Fun Packed Weeked

Ya'll will have to amuse yourselves some other way this weekend. I'll be away from email until Sunday evening. Going to a wedding of a very wonderful couple.

I can't make this shit up

While in Union Square during a photo shoot that involved fake blood and a fake knife, I nearly got caught up in a crack deal. It sort of went something like this..

man hunched over on a bench looking like he's about to puke.

man #2: Yo Fred, you okay man?
Fred: in hoarse, grumpy and loud voice "I need some crack."
man #2: Okay
goes over to large group standing uncomfortably close to me as I straddle my bag, carrying my camera, watching two brief cases while friends are off shooting a scene.

Can't really understand what they're saying but I see them making some calls. Some surfer type guy comes carrying a beautiful, blond, adorable baby who I've actually seen before at the Union Square B&N. I know my vagrants. Breaks my heart to see kid in this situation. The baby mama shows up, looking cracked out no less, skinny, with dreads, tats, piercings and pregnant. At which point, my boyz come back and thankfully, we leave the scene before the transaction takes place.

Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record

My first reaction was, "oh jesus."

Slightly Stressed

I'm feeling better for now, of course trying to sleep with post nasal drip action and coughing is always the hardest. In addition, last night I had trouble sleeping cause I was inspired. Imagine that. I can really get into this whole photography thing. I just need to get used to photographing people on the street. One woman shielded her face from me but that actually made for a better picture. I'm getting a handle on my camera as well- comfortable with the manual features.

Kind of a lot going on this weekend. Leaving for a wedding early Friday afternoon in Upstate NY. It should be tons of fun but I'm already exhausted thinking about the schedule.. starting with hair around 9:30am. Yikes. I guess that's the nature of being a bridesmaid. It could have definitely been earlier and anything for my girl yo. In any case, I'm trying my darnest to get ample amounts of sleep before then. Perhaps a bit of nyquil will do for tonight.

Wandering and Pondering around NYC

IMG_0212, originally uploaded by MissMoll.

Another fave

Wandering and Pondering around NYC

Took the Canon out for a spin and here are some of my favorites.

Sickish

I'm feeling pretty crappy. I left work early yesterday and came to work late today. Also had to skip my favorite spinning class last night which could be in fact, the very last Monday night, 7:30 spin class until the Winter schedule. Gr.. Why do I always have to get sick on Mondays. I desperately need to recover before the end of the week festivities.. rehearsal dinner, and wedding on Saturday. I'm not worried though. I'm a fighter. I do find it annoying, however, that when I'm slightly sick, or being quiet, everyone freaks out and questions why I'm not being my normal self. Haha. I guess I'll take that as a compliment.

The Lives of Others

Instead of going to my favorite spinning class, I stayed in to recover from a cold. Why am I always sick on Mondays? I'll definitely miss his class. I saw "the Lives of Others," a beautiful film about East Germany before the falling of the wall. It was interesting to get an in depth idea of what their society was like, an era that isn't often explored or discussed in American culture. I highly recommend the film.

Grrrrr

A friend forwarded me this letter. His friend (actually someone he hasn't talked to in a while) had sent this mass email to people and he wanted to know my opinion. Well, to start, I couldn't read the thing all the way through because I didn't want to projectile vomit all over my computer.

here it goes.. and this is a long one..

"I've had an unexpected financial emergency come up and would like to request your help.

Nature of the Issue

One week ago, I received a letter from the IRS telling me that they found a problem with my 2006 tax return. The issue was a discrepancy between the income I reported and what had been reported by banks, employers, etc. I checked out their records and compared them with my records and found that IRS is indeed correct. I had forgotten to report some interest income earned, and the result is that I owe $809 in taxes and interest. If I do not pay this by September 10, I will incur additional interest until I pay this.
I spent the last week thinking about how I am going to deal with this issue.
If I pay out of cash I currently have saved, it would exhaust my entire savings and then some. I already have two big expenses that are impending in the next two to three months that I haven't figured out how I will deal with: a new catalytic converter for my car (probably at least $1300, and that's just for the part, not the labor), as well as a move to SOMEWHERE, because my current position is seasonal and my contract ends on October 31. I don't currently know where I will be moving and what my job situation would be, but I know that it could potentially be costly, involving cross-country driving and/or security deposits for housing, etc. My current savings is not enough to deal with either of those things, likely.
If I put the $809 on my credit card, it would quite nearly exhaust the rest of my credit line, leaving me even more vulnerable to any future financial emergency that could come up, unless I were to take out another credit card and perpetuate the problem. Also, I currently have more debt than I can sustain at $4189.02. Before I understood what I do now about money, I made some decisions that were way beyond my means to pay and keep myself financially free. In March, I completely got my financial act together and changed my whole outlook on money, credit, and saving. Since then, I've been saving very consciously and carefully a portion of every paycheck, and allocating various percentages to things that would help me take care of my entire self, all at the same time: investments, saving for big things like my upcoming move and a home and a new car when mine eventually dies, personal development, and charity).
I feel great about my new outlook on money and saving; however, it is taking time to build up the savings and reserves I need, because my take-home income is only about $500 every two weeks (though I do NOT have the expense of rent and certain utilities where I am living now). This amount is ALMOST sustainable based on things I need to buy...but not quite. What's keeping it from being sustainable? Credit card payments. If not for those, I am confident I'd be able to afford almost everything I need without cycling new debt back onto the credit cards. I currently cannot afford to make substantial monthly payments on this due to my income and expenditures, and if this continues (and who knows whether it will or it won't?), it will take me at least four or five years to pay it off, thus perpetuating the cycle.
So while I can certainly put out this fire in the short term using the resources I currently have available to me (savings, credit, etc), I don't see how it will be helpful in the long term. I see the cycle perpetuating, and I have no desire to do that.
How I'd like to try and generate some funds to put out this fire
I am asking certain people in my various communities who know and like me if they would be willing to contribute some money to help me deal with this. And I am requesting that anyone who is willing and able to contribute do so ANONYMOUSLY. Why? Several reasons:

1. I don't wish to put anybody in a position where they only contribute out of guilt or wonder "if I don't contribute, will Bethany still think of me the same way? Is our friendship/relationship contingent upon whether or not I help with this?"
2. I don't wish to put MYSELF in a position where I feel indebted to any one particular person and feel guilty in the future if I do something that person doesn't like or doesn't agree with.

I would much rather that anyone who gives does so joyfully and unconditionally out of a desire to help and contribute, and that if I receive anything, I feel thankful and grateful to God (or the universe, or Divinity, or the source...I'm comfortable using any of those words, personally) for taking care of me, rather than feeling indebted to any specific person or people.

"I would be happy to help; how can I give an anonymous gift?"

I've enlisted the help of several willing third parties who have each agreed to receive gifts on my behalf, and whom I trust completely. I've listed them below. I have chosen to use SEVERAL third parties, not just one, for the trust and comfort of anyone who might wish to give to me. I know you all from many different areas of my life, and you don't know all each other (or even know OF each other). So by having multiple third parties, anyone wishing to give can choose the third party that they personally trust most and feel most comfortable sending gifts to.

If (and only if!) you can willingly and joyfully and anonymously give, please send a check made payable to "cash" to any one of the third parties listed below (by August 29 if possible!). For each third party, I've also included a way to contact the person (phone number or e-mail address or both) that the person has agreed to share, in case you would like to tell them things like "I just sent this, so watch for it in the mail" or ask "did you receive the letter I mailed on Friday?"

The third parties have agreed to do the following:
On September 3, they will take any checks or cash received to the bank, deposit them into their own checking accounts, and write me a check for the amount out of their own accounts.
The third parties would then send me an e-mail or call me and let me know the amount sent (so I have a week to plan if necessary to make up the difference somehow), but would NOT disclose the identities of the givers, nor the number of gifts received.

"I'm not sure whether I would like to give; is it okay if I ask you further questions, --?"
I'd prefer that people do not ask me further questions, because that could potentially compromise anonymity. This is why I disclosed as much information as I feel comfortable in this message.
If you are really not sure whether you would like to give and your decision is truly based on knowing the answer to a specific question, I would prefer that you e-mail the question to one of the third parties so that they can ask me the question and preserve the anonymity of the asker.
If you would like to send me messages of support or include me in your prayers, I would of course welcome those!
"What will you do if people give more than you need to deal with your financial situation as you have described it?"
I will joyfully and gratefully contribute the surplus to a consciously chosen cause and/or to a person(s) in need (I have not yet determined what/whom that will be. Right now, I'm still focused on putting out this fire).
Thank you so much for reading this and for considering giving to me. Thank you also for anything you choose to give.

Sincerely,

-----------
Then this email-
----Inline Attachment Follows-----

Hi everyone,

I'm considering myself fortunate to have received a little bit of feedback on my letter, some supportive and some less so. I'm assuming that for each person who was brave enough to send me feedback (and I consider it very brave, given that I had asked not to receive it in my original letter), there might be some others who also have some strong feelings that they have not yet shared with me. One person shared with me some very strong thoughts and feelings she had in response to my letter. From what I read, it seemed to me that she felt very angry, among other things, and she expressed that she does not wish to receive communications from me in the future. I felt incredibly sad and regretful when I read that, for two reasons:
1. I have a deep respect for this person and have received so much from her presence in my life (possibly more than she knows), so I would feel awful to know that my letter triggered those feelings in her to such a degree that she would not wish to communicate with me at all in the future; and
2. I'm imagining that others I care about might be having similarly strong feelings and are not telling me because they are thinking that I don't want to hear it (and I know I caused that completely by SAYING that I would prefer not to hear it in the original letter).
I feel really sad and regretful to think that my letter may have triggered such feelings in friends of mine to the degree that it may have damaged more relationships than I currently know about. For that reason I would like to change what I originally said: If you are having any feelings you would like to share with me in response to my letter, any at all, I would like to invite you to please, please share them with me. I would like the opportunity to talk through them and hopefully come to some understanding in our friendship. I will make every effort to respond in a timely manner to any message I receive about this.
Also, if you are feeling anger, annoyance or anything else like that in response to the content of the original letter...I guess I'd like to share some things too.... I hope that you can hear that I fully understand that I created that situation myself due to my past actions and oversights and lack of knowledge and understanding...and that I was feeling really scared and desperate and hopeless about my situation because every way of dealing with it that I could think of at the time would leave me in worse-off place in the future, and because I had been making efforts to save and turn my situation around before I found out about this large and unexpected expense. I hope that you can hear the panic I was feeling because of the approaching deadline I have, and that if I'd had some more time to "sleep on it," I would have handled certain things differently.
I really, truly hope that if anyone has anything that they would like to share with me they will share it. I care about my relationships with each of you far, far more than I care about any gift you might have been thinking of sending (or not).

Hopefully,

-------------------------

NOW, if you managed to get through the sob story.. here's what makes me so angry... We all go through situations where we knowingly may have to put ourselves into more debt. But that's our responsibility. I'd ask my parents and family but never my friends to help me out and I'm grateful because my parents have helped me. Over the past 4 years I've had random medical issues such as my gallbladder removed (despite being in perfect health otherwise) and $1,500 worth of unexpected dental work. I've accidentally broken my computer, lost a job, had to pay out of pocket health insurance, etc. etc, in the end, accumulating way more than $4,000 worth of debt including school loans. Trial and tribulation that some close friends didn't even know about until it was casually brought up in conversation THIS summer. The average American household debt is $7,000! so this girl is ahead of the curve!

In her email, she discusses her discipline in finally being able to save and INVEST money! Hi, I would have loved to have had the privilege over the years to invest money, but instead, I was too busy paying down my debt and trying to live from paycheck to paycheck! Okay, that's all I can say for now. Need to do deep breathing exercises and think positive thoughts. I can only hope that this girl is actually not serious, and instead, this is all a social experiment. That being a migrant farmer on organic farms is a cover for the secret psychology masters she's getting. I mean, she's taking money away from the Mexicans! Perhaps she should put that college education and obviously decent writing skills to better use..

Long Sunday

Today I went to the beach, Spring Lake, NJ with some friends, my sister and my friend's family. We had a ton of fun but the water had a very strong current. The lifeguards even put up a yellow flag indicating caution when going into the water. After a significant amount of ocean time, we chilled on the sand. At some point, my sister noticed a line of people crowded by the shore line. We gathered the crowd and found out quickly that apparently an older man with epilepsy had gone missing. The lifeguards at every station, were combing the water, hand in hand, looking for the body. We walked up in the direction of the tide, contemplating the situation, having trouble understanding how someone could go missing in a the sea, but among a sea of people. Wondering how the lifeguards must have felt. How the family must have felt. And how interesting as to how quickly the news traveled. And how EVERYONE had stopped what they were doing and was intensely watching the lifeguards.
Finally, we looked back towards the direction from whence we came and noticed a more concentrated, circular crowd. They had found the body. My sister and her friend later told me the body was caught near the rocks. As human nature tends to take over, we all quickened our pace towards the growing crowd and watched as lifeguards attempted to resuscitate the man despite him having been gone for over a half hour. The young lifeguards, hopefully seeing their first and last death, held up towels to block the body from the spectators. After about twenty minutes, they finally carried him on a board, covered in towels towards the awaiting ambulance. But his stiff, lifeless feet stuck out from under the towels, like a poetic reminder of what happened despite the lifeguards attempts to shield us from his death.

First Shots with the Canon

I'm at home in NJ. Not much going on as far as subjects go so I'll have to go with a little kitty porn. And the sis... i.e. annoyingly more photogenic sis. Grrrr. You can tell that Lola is really loving life. She makes everything she does look sexy. Mischief is sort of giving me that, "bitch, whatchyou doin with that camera in my face when I'm trying to take a nap. You come and closer and I'll lay the smack down on you."

I Entertain Myself

Tonight, I'm going to my parent's house for various reasons and decided to take my computer. So at my apartment, I don't have a desk. Instead, I've been using my college yearbook as a flat service, and keeping my laptop on that. Because I tend to carry them as one unit, I accidentally packed my yearbook with my computer. Aha, no wonder why it was so heavy. Grrr.

Kevin Cosner

OMG. My coworker looks exactly like Kevin Cosner. I can't believe I didn't see it before..
We successfully managed to distract him yesterday during volleyball with comments like, "this ain't no field of dreams" and "where's your tin cup?" and "give me that wolf dance." If only I had known of more iconic K.C. movies off the top of my head.

Best Line Ever

And I forgot about the funniest lines I heard all night. Went to Pug Uglies to start off the night on 3rd ave and 20th. It's a divey bar with shuffle board. There was this crazy woman that kept talking to all of us and she was very passionate about each and every one of us. i.e. told my coworker she's destined for something bigger (she is..), my other coworker that if she were a lesbian, she'd keep her and make sure she lived well, told me she knew I had designed jewelry (I have). And so we all thought she had some interesting insight into our souls and future. Until I asked my extremely mild-mannered, soft spoken, kind coworker what she said about him.

He responds, completely deadpanned, "She said I come from a long line of gangsters."

FUNNESS

Yesterday was too fun. Rocked the volleyball, rocked the scrabble and later on, rocked the karaoke. I'm not going to try and say I'm good at anything I put my mind to.. but yeah. So much fun. I love my coworkers! We all know how to have a good time, and of course buckle down when needed.

company outing

Today I'll be wandering and pondering in *gasp.. Staten Island at our company outing. Will return to your regularly scheduled program this evening or tomorrow. Happy almost Friday!

Freakin Brilliant- 16 Handles - Frozen Yogurt

After yoga, was trying to find a milk shake so I could bring all the boys to the yard. Sorry, couldn't resist. After waiting forever at Max Brenner only to find out the milk shakes were an absurd $7 and probably 1,000 calories, I decided to check out yet another frozen yogurt place. 16 Handles. Brilliant. Instead of having to choose between one flavor and practically a dollar per topping- i.e. 3 delicately placed raspberries that inevitably fall off the yogurt and out of the cup,- you get to serve yourself. Mix and match yogurt flavors. Spoon in exactly 1 blackberry, 2 spoonfuls of crushed oreos, granola, whatever- no judgement. My heart's desire costs less than $5, beating PinkBerries hefty price with a shorter line.

hmmmm

Are You a Compulsive Overeater?

Welcome to Overeaters Anonymous. This series of questions may help you determine if you are a compulsive overeater.

1. Do you eat when you're not hungry? YES
   
2. Do you go on eating binges for no apparent reason? YES
   
3. Do you have feelings of guilt and remorse after overeating? YES
   
4. Do you give too much time and thought to food? YES
   
5. Do you look forward with pleasure and anticipation to the time when you can eat alone? NO
   
6. Do you plan these secret binges ahead of time? NO
   
7. Do you eat sensibly before others and make up for it alone? NO (I have no shame)
   
8. Is your weight affecting the way you live your life? NO
   
9. Have you tried to diet for a week (or longer), only to fall short of your goal? YES
   
10. Do you resent others telling you to "use a little willpower" to stop overeating? YES
    
11. Despite evidence to the contrary, have you continued to assert that you can diet "on your own" whenever you wish? NO
    
12. Do you crave to eat at a definite time, day or night, other than mealtime? YES
    
13. Do you eat to escape from worries or trouble? NO
    
14. Have you ever been treated for obesity or a food-related condition? NO
    
15. Does your eating behavior make you or others unhappy? NO
    

Thank God

Met Colin Farrell once and he was definitely a nice, caring guy. Doesn't surprise me. It's unfortunate he's had so many problems and is labeled as a wild guy.

That Just Looks Painful.. But Liberating.

Who's next?

A Cat After my Own Heart

Million Dollar Listings

Just watched about 2 hours of Million Dollar Listings while I figured out the whole technorati thing and made a way too garlicy dinner. The show is sort of addicting and I guess it's always inspiring to watch young people become successful. Yeah, not one of those people who resent success. But.. I don't get why all the guys look like such super tools. I mean the bowl haircut??! You've got to be kidding. And why do they have to be all guys? More specifically all guys who grew up insanely wealthy. One thing is clear, they don't really DO much to make their money. Yes, they work during the weekends and are pretty much on call, but most people on Wall Street put in more hours and make less money than these tender 25 year olds. That's my gripe but I guess the producers are trying to paint a certain type of picture of this exclusive group of people.

Canon EOS 40D

Holy crap. I just bought a Canon EOS 40D today. Kind of freaked me out to spend that kind of money but it will definitely be a great investment. I basically researched DSLR cameras for about 3 months and here's what I concluded so if ya'll are in the market, you don't have to do the research. You just have to take my word for it.

I first had to have some idea of how much I wanted to spend (just like in The New York Time's "The Hunt" I ended up spending way more than originally intended) more than $600. I looked into buying a used camera which probably would have been okay, but a few people told me you can't really look into the mechanics of a used digital to see if it was in perfect working condition.

Next, the big Canon vs. Nikon debate. I tossed and turned over this, drove the guys at B&H nuts and one guy at Adorama obnoxiously told me to flip a coin. Most said it's all about how each camera feels. Great.. the Nikon and Canon booths were across the store from each other and I couldn't compare them side by side. And from what I remember, they felt pretty much the same. The Nikon guy convinced me Nikon lenses are historically known to be better, but I met more people passionate about Canons. Seemed everywhere I looked, people were rocking the Canons. And B&H closes at 7 during the week which meant I'd haul ass all the way over to 33rd and 9th Avenue only to walk out completely confused and undecided.

Eureka- last week I decided on the Canon. Okay, so I narrowed it down to 3 cameras- the "amateur" Rebel Xti, Canon EOS 30D and Canon EOS 40D. Both the Rebel and 30D were obviously more in my price range but the Rebel's manual features were not completely intuitive, the body not as durable and it was still considered an amateur camera. On the plus side, it's known for being a fantastic camera and came out this year, meaning it's equipped with the latest technology such as automatic sensor cleaning. The 30D has bee touted as a fantastic camera, considered "pro-amateur," and better than the Rebel despite being 2 years old and not having the sensor cleaning. And.. as you can imagine, the 40D has it all. That and my dad believing in it as an investment. No pressure.. So by next week, there will be a serious upgrade in my photos. Hopefully my skillz will be up to par.

At the checkout counter, I of course attempted to charm the sales guy with tales of my search in the hopes of some secret discount. No luck with the discount but he did confirm I made the right decision- that the Nikon camera on par with the 40D would be 90D which doesn't even exist yet (they're only up to 80D)! And final, most important tip-- be sure to have your camera shipped somewhere out of state if convenient. You don't have to pay sales tax and with such an obviously big purchase, that means saving some serious dough.

Spinning

I think the cute guy that was in my spinning class last just winked at me on Match.com. I still have an account from back in the day but it's not activated. I'm really curious about this but definitely not curious enough to go back on match for 3 months and drop around $70. Hmmnm.. mystery continues. In other news, my spinning teacher is breaking up our 7:30 Monday night family. He's teaching an earlier class at 6:15 but then another one all the way in the West Village on Thursdays. I suppose if I can make both of those classes, it will be better for me in the long run. But yeah, Monday nights are such a staple. Helps put my entire week on track. On the bright side, I'll no longer have trouble sleeping from my continued adrenaline rush Monday nights.

Wall O' Shoes

Yes folks, this is my wall o' shoes. Sadly, I probably only regularly wear about 10 pairs and one of them is being fixed. Still not brave enough to wear the light pink, metallic strappy sandals that I bought 3 years ago to wear at a Gen Arts event and haven't worn since. Too painful. And still can't bring myself to get rid of the top, red with gold ring sandals that I never wear. It's hard to match red and yet I own 5 pairs of red shoes.. And wedges look comfy but I've had to do deep breathing exercises to handle the end of the night pain, walking up my apartment steps. I pose this question to my readers (ladies)- how many pairs of shoes do you own? How many are broken? How many do you actually wear regularly? Any why does shoe shopping never get old?

Cheesy

Why must my coworker have a jar full of cheese puffs in his office.

Celebrity Sighting

Saw Blake Lively outside of Veselka today during brunch. She's completely gorgeous, not overly skinny, seemed friendly and I have a girl crush. More importantly, can't believe this is my first time going to Veselka for brunch. Was soo good.

Holy Crap- just IMDB'd Blake Lively cause I couldn't figure out who her boyfriend was.. and learned that she's the sister of Robyn Lively- from 80's flick "Teen Witch" fame. Best movie ever!!! Top that!

Another Insanely Crazy Night

Last night I went to Union Pool with a coworker. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be but maybe we were too early. It was super chill and probably a good place to go to catch up with friends. But wasn't feeling the whole outside, people smoking next to you, super hipster, guys that looked dirtyish-vibe. Plus I was pretty much the only one wearing heels. So I convinced my coworker to check out my beloved Solas on 9th btw 2nd and 3rd. Needless to say, it wasn't her scene and she left around 1. Not one to call it an early Saturday night, I proceeded to text everyone I knew to try and convince them to head over, but had no luck. Was just about to leave when some Irish guys called me over... then after introductions were made and I realized they were all about 22, they left. Went to get water and was about to leave for a second time when my bartender gave me a free drink. Not one to turn down a free drink, I decided to stay, he introduced me to another "regular" - very cool girl who has known my bartender for years.

We danced with some guys and unfortunately, the one I was with was completely slimy and all over me. Finally, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and ran back to my bartender. Minutes later, my new friend (whose name I have forgotten) noticed he was trying to make out with some poor, unsuspecting girl. Before we could stop it, he got to her, stuck his tongue down her throat and left. I went over and she was freaking out, noting that that's about a minute of her life she could never get back. The perils of being a woman.

I finally got to know a little bit more about my hot Scottish bartender. Like that he lives a block away from me on the North side of the street whereas I'm on the South side. When I told him where I lived, he smiled and exclaimed that I must be the long haired brunette always walking around naked with the nice rack. I proceeded to completely freak out for a full five minutes, flabbergasted that this guy has been seeing me naked for over a year now. All this time.. to which he finally lets me off the hook and tells me he actually lives further west, not directly behind me. Phew. My curtains are now closed..

Another Squirrel Post

While walking through Washington Square Park, I saw a squirrel with an entire cinnamon bun in his mouth. It was hysterical, and about half the size of the squirrel.

I am a well oiled machine.

Irish Vampire?

So kid pictured above was hanging with the big boys in the big city. I think he's about 22 and his brother is friends with all the guys I met last night. They wanted to show him a big time. Note red mark at bottom of cheek. Why yes, that is a hickey. Apparently some drunk Irish girl was all over him like an animal...

Hahahaha

Not to sound like an immature teenager (well at heart I am) but my "Preople" rank is 69. hardy har har.

Holy Crap I just realized...

And I continue to strongly dislike my building. They locked the front, front door so people can't even get in to buzz you. I can't believe I just realized that this morning...

Had another crazy night. Was sitting, watching Legally Blonde on TV for the 5th time, almost excited to stay in, when my friend texted me. Asked if I wanted to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Hell yeah, I said. Only problem was that I had 35 minutes to shower, get ready and up to 86th and 3rd. I threw something on knowing that we'd most likely go out afterward. The cab went up first and we somehow did not hit one red light. Knew it was a good indicator of how the night would go. Movie was just as expected- predictable and cheesy but fairly entertaining- my favorite line being "Greek women don't lose their pants."

Post movie, we grabbed a drink and waited for a coworker to meet up. When that didn't happen (phone turned off and drunkeness on his part) I hopped in the subway after hitting up a bank with a $3 fee. Good thing I didn't even use any cash after that..

In an exchange with my coworker before he flipped his phone off, he commented, "what does it matter where we go. You'll probably end up at Solas anyway." So that gave me an idea.. post subway, I headed straight over and figured eventually I could convince my friends to meet me there. Never mind the whole drinking at a bar alone thing.. I'd meet people and could always catch up with my bartender. Right after getting a free drink from my bartender (hey, I paid the last time...) he informs me that so and so in the corner wants to buy my next one and that he's a really good guy... So I go over and talk to him, meet all his friends.. get photographed by some other random patron with the group of guys, do some serious dancing.. long story short, have an amazing time. And get proposed to.... but that's a whole other story.

Kind of restless.. and want to cause trouble tonight. Want to go dancing.

I used up all my good material yesterday. I'm debating if I want to go to Union Pool tonight in Williamsburg or some place in Manhattan.. Thoughts?

Speaking of Natural Beauty

Good for Julia. The Monday after my camping trip, I stayed home at my parent's house and wanted to go shopping. I didn't have any makeup but felt particularly good about my natural face given that I had just spent 3 days in the woods. So I asked my mom if I still looked good au natural... she hesitated and said not so tactfully, "You look better with makeup on." Thanks. I'm trying to embrace my natural (dare I say) beauty, while I still can!

The Next Airline to go Down

My friend just called. He arrived in Utah safely after a 3, layover, last minute flight that only cost him less than $200. Well, I guess you get what you paid for. He took US Air and described it as Greyhound with wings, thankfully without the crazy ax murderer. So apparently it's never a good sign when there's duck-tape on the windows and the AC is broken at a hundred degrees. And the water ain't free. It's $2 and you best have something smaller than a $20 cause they don't got no change. In fact, the flight attendant tried to get away with not giving change back to some lady.

And if the flight itself weren't bad enough, my friend had to check in an hour before the flight. Huh?! At 5am! He said the guy that checked him in was a super guido with a hairy chest and huge jesus cross. Plus the whole line process was completely unorganized.

Now he must contend with being surrounded by an entire city filled with unusually beautiful, healthy and fit people. And someday, he will be a guest writer on my blog!

And We're Back...

Why yes, that would be the royal "we." I was sitting outside next to my favorite cafe having my favorite half curry-chicken sandwich and people-watching on my crazy street. I group of slightly ghetto women were walking, 1 of them with a baby carriage and a son, probably around 7 yrs old. Her friends spotted the porniest porn shop located next to the cafe and loudly proclaimed they wanted to get "those condoms." The young mother tells her friends she can't go in, and beacons her son to come towards her, away from the store, only moments before he walks in. He's confused and thinks he did something wrong so he hesitates to follow her. He finally obeys, she notices me watching the whole scene, and we both look at each other, and burst out laughing.

I love New York.

P.S. The girl across from me during my spinning class was bumping up and down to such an unhealthy extreme that it nearly gave me an epileptic fit... minus the fact that I don't have epilepsy.

Marshmallows!

Did you know that there's something called Marshmallow Root? Do you think it grows next to graham crackers and cocoa beans? Sorry.. low on material today. Your normally scheduled program will be back as soon as something interesting happens.

Purple Shoes!!

It's like these shoes were made for me. Aldo designers please remove yourself from my brain!

Symphonics Live, Saturday, September 6th

I just purchased two tickets to the next Symphonics Show. I don't doubt that they will sell out. I think this will be my 7th show and they've all been amazing and inspiring. I'll try and find out more about the lineup but so far I know Annekei will be performing. Hey, Mr. Symphonics- does that talented young lady have a record contract in the US yet?? Next question is who to bring..

You can purchase tickets HERE

What People Want

I find it comforting to know that popular searches that lead to my blog are Montauk Monster and squirrel porn. Even more comforting to know that there are actually other websites that come up before mine under squirrel porn.

memories

The Great Camera Debate

Went to B&H with my pops today. Didn't realize it closed at 7. Jeeze. Still can't decide between the Canon and the Nikon. Through all my research, I've learned that one brand isn't really better than another, just whatever your preference is. So I tried to hold each brand and get a feel for them but they were on opposite sides of the floor so I couldn't really do a side by side comparison. Then even if I narrowed it down to the Canon, couldn't decide between the very new Rebel Xti that's technically considered an amateur camera vs. the 30D that's older but considered "pro amateur." I'm going to hit up Adorama during lunch even though the guys there are sort of mean. Basically everyone's telling me to flip a coin. Hard to do when you're about to drop around $600-800.

Cupcakes Continued

Why yes, I did have a cupcake for dinner. I wanted to sweeten myself up for my yoga teacher cause I know that's what she likes. Forshiizzzzle.

Boobies, Burlesque and Cupcakes?

Went to a Bust party at the South Street Seaport at the invite of a friend. I thought, what the hell, this could be interesting. Could have sworn seeing a reference on the invite to cupcakes, but alas we could find none. In place of cupcakes, there were lots of lesbians. Not lipstick lesbians. Well.. okay, some. But yeah, the excitement of being surrounded by flannel-clad lesbians just doesn't compare to the excitement of free cupcakes. Was a hiccup in my cupcake dreams..

A text transcript from the night:

ME: I am surrounded by lesbians and burlesque dancers.
BOY #1: You take wandering and pondering to a whole new level!!
BOY #2: Can I go? Yo, new phone, who is this so I can save the #?
ME to Boy #2: The one and only ...
BOY #2: Haha, who else but you has such luck. Make me proud.
ME: They ain't no lipstick lesbians. Boobies and flannel.

Coffee Shop Hair

It's almost like I'm twittering. I had an absolutely lovely evening having coffee and a cookie with a new friend. But now my hair smells like coffee. Coffee = pleasant smell. In the hair = not so much.

White Powdery Substance

Someone dropped a white, powdery substance on the stairs in my building. I'm just going to throw this out there. I could have coke at the bottom of my boots. Um, that is assuming that a bunch of drug lords live in my ghetto building. Yeah, okay. What was I thinking. Not a chance. I never tried to deny my wild imagination.

Mind is Wandering and I'm Pondering

As usual, my spinning class has pumped a significant amount of adrenaline through my veins making it hard for me to even think about sleep at the moment. Because I couldn't find any jigzone.com puzzles I liked to entertain me and quiet my mind and haven't really gotten into "Emma" yet, I'm left stressing about the things I always stress about. Okay, here it goes. Here's when my blog is less of a source of entertainment for some, and more of an actual journal for me. This part = kind of scary because while I'm a fairly open, extroverted person, I don't always feel comfortable broadcasting the not so funny, what's really on my mind.

1. Must decide between taking an uber expensive class at School of Visual Arts or International Center of Photography.
2. Must figure out how I'm going to afford to pay for this class plus an $800 DSLR.
3. Must finally get into the habit of bringing in my lunch everyday and living on $10 or less a day.
4. And.. I start getting inspired and going in all types of directions. I thank god for my varied interests and dare I say, talents, but sometimes needing to focus on just one can be quite a burden. In fact, the stress of trying to figure out which one to pick usually leaves me focusing on non of them.
5. Exploring number 4- I'd like to get into writing. Maybe take a class. Maybe finally purchase an actual desk in order to facilitate such writing. While using my laptop on my bed may seem comfy, it's not conducive to actually working. But such class will not be taken until after my fall photography course. And I continue to stress and question. Should I get my Masters? In what? I miss school. But then we come back to big issue always on my mind. MONEY. I'm still trying to financially recover from 18 months of being semi-employed and paying out of pocket health insurance in addition to student loans. Many people live with some serious school loans and debt but I'm determined to pay it off. At the moment, I don't see getting a Masters as a means to increase my pay or further my career. Oh yeah, and learning how to create a website would be cool. And maybe learning how to play guitar.

Okay, so now you see how my mind wanders. It's funny. When you're a kid, your parents and teachers try to get you to explore all different activities, hoping you'll find one you love. I loved them all. I'm eternally grateful to my parents. They gave me ice skating lessons. Arts and crafts, drawing, encouraged me to play sports, perform in musicals and sing in the choir. And now I miss creating jewelry (don't have the space), would love to be in a musical if I had the time but now you've sort of got to be a professional, always wondered if I do actually have a good voice, and constantly wonder if I should have used my drawing skills more directly in my job.

Yeah. So I have a tendency to over think things. Good night!

Extreme Recycling

In other news, don't let that fall air fool you. Summer 2007 is back with vengeance. At least for me. While stepping out of my building for lunch, ran into someone I used to sort of work with. Was tough being reminded of something I'm no longer a part of but I definitely love what I do now and the people I work with. So let's recap shall we.
1. Ran into boy on the subway I used to briefly date. CHECK
2. Ran into boy I went on one date with while on the street. CHECK
3. Went on date with boy I used to date. CHECK
4. Having lunch with college best friend who I haven't seen in years. CHECK

yes folks. Everything old is new again. Shiny, happy and new. Or at least I'm shiny and happy.

Workin It

Holy Crap. Spinning was an hour today, and no warning either. Around 8:10 when he told us we had another 20 minutes we thought he was joking. Unfortunately the cute, new boy spinning across from me who could be either gay or only 22 was not enough motivation for me to work hard through my pain. On the bright side, it's possible that according to Self.com, I burned about 820 calories. But on the dark? side, I got a "Recovery Shake" because without it, I wouldn't have been able to walk all the way to my bank and back.

Oh yeah, so I really need to make some extra money on the side. I know what you're thinking. Drugs and prostitution is out. That's like, so last year. Any ideas? I don't know when I'll be able to actually work unless I give up one of my favorite gym classes or finally get a hold of some ADHD medication and churn out my pending novel.

Egg Head

Despite having cereal for breakfast, I have a severe craving for a sumptuous omelet or cheesy scrambled eggs. This is a first. I don't even want to mention how much I miss pasta.

Friday Night Pictures

Some pics I took on Friday night while on the Brooklyn Promenade. Coincidentally, I spent a lot of time near the East River this weekend. Saturday afternoon I took a short jog along the river from around East 10th street to the Williamsburg Bridge. At some point I stopped at the water and contemplated how hard it would be to kayak or canoe in the East River, not to mention gross. Then on Saturday night, after having dinner with friends, we walked to the park on 86th street and sat on the benches, talking and looking at the river. I suppose I should take a quick run to the river right now to round out my weekend. Or to some it up, I spent a significant amount of time WANDERING and PONDERING near the East River.

Instead of more East River adventures, I saw "Mama Mia" today with a friend- movie with lots of water and walked home in the rain. I 'm sure there's some of the East River in the rain right? It was obviously a campy, cheesy movie. You need to be with that to enjoy it. Hell yeah, I enjoyed it. I also found it somewhat empowering to women- that it was okay she slept with three guys within a few days. Hey, sometimes you can just be on fire right? And happen to meet a few "right guys" within a short time period. For the record, I have not done this but I suppose if I were to have a Greek island adventure and happen to meet 3 handsome guys that all swept me off my feet.. I'd um, use a condom! Also loved the lyrics to ABBA's Dancing Queen. Never really listened to them but could relate to just wanting to dance. Anyone will do.. it's all about dancing. I am a dancing queen and once in the groove, it's not about who I'm dancing with. It's about dancing with people who can keep up and definitely not a means to hook up with that person.

So that sums up my slightly adventurous, slightly lazy weekend. Was going to drag my laptop to a cafe and start writing my novel.. but couldn't resist taking a short nap while there was finally a cold breeze coming through my window. Short nap turned into an hour. Which turned into dinner time. Which turned into 7pm on a Sunday hard to convince myself to leave my apartment..

Perfect Cappuccino

Yesterday this cup contained the perfect cappuccino. Not sure if it's cause I haven't had one in a looong time. But I highly recommend Abraco. It rivals Mudd Coffee although I enjoy seeing the young, cute, hippie boys of the Mudd Truck first thing in the morning.

Booooo

I'm so bummed. Was planning on going to B&H tomorrow to finally buy a DSLR but just checked the hours (thank god) and it turns out it's closed for some obscure Jewish holiday. So bummed. I should have figured that out. A remember my friend mentioning his friend wasn't going out tonight for some sort of sad jew holiday. Figures. Now that I actually did my laundry today, I pretty much have nothing I need to do tomorrow. No reason to wake up a reasonable hour. So it will be one of those odd times that I wake up relatively early, not remotely hung over, with nothing I need to do. I need a hobby.

Saturday Night!

Just got home from dinner and a long walk with some friends, two of which I haven't seen in a loong time. Was lovely. And also really nice to sort of half stay in. I'm finally seeing Napolean Dynamite. Anyway, on my way home- 6 train, I have to admit I couldn't stop looking over at this girls insane cleavage. Like not the fake boob kind but she didn't realize her shirt was sort of pulled down. She was very short, and a tiny bit plump, and her vast amount of cleavage reminded me of a girl depicted a 19th century painting. I'm a perv and lesbo. What can I say.

Shananagans

It's like summer 2007 with a twist and a year of wisdom. Favorite quote of the night and don't mean to sound narcissistic. t'was a joke on his part.

"It's your world. We get to live around it."

Although I suppose that can be true for anyone unless you're not really living or living vicariously through someone else. I would not fall under either of those categories. I tend to live to the extreme and it was pointed out that I'm an entertainer. I realize I do things that can perhaps be harmful to myself or others for the sake of entertainment. I've even been known to continue bad relationships and friendships, oddly enough for their entertainment value. So as they used to say on "You can't do that on television" don't encourage her..

But to each their own right. And recognizing the problem is the first step.

Anyway.. Was one of those cold summer nights where I get excited about the fall. Sort of a reminder of what it feels like to be cold while outside. Alls I gots to say is "Brooklyn yo." Some good conversating. Knowledge and wisdom. The promenade. But I don't really get the waterfall.

And I suppose I'll share another valuable quote or mantra that I need to constantly remind myself; "People will treat you as badly as you let them, or as good as you demand they treat you."

And.. okay, now I may be getting a little too deep and perhaps may not relay this as well as I could. But I agree with someone about the idea of relationships and the idea of souls sort of meant to find each other. It doesn't have to be in the extreme sense of soul mates, but there's definitely something to be said about meeting someone for the first time and having an instant rapport. Someone who you may have nothing essentially in common with but have an understanding or similar values. Like you knew them in a past life. On that note, sweet dreams and happy trails.

Ha Ha Ha

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/08/pot.eradication/index.html

Just legalize it already. The government wastes way too much time and money dealing with the trafficking and sale of weed. How is it any different or less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes? Our resources are better off attacking bigger problems.

Why are men so confusing? Confused.

In other news- all I want to do is dance or go running. Why can't they have lunchtime dance parties? Why can't my favorite spinning teacher teach Thursday spin classes? Why did I drink so much coffee this morning? Why do I have so much energy? When am I going to get diagnosed with ADHD? Me = hyper + happy + inspired. I need to take a dance class.

I'm a Gangsta

"The Grind Date" by De La Soul.

Friday!!!!!!

was all excited to go this spinning class I haven't been to in a while. In fact, I skipped a photography cocktail hour thing cause I was so dedicated to working out. Instead, there was a sub that I can't stand. She always seems to pick the worse subs but I guess it's all personal preference. Once you get used to someone's style, it's hard to try someone new. So I skipped the class and lifted instead. Hopefully it's muscle weight. My inner thighs and legs still hurt from the leg presses on Saturday and super yoga on Tuesday. I need to go for a long run.

Note To Self

Don't talk to guys who have no respect for women or severe anger against all women. People that keep referencing the double standard, how all girls are sluts and my favorite angry quote, anger that makes no sense and is unwarranted "Its girls like u who are the reason no one respects women - because u further the double standard."

Huh??? Does anyone get that? Who says no one respects women?? Where in god's name does that come from? And what could I have possibly done to perpetuate the double standard? Every woman is entitled to make her own decisions. This guy needs a punching bag and it ain't going to be me.

http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/

A Hysterically Brilliant Forward

A Spanish language teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish,
unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."

"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz.."

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two
groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether
"computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the
feminine gender ("la computadora"), because: 1. No one but their creator
understands their internal logic; 2. The native language they use to
communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for
possible later retrieval; and 4. As soon as you make a commitment to
one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for
it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine
("el computador"), because: 1. In order to do anything with them, you
have to turn them on; 2. They have a lot of data but still can't think
for themselves; 3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but
half the time they ARE the problem; and 4. As soon as you commit to one,
you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have
gotten a better model.

The women WON

Sneaky Credit Cards

I recently noticed that my credit card payment due date slowly went from the 23rd of each month to the 17th of each month. Sneaky. I don't doubt that this is an attempt to mess me up and cause me to be late, thus bringing my interest from my current 4% (yeah, I rock) to whatever evil interest rate they have in mind. Good thing I don't let anything go to automatic payments. I want to save paper and all but will not enroll in a paperless statement for this reason. Anyway, I called and had them change it to the 24th of each month.

Okay, so I have a decent amount of credit card debt thanks to paying out of pocket (COBRA) health insurance for 18 months and being semi employed for the same amount of time. But I've become the master of paying down credit card debt, taking advantage of balance transfers, etc. And what I've learned is that in some cases (maybe because I have such a large balance) we have lots of power as consumers. i.e. you can ask a credit card company to lower your interest rate simply by telling them a competitor offers a better deal. I even saved about $12 a month on my cable/ internet bill by telling them what my parents paid even though technically Optimum Online isn't a competitor of Time Warner. And when all else fails, ask to be transferred to the retentions department. The last thing any of these companies want is to lose your business. In life, everything is negotiable.

A Little Romance

Okay so I've become obsessed with some mellow music.

All I want to do is hang out at a cabin in the woods, with a book, and preferably a guy.. The kind of guy that I can spend hours talking with. A sketchbook, some colored pencils, inspiration, and some music. And I want our play list to consist of these songs/ artists/ albums as we quietly hang out, listening to the summer rain hitting the windows, appreciating the cool breezes that come through the open windows. And discussing life and the world. I just came back from an intense 90 minutes of Ashtanga Yoga, so what do you expect? But seriously, if you ever wanted to know who I really am and a road map as to what I like- there it is. That sums it up. At least the quiet, introspective side of me- the person I am when I'm not working or out and about.

José González "Teardrop"
José González "Heartbeats"
Zero 7 "The Garden"
Tracy Chapman "New Beginning"
Dana Parish
Imogen Heap "Hide and Seek" (MOST BEAUTIFUL SONG EVER)
Indie.Arie
Alicia Keys
Yael Naim
Coldplay
Corinne Bailey Rae
Norah Jones
Postal Service
Sade
"I Hope" by the Dixie Chicks
"Without You," by Christina Aguilera

and guys, if you want to get a girl naked, while being smooth, subtle and romantic, warm her up with Ne-Yo's "Go To Sleep." "So Sick of Love Songs" is good too but it's about the end of a relationship so not so good.

Keep me posted. Let me know how it goes. It's not about the end result, but the journey.

Ew Gross

Forgive me if you've just woken up and read my blog. But the downstairs hallway of my building smells like someone died and their decaying body leaked vomit and piss as it was dragged across the floor. This is why I need to move. But not to the Upper East Side.

Blech

I'm totally annoyed. My perfectly good salad was completely ruined because the guy put on way too much dressing. What was he thinking? At least it was "low fat." Blech. And my legs still hurt like a mo fo from doing thigh presses on Saturday. I guess I'm a lot weaker than I thought.

Funny Quotes

My sister told me this the other day. Apparently she was making out with some guy on New Years, hey-- that's what New Years are for. She was outside, and all of a sudden started throwing up. So she says to the guy "That was my cue to leave." And then walked away. I guess that beats me throwing up in the back seat of a cab (in a bag) while my ex made sure I got home okay. So we both spent New Years day barfing.

And quote from my spinning teacher today. "I bet you're a guy magnet [I wish]. You have this innocent face and this hot body." I told him he should meet my sister. Thanks mom. I believe our bodies come from our Jewish side.

My Office/ Insiration

Music I'm Currently Obsessed With

Dana Parish - Got an advanced copy of her album at the last Symphonics Live and her CD isn't long enough!

Just downloaded two albums by José González and I can't stop listening to them- "In Out Nature" and "Veneer." He also played with Zero 7 on "The Garden." If I actually smoked week, these would be the perfect CDs to listen. He's very mellow, melodic, beautiful, simple guitar and perfect for listening to while at work, browsing photographers.

I also threw on all my old Dave Matthews into a playlist and have Lauryn Hill but it pains me that she hasn't produced another album.

And I'll always love Indie.Arie and pretty much all of Alicia Keys. Also can't wait to see Rufus Wainwright in concert again although I have no idea when that will be. Honestly, one of the reasons I got home to my parent's house in NJ is so I can drive, blast music and sing in the car. I need an outlet for my singing. I'd love to go to a party where people sit around, sing and play guitar like in "Once." Singing with my iPod while walking in the city just doesn't cut it for me. Can't be looking like a crazy person.

Freaking Out

On Saturday, I went to my parent's house to get a bridesmaids dress shortened. The wedding is Labor Day weekend. As per previous posts, I've been trying to lose weight for hmm.. the last ten years! But more specifically at least ten pounds for this event but can't seem to get focused. There was once a time when I was super healthy, motivated and had will power when it came to resisting sweets and unhealthy foods. But for some reason a few years ago, I fell into this other school of thought that you only live once, and might as well indulge. I don't know where that idea came from and I don't think it's a good rational. I'll always be able to eat a nice piece of birthday cake, chocolate chip cookie, etc. Life is full of possibilities and there will be other opportunities to indulge. So I need to get back to being focused.

So I can barely breathe in the dress. My stupid plan to get a smaller size in order to motivate me was just plane stupid. Maybe it would have worked if the dress were at my apartment as a reminder.. anyway, now I'm freaked out. I have 3 weeks to absolutely lose five pounds. I don't even think that's possible. I guess I can do push ups, etc. as well as give up sweets and maybe even carbs completely. Oh yeah, and drinking? Oy vey. Meanwhile, as of now- this week I may go out to dinner Tuesday, have a dinner and birthday party on Wednesday night, a work event Thursday and who knows what the weekend will bring. Wish me luck.

Brooklyn YO

Today I dragged myself out of my apartment. Should have done it earlier cause it was a beautiful day, and went to the Brooklyn Flea Market in Fort Greene. The flea market was okay. Good people watching. It was a bit too hot and I tried to take pictures but my old camera is sort of messed up. Oh, and I ruined an entire roll of film cause somehow the film detached from the canister while I was rewinding it. Dude, I need money to buy a DSLR!

After the flea market, I used a subway map and somehow managed to figure out how to walk to Brooklyn Heights. Was the perfect day for a long walk and interesting to walk through the various neighborhoods- from brownstones and hipster haven at the market to hip, upscale black, stores, to completely black neighborhoods filled with discount stores, to the wealth of Brooklyn Heights and Montague street. Felt like I got decent exercise and was a good alternative to attempting to run in Central Park while hung over. I sat at the Promenade and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and got some nice, graphic shots with my old school Pentax. Then made a healthy dinner and vegged out to Princess Diaries II. Man, drinking takes so much out of me. As usual, need to cut back.

The Upper East Side

Last night I was going to go to my favorite bar that I sort of forgot existed- Uncle Ming's but instead went to the Upper East Side. I got this new tight, black and very short dress at Nordstrom's yesterday and didn't really do the walk test. It was sort of painful.. riding up and my ass nearly hung out. Plus I had to walk more than I usually do- to the 6 train and then from 86th to 91st and 2nd avenue. My favorite line was this guy who was like, "you're so gorgeous. Can I just give you a hug, 1 hug that I'll remember for the rest of my life. And I won't press hard."

Anyway, we ended up going to Brother Jimmy's, Mad River and Dorian's. Yeah, I'm definitely not moving to the Upper East Side anytime soon. I still need to find a new neighborhood to go out in that's not a college crowd but it ain't that. I'm thinking it's probably going to be Brooklyn. So Brother Jimmy's was insanely crowded. Mad River wasn't as crowded as usual and it was hard to dance with my ass hanging out. And then a part of me died when we went to Dorian's. I didn't know that that many super WASPS existed outside of Connecticut. I'm seriously disturbed. I sort of want to go back through cause it's interesting to people watch. I wasn't sure if I was white enough. I was afraid someone would figure out I was half Jewish and kick me out. Then again, I was with two Korean girls from Hawaii, a black girl who's going to Harvard in the fall for grad school and a not so waspy blond chic. So I had to go to Solas afterward to feel normal again and I didn't go to sleep until very late.

Wow, that Montauk Monster was a hit. Why is my blog the 6th thing that pops up when googling that. And why do I have 4 pairs of red shoes? And three pairs of gold shoes and that's just my Spring/Summer shoes.. ?

Montauk Monster

Dude.. what the hell is that thing? I can't stop looking at the pictures! My guess is it's a pit bull or some other sort of dog. I can't believe they haven't figured out what it is yet..

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/31/moos.montauk.monster.cnn