New Shoes

Sonos: now playing

What am I doing? …part 390

I’ve done this so many times, but sometimes I fail to notify anyone including my family. I take these “leave of absences” where I specifically avoid people who ask too many questions. Remember 4 + years ago? So now I’m thinking about how much I love NYC and why would I even consider leaving (if I had no hinderance (i.e. employment).  My reasoning is that 5 years ago, I was so close to moving to LA. Though I didn’t let anyone in on the decision making, it was really a flip of a coin and not just a broad post. Am I considering moving? Yes. Am I contradicting myself since I just said that I love NYC, YES. Is this normal for me, YES.

 

To be continued.

 

 

I refuse to live above 14th Street

When I first moved to NYC, I ended up on 5th Street in the East Village. It was a disgusting sublet room, 6th floor walk up. Since then I’ve flirted with the UWS (wrong decision) and the Financial District (clean enough).  3 years after I moved here, I have become very much one of those typical Manhattanites, the kind that refuse to live beyond a 4 square blocks of their residence. Guess what? I’m OK with that.

Right now I’m in a sublet in the Village, trying to find our next long term residence. I have been in this place for one week, and already I am refusing to look outside a square block. We even put an application for a place at 1 Astor Place. Yes, that’s 500 feet from our front door. Rats, I’ve become one of those, haven’t I?

 

 

Rather than comment on your post

It’s been god knows how long since I’ve blogged, but thanks to calendars , I was informed it was October 21st, 2010. I used to be really prolific, just take a look at the archives, but since then I’ve blamed Twitter for my lack of productivity on this platform. So I’ve been wanting to jump back into it, but was lacking inspiration to do so.

That has just changed…

First off, the disclaimer is the majority of what I will be blogging about today will BE A JOKE. But like a good blogger, I won’t tell you exactly which parts I’m joking about.

So let’s jump into this. I’m extremely proud of my friend Julie, she launched a new website that focuses on the 20 something female, my favorite demographic growing up. Actually, who am I kidding, it’s still my favorite demographic. The majority of the content is obviously written in the female voice and perhaps intentionally, the aspirational tone. This is where my rat ass comes in, I thought it would be funny (until she gets mad) if I gave a proper rebuttal or take-on of one of her posts. Since Julie and I are friends, I only plan to refute her posts rather than her guest contributors. See, I’m not that big of an ass. My intention is to write a refutation masterpiece akin to  Liz Phair‘s take on Exile On Main street, but most likely it will end up in the Vince Neil reacts to Axl Rose category.

So I was browsing the site and came across this post:  “Feel Like a Princess“. Feel free to read it all before proceeding.

I understand that we all (boys & girls and disgruntle hamsters) dream of a better life, and for young girls, the idea of being a princess is probably tops. I don’t necessarily disagree that we should all find time to make ourselves feel better, but you say…

“Splurge”

On a Balenciaga bag? So unless you live with your Parents, or have 12 roommates and are considerably over paid for your position–I don’t know too many 20 year olds who have Balenciaga bags. I also refute the idea that a bag will make you feel special because we know how much “accessorizing” goes on in your world. I have never met an “everyday” luxury handbag, and I should know…I spent a boat load on an LV clutch for my GF and assumed she’d use it everyday. I was wrong.

You’re 20 years old, and I hate to say this…but statistics show that you’ll probably be a 30 something single girl as well, so save your money! Also, don’t buy into the idea that these things will make you feel special, if you do, then you’ll be a sad 30 something single girl.

You say…

“Pamper”

I actually agree with this almost 100%. My only suggestion is DO NOT DO THIS for a nerve-wracking first date.  Don’t ever show all your cards the first date, because guys will expect this EVERY DAY of your relationship. Yes, we love when you go to town on your face and hair with your MAC products, but honestly, if our first impression (date) of you is as close to what we’ll see everyday—then when you do put the make up and blow out your hair, we will think it’s Christmas.

You say…

“Get Help”

You’re a 20 something, not 75–stop being lazy. Carrying your own groceries is not going to kill you and if anything, it’s good exercise (if you buy a lot of canned foods). The more you take out, the more likely you’ll rely on using SeamlessWeb rather than your own skills. Sure, it’ll likely cover not having to “carry your own groceries” but its like a hole in your wallet.  I believe the average apartment in NYC is 400 sq feet, so  unless maid-service is an offer from your mother, save your money…after all, you still need to buy that Balenciaga bag 😉

#SFGiants

Go Giants!

I’ve let myself go a bit

at least with Word Press and this blog, my apologies. I’m carefully balancing a life of “summer fun” and “hours of boredom”. You’d be surprised how they can both coexist. There are days when I’m so happy to not be working and taking the Summer off, and and then I run into a string of (days) of boredom (how many times can you really go to the park?).

I also blame Twitter for my lack of updates, not trying to hate on them but you know–its easier to tweet.

so what now?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted (too long, right?). I could use excuses or I could just be honest, and in honestly, I was having way too much fun. I was in London (and Milan & Paris)  for about 6 weeks. I fell in love with London, and I was also in the process of contemplating what’s next for me.

I decided to “opt out” of my consulting gig because I really didn’t believe in the people behind the product. The actual product itself is awesome and I will continue to use it. I won’t say that it was a moral decision (I’m the last person to be giving moral advice), but let’s just say that certain ethics came into play with my decision. I won’t bad mouth (though I just did) the company, and all I hope for is that my former colleagues are treated better than they are now.

I’m back in NYC unemployed, but that’s how it was almost a year ago…so par for the course. More exciting news is that the GF is moving to NYC to live with me. We thought it would be the time to do it, and aside from wanting to date every girl in NYC (I will ask for a free pass once a month)..she’s by far the coolest girl I’ve ever dated.

I’m not going to promise that I will be updating this all the time, that’s what the links to other blogs are for 😉

found this cool pic from my visit to the O2:

so the last week was interesting…

I flew to Milan for some scheduled meetings for work, and by Thursday I was ready to leave. Not sure if Milan just wasn’t my thing or I was feeling under the weather, etc. The final conclusion was that Milan was not my type of city, it reminded me of Bakersfield. Yeah, that Bakersfield. The Duomo was beautiful, and the shopping may have been incredible had it not been for me working ’til their closing hours. The trip was summed up into: meetings, walking back to hotel, walking down to bar, walking back to room.

So I woke up to a twitter feed full of discussions about Volcano eruptions that Thursday, and didn’t really put much though into it. By mid-day I realized that my flight might be in jeopardy, when I arrived to the airport I knew I was royally F#@#@! I was then told during check-in that I had 2 options, fly into Paris or Frankfurt. I don’t know French but I definitely don’t know German and I did know that you could get to London by train (yeah, I’m smart 😉 I originally thought the airline was doing us a favor by trying to get us closer, and offering to help locate a rail solution when arriving to Paris—that was the thought until I arrived in Paris. There was no one to greet us, no information and no manned desk. WTF!!??

I know what you’re planning to comment up to this point, perhaps “could be worst places to be stuck”, or “lucky you, I’m in Nogales”. That’s not the point, but I agree. So I was temporarily displaced in Paris for a total of 4 days, 3 nights and Paris is expensive. Most hotels (including the one I stayed in) was well over 160 euros a night, calculate that here. I finally found a one way ticket on Eurostar to get me home late at night on Sunday, a ticket that cost 223 euros…., if you want to feel bad for me, go to that link again.

I’m back in London now, and I plan to stop whining as well (for now).

Enjoy Paris:

Still fighting jet lag

But I have made it to London! Delta Airlines has the worst customer service ever, and still I take them hoping something will eventually change (doubt it). I had the fortunate? luck of sitting next to a Yankees fan wearing his hat, I was wearing my Sox one, there must have been people on that plane who had no idea of the irony. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous so far, sunny skies with the occasional moody cloud passing by. For my first Saturday of my stay in London, I met up with Kasey & Ben (recent transplants) to check out the Chris Ofili exhibit at the Tate. I was familiar with this “dung” work, but had no idea of his fascination with afros and vaginas. I didn’t take photos of those 2 particular subjects of his paintings.

After the Tate, we headed out to a favorite pub of theirs and on our way went by Buckingham Palace and Parliament and took the mandatory “tourist” pose while looking at Big Ben. The night ended up at a local Wandsworth pub, dinner (fish & chips)…2 more people added to my foursquare friends and a good night sleep. Cheers