful. I think what I'm really getting at is that, as long as I'm constantly looking out for my career, meeting people who are in the business and am generally "hungry," as my dad says, I should be okay. (Footnote: hungry referring to my desire to get somewhere with my career rather than waiting for something to happen, not the other kind of hungry where there's nothing to eat in my fridge but a stick of butter and some old cheese.)
Things have been happening work-wise. Joel, whom I met at Farah's Oscars party and whom I wrote music for, invited me to come and help out on a film shoot the other day to get some experience for my resume. I'm going out next week again to help out. I'm planning on building up the film experience section of my resume using people I already know and/or just met. Meanwhile, with Technicolor back on the radar and the potential for movie and TV extra work (slim potential, I might add), I'm feeling pretty confident that, next month, I'll be able to pay rent and eat, again. Go me.
Some pics from the street fair and a little info.
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| 5th Ave Street Fair Best |
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