Here's An Epiphany

I finally got my Christmas present from last year... a guitar. I'm trying to re-hone any skills I may have had before, and then develop the vast skills I need to be able to play in the subways here. It's such a weird goal, but somehow it made it on my bucket list.

When I went to Sam Ash in Midtown, I saw the best guitar everrrrr, it's Taylor... Swift



Isn't it cuteeeee? She's such a guilty pleasure for me, and I thought the guitar had a little bit of character. It was more than I had to spend though.

When I did buy the guitar, I got an Epiphone, and, contrary to popular belief, it is not pronounced "epiphany" ... it's "epa - phone" and the man corrected me and I felt like an idiot and lol'ed about it to myself. White girl problems!

FIREFIGHTERS ♥

Saving the best for last! On Friday at work, I get a text from my girl Kierra telling me that her husband Bobby is flying into NYC for the weekend to run the Stephen Sillers Tunnel to Towers 9/11 Memorial Run. And thus did my dream of being surrounded by firefighters for a weekend begin. Here's the backstory:

I knew OF Bobby in high school, but it wasn't until I was in college, when Bobby and I were paired to co-lead a team of students to build houses in Mexico that I really got to know him. It was awesome! We had a grand time together and became very good friends. It was on the Mexico trip that he told me that he was going to propose to his then-girlfriend Kierra (also affectionately goes by Kiki) that summer. I met Kiki after Mexico, and the rest is history. The first thing I did when I was home from France was go to her and Bobby's wedding. I returned one day, slept all the next, and the third day went to San Clemente to watch them get married on the beach. She and I were bridesmaids together in our friend Alyssa's wedding:



...and it was at this event that I fainted on-stage and Bobby, the EMT and firefighter, came to my rescue. Nights of Rock Band, and plenty of trips to the Shout House in San Diego's Gaslamp has more than solidified my friendship with these two, who are not only independently great friends, but a perfect fit for each other, and a loved and respected couple.


Shout House!

So when Kiki texted me that Bobby was coming into town, I was stoked to see him and his firefighter brother Dave, who were both sponsored to represent their firehouse in the run.

After my Vendy's, I headed to meet Bobby and his firebrother Dave at the pre-run block party at Vesey and North End. It felt so patriotic, all these red white and blue decorations and outdoor barbecues, and firefighter gear and logo everywhere. We wandered around a bit and then decided we were due for some beers. A few midtown bars but we settled at the Pourhouse, coming out super late (no clue what time), but just in time for the boys to catch their ferry back to Jersey. I had the Statue of Liberty the next day, and though it wasn't supposed to be until late morning, and I was exhausted from the Vendy's and everything, I was absolutely determined to watch the boys run the next morning.

I was sad I had never heard of this run before! Stephen Sillers was an off-duty firefighter on 9/11 who watched the planes crash into the towers from Brooklyn and got his gear and into his car to drive to Manhattan. By the time he got to the Battery Tunnel, it had been closed, so he ran from the Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers, where he died saving lives. This was the tenth year they have reenacted this heroic run, and it was so moving, and fabulous to come! After like, 3 hours of sleep I hauled myself up, took coffee to go, found my way to the race and planted myself at the finish line.



I was very entertained by the crowds and runners, but was thrilled to see Bobby come through!



And shortly after saw Dave coming through (firefighter in gear)



And I got his attention for his triumphant finish



Through my yelling and congratulations, Bobby, Dave and myself decided on a rendezvous station, where we all tried to make our way too. It was RIDICULOUSLY crowded with the after-run festivities and we all found each other not-even halfway there, it was too crowded with food and vendors and people and runners. The boys found some other firefighter friends they made, who had cases of Bud Lite, so just stood there and opened a cold one.

What a fun brotherhood they have going! Everyone was exchanging firehouse badges, shirts, nametags, etc. We were hanging out with some firemen from Germany and England who came to do the run... isn't that so nice?



Bobby and the German Boris exchanging their fire shirts



Bobby and Dave relaxing after their run with their Corona Firehouse flag they brought along



I loved the flags against the narrow openings between the skyscrapers, so I took this picture



They were all bonding and making friends together



As this was all going on, there was a parade, and performances, like Dennis Miller and then Gary Sinise's Lt Dan Band (haha!) Soooo fun!!



The evening ended at this firefighter bar called Suspenders which was poppin' and I now plan to spend the rest of my evenings as long as I live in New York City.



I tell you, I would rather have 1 firefighter than 10 policemen! But as long as I'm wishing for things, I'll wish for 10 firemen.



Of course for now, I was happy with my two hometown heroes :)

Liberty Island

To spare you many of the horrific details of this trip, I will simply highlight that it was my first time to Liberty Island, and the closest I've been to the Statue of Liberty ever.

Hot, humid, crowded, sweaty, rude people, obnoxious tourists, screaming babies, and negative Ronnie. Recipe for the disaster. We had tickets to access the Crown Level, but by the time we went to go there, they had closed it for the day. We were relieved!



Finally on the ferry! We just wanted to listen to music and tune out the animals around us pretending to be humans. That child hanging onto the man in the blue shirt was a crying pterodactyl I wanted to throw overboard.

Our favorite part of the day was when we sat down on the ferry (as pictured) and we we started arguing, which mainly consists of snarky comments to each other, and the lady across from us looked at us with fear in her eyes, then got up suuuper uncomfortably and ran away! We started lol'ing everywhereeeee on that ferry after that.











Thanks for... well, not much, Lady Lib. No offense. At least we live here. We can try again another day.

The 2011 Vendy Awards

I think I had maybe 8 hours of sleep collectively over the whole weekend. Today I am exhausted and not sure how I'll get through work, let alone a three hour class tonight. I don't even know where to start. I'll try at the beginning. But I already know that there's way too much to fit into one entry, I'm going to break this up into a few different pages. This first one is for the 2011 Vendy Awards.



Early Saturday morning, had to get myself up and down to downtown Manhattan to hop the ferry to Governor's Island to volunteer at the Vendy Awards. It was my first time at Governor's Island, which was a pathetic 2 minute ride away. Seriously we all would have been better off swimming there. STILL... it is beautiful, and old and green, fresh, plus a fabulous view of the city



Why was there a pirate ship? I just don't know!



The Vendy Awards are annual awards that aim to support the local street vendors and stuff in the city. (Textbook description, I know). I checked in, set my stuff down and got to eat (all for freeeee) before I started my shift of table service and waitressing in the VIP tent.

Free and unlimited food from these INCREDIBLE street trucks... everything from souvlaki, tacos, ice cream, ice pops... to Korean BBQ, falafels, tamales, pupusas, etc. I didn't get to take too many pictures, so I had to steal these off of the news websites and stuff covering the event.


Tacos trucks with delicious tacos just like in Mexicoooo


This was some sort of red bean pastry and a Makers Mark creme brulee donut sooooo goooood


This ice cream truck had all different palettes of ice cream, and I had one with granola, chocolate flakes and flax seed. Not half bad!


Cupcakes.... red velvet and maple bacon!

So much more I couldn't even find online! White wine and Brooklyn brewed beers, ginger ales and so much more!






Judges Table (including Gayle King and Colin Quinn)

People were very friendly and nice, but it would be doubly fun to do it with people I know. And happy it didn't rain!!

The Autumn Equinox

It's officially autumn and while I could do without the rain, I am giddy with anticipation of the season. I just love fall!

Did I ever get a chance to share this photo of me and Becca? It just warms my heart.



I have quite a busy weekend ahead of me. And considering I spent this past week down at Triple Crown enjoying beers with everyone every free hours I could find, I really have to get stuff done inbetween the rest of my committments and the New York City Day of Fun on Sunday!

The Catch-Up

Overcast, gray, rainy, hot, humid, cold, windy... just a few of the constant weather elements here these days now that autumn is falling upon us (get it?) and I still have remnants of summer to share!

The Sisters at the Castle (first time I got to go inside since I was like 6!)


My favorite part of this picture isn't Kathleen or even myself! It's Peter Griffin behind us


The backstory to this picture is: I was telling grandma some dumb story and Heather just took this picture without warning. I say "What the hell was that?!" and she shows the picture to me and I say "Oh, great. I'll make that my facebook profile picture" and when she sent me the pictures she reminded me what I said. Well I consider myself a woman of my word, so I reactivated facebook and made it my facebook profile picture. Boom! Roasted.


And of course the picture where we got grandma to jump.

(Kathleen's ankles were weighing her down)

And as I always love to document music of the seasons I'm listening to, currently been stuck on LCD Soundsystem



Love is a curse shoved in a hearse
Love is an open book to a verse
Of your bad poetry
Never change, never change, never change...
This is why I fell in love
But I can change I can change I can change...
If it helps you fall in love

You're welcome!

Homework!

I have a homework assignment. The last time I ever had "homework" was when I told myself I had to buy a new dress for my birthday in Las Vegas back in March. My Monday linguistics class (3 hours long, eek!) is in language documentation, and our class is assisting with some of the first documentations of Wakhi, an East Iranian language spoken in Pakistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and China and doesn't even have a writing system yet. We have been collecting sounds and words via a native speaker who comes to our class, and now I have to map the phonemic inventory and write about the distribution of phones and the overall phonotactic patterns. I sure feel rusty on my linguistics in this class but I really like the professor and the class is awesome, and I like that we are learning by doing. Still... Kiki sleepy O_o

Also, happy birthday to the twins!

Somewhere in Riverside


Reenacting a photo from the Friends DVD cover lolololol


San Diegoooo






My birfday in VEGASSSS


From New York City to Los Angeles, hope you have an ab fab 25th bday!

Gone With The Wind

Last Thursday, it was the same ol', same ol' hot hot heat in the air as I left for work in the morning. On my lunch break, which I took a little late in the day, it was the same as I stepped out, but during my hour outside a wind kicked up, clouds blew in, and the air was biting cold in the contrast. It was even too much for me to walk home in, in my skirt and flats, I actually waited for the bus, huddled inside the glass walls of the bench covering, alternating the foot I stood on to warm up my ankles from the icy air blowing in from under. My only thoughts were "geez, what a cold afternoon."

The next morning I got ready in summer clothes like usual, ready for another herp derp day, when I stepped outside and realized that the air was still changed. It was that crisp cool remaining from the change the day before, and I appeared to be the only one without the memo that summer was gone, because everyone else had on their light jackets and scarves. And that was it. With that one quick ventilation, summer left and the coolness is here.

I will say: I. LOVE. FALL. It is by far my favorite season. I just love when the coolness kicks in and the feel of the holidays pervades the air, with leaves changing and winter clothes coming out and Starbucks HOLIDAY FLAVORS easing their ways onto the menu. But it's always a little bittersweet to watch summer go. The cold in the air is the kind of cold I still associate with Europe. It was the first time I ever really lived in a season like that, and I still have images of waiting for the morning tram to school with Katie, of stepping inside the patisseries with a warm relief to pick up an afternoon baguette, of meeting up at cafes with international friends, studying at my desk, listening to Damien Rice and watching the wind and cold air outside.

As routine and normal as New York City can sometimes be or feel or become, it's always in the cold that I remember I'm not home.



And Happy Birthday Topshelf!! A huge encourager and advocate of my going to study abroad, Top was my cousin's frat brother whom I became close with just before I left for France. Above is the first of many pictures we ever took together, at my cousins party. Top drove us to LA when I got my visa from the French consulate, we had sushi and going away parties together. Life has taken us criss-crossed across the globe. Topshelf (btw his real name is Patrick) has served and continues to serve the US Army, and has been deployed to the Middle East twice, and stationed in Hawaii. And through it all, we continue to keep in touch diligently, and I'm sure that one day after all these years we'll see each other again. (We haven't seen each other since August of 2006!!) A happy happy birthday to a hard-working, compassionate, brave, strong man and friend of immense integrity that I have always looked up to!

Clothing Angst!

I hate clothes!!! How many times can I say this? They're expensive, the trends change too fast, people are so judgmental over them, and they're so trivial and stupid, and I just don't care either!! I never realized how Californian I was... all I ever want to wear is jeans and a T-shirt. I appreciate new clothes occasionally and it's nice to look nice, but then you feel like shit when dress is anything less.

The WORST part: when your clothes don't fit you!! When my clothes started to not fit in San Diego, it's because I was porking up and everything was getting too tight. When I finally talked some sense into my then-lazy self, it was to make my clothes fit again so I wouldn't have to go buy new ones, so I started changing my eating and being ridiculously active. Well, now my clothes don't fit again, but it's mainly because I've lost so much weight now. All my pants are saggy and falling off of me now. I SHOULD be happy, but I hate having to go shopping for new clothes!! I think I'm at the breaking point though, because I looked like a MESS yesterday with my pants falling off of me and it turns out, for work, it's not a very good look.

Oh! And I finally saw where all the Sarah Jessica Parker's of the city hide in their holes during the day. I never believed they existed but it's not true: all the self-proclaimed socialites and fashionistas who just look like train wrecks of color and fabric and material all huddle together for warmth anywhere off the Broadway-Lafayette train stop... and when I say huddle, I mean that they stand 2 inches apart judging each other for not wearing as "daring" an outfit as they chose that day.



Betsy and I went to the Little Cupcake Bakeshop in NoLita to pick up a slice of Banana Nutella cake and took it to Ronnie at his work in NoHo in preparation for his birthday today... and picked up 2 cupcakes for ourselves: Blue Velvet and "Princess Dream" --try ordering that and not sounding like a loser.



Happy Birfday Ronnie Reginald Reno-Shin Moon-Sun Choi!

Two Survivors

To be brief, I was really affected by September 11 this year. I was reading articles and learning about the people and it just felt very personal. When I expressed this on Monday to a coworker, she was very nice talking to me about it. Yesterday she told me that a meditation center she goes to was having an event on remembering 9/11, and they were having two survivors speak at it.

I went to it yesterday and it was pretty intense. They both had simply fascinating stories, but one of them, Fred, told us he was in a conference room and saw the plane coming straight for them, and at one point he was looking directly into the cockpit, and the plane then banked up in the final minutes and hit the floor above him. He had copies of his emergency call made to 911 that he played for us, as well as a transcipt of the dispatcher communicating with the fire department. The stories don't even sound real.



Anyway, it was a moving event (duh) and I am so thankful to Gretchen for sharing it with me.

Tribute in Light

It has been a decade since I woke up earlier than usual, a sophomore in high school in California and found the TV on, watched a plane collide with the second tower and confusedly tried to figure out if this was some movie, or real life.



Being in New York City for the tenth year anniversary, I almost feel unable to celebrate it, or less worthy to do so, because I wasn't here when it happened, nor did I know anyone personally who was killed in the attacks. Still, only about 2% of the people I've met here were living in New York when it happened (and their stories are incredible by the way) but I have experiences of it, and I ache too. I spent some time on Wikipedia reading about the September 11 Flights, and it was horrific, and moving. There is the Tribute in Light to begin tonight, two beams of lights to represent the towers, and that will fade on the morning of September 12.

What is frustrating is the destruction and murder carried out in the name of what is supposed to be a loving God. I remember though, in my religions class when someone asked Professor Juergensmeyer how someone could kill and justify in the name of religion. His response was: "Well, religion is indeed the only thing that could justify killing." But if this supernatural being that we all seem to worship is one of Love, how does all the killing come out? I know, it's a never-ending cycle of question, and it doesn't have an answer. (And all religions deal with it: Check out the Mormons side via Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer)

I went to ballet and a bar around Union Square today. Many people were toting American flags or Remembrance shirts, and it was touching, and moving. After reading up on the events and innocent people that morning, I almost felt like crying. I didn't make it down to Ground Zero, but in the meantime there's a great website for the memorial.

http://names.911memorial.org/#lang=en_US&page=person&id=4383

You can read the names and their birthdates, see their pictures... it's unbelievable really. Those who suffered in the last minutes of the pre-9/11 world that would never come again, and whose deaths, and events surrounding their deaths, now defines my generation.

All the Animals

I love animals. I really love all kinds of animals, I think that they are so cute. And even though I'm a cat person (I actually typed that "car" person on the first attempt, and that is also true) but I still like and appreciate dogs. And beyond that, bunnies and rats and hedgehogs and elephants and giraffes and really whatever made it into the Ark.



When I'm stressed at work, I love to look at cute pictures of animals (that, and Rage Face comics!), it's so calming.



In my speech therapy classes in college, we were learning techniques to reduce stuttering, and did you know that one of them was animals? Having a pet with the person was calming and de-stressing, and helped them to stutter less.



My friend in Germany has a sister that works with autistic children. She recently opened up her own business in it, and uses horses for therapy with the kids. Isn't that awesome?



Some people suggested that I be a vet but seeing animals in pain or dying would be absolutely beyond me. And biology isn't my forte anyway.



Aren't animals so cute? Even when you can't see their faces, like this one lololololol



(Can you tell I've needed to de-stress a LOT this week at work?? It was either that, or pulling out my hair. And since I cut it, I don't have a lot left, so the choice was obvious). Also, I had a dream the other night that my sweet little Mr Rat Rat was in. It made me miss him! And it also made me think about getting a rat again in my life. And he's not dirty, he was the sweetest, most cuddly and adorable little bugger ever!









And yes it's true that the subway rats here aren't intimidating to me at all, and when I see their greasy selves on the tracks, I actually see that little face above!