travails in nyc

2008-11-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

i feel like this blog should be retired. after all, i'm not in nyc anymore - as much as it pains me to admit it. i've been harboring some resentment towards the suburban spread i've found myself in, and have somehow (!!) become so incredible irritated with the lack of the urban lifestyle that i greatly prefer, be it in boston or nyc or some other as yet unknown city.

i was excited about moving back here. and now, i can only hope to be leaving soon.

so maybe it's time for a new beginning.

2008-05-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

i'm wearing a fitted shirt dress with a bold print on it today. it makes me vaguely uncomfortable in it's glaring non-blackness.

so to rectify that, i'm wearing a sweater over it. guess what color it is.

it's weird to be back in ny - when i was in dc, it felt strangely off balance and while i knew i was moving back in a little over a month, it doesn't really feel like it.

i'd like to ponder the weather and fitted dresses and other such lofty minded ideals - but sadly i have to go back to work.

oh well.

2008-05-12T18:28:00.001-07:00

i let another one walk by me today.

i'm not good at this game.

2008-03-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

so yesterday was filled with this:

which was lovely and relaxing. it's nice to finally be social after weeks of being completely immersed with work, but i've learned that balance helps with the perspective. i realized that i'm in danger of forgetting what not living eating and breathing the un is like, so much so, that i feel a bit like a deer in the headlights when people invariably ask many questions about what i do when they discover where i work. i think that many of my answers may seem vague due to much of it not being public info, unease at the strange intensity, and disuse of common social abilities. either that or a rote psa for the hlm in june. see, acronyms, the un is in love with them, and i have clearly drank the koolaid.

so today, i decided that my thesis type monstrosity is not going to write itself, much to my continued dismay.

i traveled to the upper west - where i discovered that i have very bad luck with finding empty seats in crowded coffee shops, but i do think that p&w makes the best cappuccino i have had stateside.

p&w sandwich shop - btwn w110 and w111 on amsterdam

so i took my cappuccino and traversed to teachers college - part of columbia - where i spent several hours in a large room filled with long wooden tables and comfy couches happily immersed in reading and writing whilst listening to beirut.

my view - clearly taken after i spent a couple hours settling in.

i've discovered, quite surprisingly since the last couple weeks have been hard, that i'm really happy here. i finally feel settled in at work. finally. it's taken forever, or what has seemed like forever. i realize that i have unrealistic standards for how fast i expect to learn (everything) but that doesn't mean i ever change my expectations. ha.

being in nyc has forced me to engage. really truly engage. in walking down the street to the work i do for hours everyday into the night and in the way i view myself, my future, and my goals. there are challenges in every direction and countless opportunities for change and growth. i've learned to relax a bit and to not be so concerned with what happens next. i've found it smothers the ability to act and keeps me stagnant and overly worried. it's interesting. i'm even starting to like the city. i didn't move here expecting to fall in love with it or with any real expectations of liking it here. i knew it was an opportunity i couldn't turn down, but i definitely had several times where i wondered if i had made a huge mistake.

but as of today, so far - it gets better everyday.

2008-03-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

my saturday:
i consider my options. stay home after going out to evelyn lounge with the roomies friday night and somehow not paying for anything.

or..
dimsum in chinatown with catherine etal

followed by..
a walk across the manhattan bridge
looking to brooklyn

overall -

a beautiful day in nyc with good people, good food, topped by random flurries.

2008-02-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

Quotes of the week:

Always bear in mind that our own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
– Abraham Lincoln
(from my dad's signature part of his emails)

More than aptitude, attitude takes you to altitude.
- Bunmi, taken from Michel, taken from anon
(during a meeting where it was stressed to me that it is best to not worry so much about what happens next)

2008-02-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

new favorite boots
bought somewhere on 3rd ave by e 103rd

2008-02-29T07:46:00.000-08:00

Staff Retreat - 19-21 feb

the lunchboxes the hotel made for us for our midday trip back to ny

c'est la vie

2008-02-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

the view out the window as i procrastinate further..

looking death in the face and laughing*

2008-02-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

oh dead mouse.
how glad we are that you are gone.
we wish our mop's smell absorbing powers
had been used on something
other than your innards.

*quote from elisa

2008-02-18T11:04:00.001-08:00

think - mercer and 3rd
my roomie elisa's creation from a solitary wooden coffee stirrer at think coffeeshop yestereve..

2008-02-17T07:03:00.001-08:00

somewhere near broadway -
a cathedral on my way back to union sq with leslie -

wakey wakey
yoav

amazing shows. all in all, an excellent saturday night.

2008-02-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

88 orchard - orchard and broome

so today will be, must be, filled with work getting done and a show at the mercury lounge later on.. it sounds like an excellent plan - we shall see if it works out the way i hope it will -

2008-02-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

so this is my spanish harlem abode - close to the subway and not far at all from the UN -

clearly, this blog has yet to lose its appeal...

2008-02-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

it's been one of those days when you pour yourself a bit of wine in a cup, take a sip, think "this is complete crap", and continue sipping away..

2008-02-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

i may be one of the few people who will take a picture of their cupcake because the layering formed almost perfect concentric circles that were preserved spatially throughout it.

but it's pretty damn cool, no?

2008-02-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

views from my nook

my current fortune (it reads: it is sometimes better to travel hopefully than to arrive")

2008-02-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

E 41st and Madison

2008-02-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

Cathedral @

W 110 & Amsterdam