...now how in the hell am I going to do this?
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Arcade Fire
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days, my life, I feel, it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface
Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, "Come and find your kind"
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days, my life, I feel, it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface
Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, "Come and find your kind"
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Lucky Charms
I have been having the most random, fun events lately. I don't even know why. This past weekend was a friend's birthday so we had an unlimited champagne brunch at a place downtown near Wall St, before relocating to a fun Financial District bar, and then the Beer Gardens at Battery Park, where someone's gift of moustaches made an appearance.
And everyone got a birthday shot!
Then Monday Funday at my favorite bar last night. My friend and I decided to get pizza from next door and bring it back. After devouring it, we started playing with the string that the box had been tied up with, and I ended up making such a fabulous art creation with it that I couldn't drink my drink anymore, so Tim the bartender brought me a straw, so as not to disturb the art taking place.
Then, after Samantha left, I was reading a paper Tim gave me when one of my favorite locals tells me to stop reading the paper and have a conversation. I had been planning on leaving soon but clearly that didn't happen. I ended up staying much longer and having such a fun time! A little back story: this guy grew up in Ireland, has been living in New York for 14 years, and yet he sounds like he hasn't been away from home for 14 minutes... I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HIM TO SAVE MY LIFE. It is actually so thick and difficult that I am not even tempted to mimic it. And that's saying a lot for me!
Sometimes I'll get so confused from one word, I'll try so hard to repeat the sound in my head and understand what he's trying to say, only to realize that I've missed an additional three sentences, so then I try to pick up the context of the conversation, but I have no idea what the context is because I can't understand 3/4 of his speech. I'm getting better though! For instance, I found out I had his name completely wrong, first and last, and I didn't notice until the bartender addressed the guy by his first name and then I made a joke of his whole name and he said "why would that bother me? that's not my last name." Whoops. So then he told me the real last name but it didn't sound any different to me so I had to make him spell it out. Lololololol. What a trooper though! He still talks to me even through my blank stares, or when I laugh as a response to what must have asked a yes or no question. And we listened to Bruce Springsteen all night and it was superfun.
I am making progress on the marathon training! (Ran 35 minutes sweatily today!)
I sent this picture of me on the elliptical to my UC San Diego "friends" who try to crush my UCSB spirit. That oughta show them.
And everyone got a birthday shot!
Then Monday Funday at my favorite bar last night. My friend and I decided to get pizza from next door and bring it back. After devouring it, we started playing with the string that the box had been tied up with, and I ended up making such a fabulous art creation with it that I couldn't drink my drink anymore, so Tim the bartender brought me a straw, so as not to disturb the art taking place.
Then, after Samantha left, I was reading a paper Tim gave me when one of my favorite locals tells me to stop reading the paper and have a conversation. I had been planning on leaving soon but clearly that didn't happen. I ended up staying much longer and having such a fun time! A little back story: this guy grew up in Ireland, has been living in New York for 14 years, and yet he sounds like he hasn't been away from home for 14 minutes... I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HIM TO SAVE MY LIFE. It is actually so thick and difficult that I am not even tempted to mimic it. And that's saying a lot for me!
Sometimes I'll get so confused from one word, I'll try so hard to repeat the sound in my head and understand what he's trying to say, only to realize that I've missed an additional three sentences, so then I try to pick up the context of the conversation, but I have no idea what the context is because I can't understand 3/4 of his speech. I'm getting better though! For instance, I found out I had his name completely wrong, first and last, and I didn't notice until the bartender addressed the guy by his first name and then I made a joke of his whole name and he said "why would that bother me? that's not my last name." Whoops. So then he told me the real last name but it didn't sound any different to me so I had to make him spell it out. Lololololol. What a trooper though! He still talks to me even through my blank stares, or when I laugh as a response to what must have asked a yes or no question. And we listened to Bruce Springsteen all night and it was superfun.
I am making progress on the marathon training! (Ran 35 minutes sweatily today!)
I sent this picture of me on the elliptical to my UC San Diego "friends" who try to crush my UCSB spirit. That oughta show them.
Monday, June 11, 2012
The Staten Island Half
If you're feeling a chilly breeze blowing up from below, don't worry, it's just the frigid air in hell making it's way up because it's frozen over. It just happened this morning when I signed up to run a half marathon set for October of this year!
It's finally my time to be active. I hated the gym and I hated running. I preferred to be active through volleyball, or dance classes or dance clubs. I'm not picky. But I hate running blindly.
When I discovered I had access to Columbia's gym, I figured a productive way to spend a lunch break would be there. I only wanted to work on my flexibility in-between my modern dance class and until I returned to ballet, but slowly I found myself on the elliptical. HATING it, but on it nevertheless. The weirdest things started happening... I started to LIKE being on the elliptical. I started to see how long I could go. I started looking FORWARD to it. I know, it's nothing short of witchcraft. But, my coworker and I started going to the gym together, and she is a huge runner, and long story short, she got me in on a half marathon!
It's always been a weird Bucket List of mine, to run a marathon, mainly because I HATE running and it seems so NOT organically me, that's what makes it so much more of an accomplishment. And honestly, a half-marathon is even satisfying enough to me, for now.
Today I ran 22 minutes without so much as batting an eye. If I get up to 30 minutes by next week, then I begin the 10 week training schedule given to me by said coworker, and come October 7, I will be running in the Staten Island Half Marathon! Who the hell am I becoming?
My only real goal is to not be in last place.
It's finally my time to be active. I hated the gym and I hated running. I preferred to be active through volleyball, or dance classes or dance clubs. I'm not picky. But I hate running blindly.
When I discovered I had access to Columbia's gym, I figured a productive way to spend a lunch break would be there. I only wanted to work on my flexibility in-between my modern dance class and until I returned to ballet, but slowly I found myself on the elliptical. HATING it, but on it nevertheless. The weirdest things started happening... I started to LIKE being on the elliptical. I started to see how long I could go. I started looking FORWARD to it. I know, it's nothing short of witchcraft. But, my coworker and I started going to the gym together, and she is a huge runner, and long story short, she got me in on a half marathon!
It's always been a weird Bucket List of mine, to run a marathon, mainly because I HATE running and it seems so NOT organically me, that's what makes it so much more of an accomplishment. And honestly, a half-marathon is even satisfying enough to me, for now.
Today I ran 22 minutes without so much as batting an eye. If I get up to 30 minutes by next week, then I begin the 10 week training schedule given to me by said coworker, and come October 7, I will be running in the Staten Island Half Marathon! Who the hell am I becoming?
My only real goal is to not be in last place.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Where In The World Is Kristin San Diego?
Where could I have been lately?
I may have been catsitting this cat
Enjoying cocktails at this Brooklyn rooftop bar
Or seeing mid-week Yankees games against the Rays
...and working.
I may have been catsitting this cat
Enjoying cocktails at this Brooklyn rooftop bar
Or seeing mid-week Yankees games against the Rays
...and working.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
All Was Well.
The Hungarian Pastry Shop. A small bakery and coffeehouse around the corner from my work in the Upper West Side with small wooden tables and very dim lamps set on the walls, was the scene of my close, of the last page turned in the Harry Potter series.
I ordered a Viennese coffee (people around probably rolled their eyes into their skulls when I first asked for a "cafe viennois" but sorry bro, I learned about them in France) and sat down around 5:30 pm, shaking, at a small table next to two undergrad-looking boys studying together who had no idea what they were in for. I had been reading on my lunch break and was getting into the thick of the final battle, and knew I was set to devour the last 150 pages here.
I ate up 70 pages hungrily, hardly touching my coffee. It got worse. I started eating the melting whipped cream for something to do. The unfolding events in the book took a heavy nosedive and I LOST it. I was sobbing and my chest was heaving, I was trying not to make a noise, but unsuccessfully, and instead emitting weird animal sounds and hiccuping. My tears were filling my glasses so I had to take them off and thankfully my vision was blurred from seeing the people silently turning around or overtly staring. I was crying so hard over the pages that they were thin and weak and I had to turn them carefully because they might rip through the sogginess. The poor boys next to me look positively frightened and kept whispering and looking over at me.
When I finished the book, I did feel closure, and relief and some faint glimmer of happiness, but I was overall so depressed and haunted by the book that I felt like I just couldn't move. I wouldn't attribute this all to JK Rowling. I would say maybe 20% JK Rowling, 40% my emotional instability, and another 40% my karma for snubbing the books and entire franchise, God is now making me the die-est of diehards.
When i got on the train to go home, reflecting on it all, I just kinda felt like this:
(I saw this picture once captioned as "How I Feel After I Finish My Math Homework" and I never forgot it, and as I sat on the train last night I thought, that's how I feel now!)
I had been texting a few people last night as I crept through the story to the end. I have had many faithful friends following me and supporting me on my first-ever journey through the series, (my own Dumbledore's Army, if you will) and I've been very grateful for them! This morning, my coworker, who has been the Hermione to my Harry on this trek through the series, said first thing to me as we got our coffee together in the kitchen area "So you finished it!" and, not that the story had left me for a second (it weighed very heavily on me and continues to) but I said... "I did, and if I talk about it, I think I'll cry..." and I started crying so then I thought, what the hell, so I brought up all my thoughts and favorite parts and we had a mini therapy session before starting our work days.
I'm not sure this 10 years worth of writing was meant to be read in less than 5 months. It's like chugging a 100-proof alcohol shot in a beer stein instead of having 5 mixed drinks spaced throughout the night. I will be suffering my emotional hangover until further notice.
I ordered a Viennese coffee (people around probably rolled their eyes into their skulls when I first asked for a "cafe viennois" but sorry bro, I learned about them in France) and sat down around 5:30 pm, shaking, at a small table next to two undergrad-looking boys studying together who had no idea what they were in for. I had been reading on my lunch break and was getting into the thick of the final battle, and knew I was set to devour the last 150 pages here.
I ate up 70 pages hungrily, hardly touching my coffee. It got worse. I started eating the melting whipped cream for something to do. The unfolding events in the book took a heavy nosedive and I LOST it. I was sobbing and my chest was heaving, I was trying not to make a noise, but unsuccessfully, and instead emitting weird animal sounds and hiccuping. My tears were filling my glasses so I had to take them off and thankfully my vision was blurred from seeing the people silently turning around or overtly staring. I was crying so hard over the pages that they were thin and weak and I had to turn them carefully because they might rip through the sogginess. The poor boys next to me look positively frightened and kept whispering and looking over at me.
When I finished the book, I did feel closure, and relief and some faint glimmer of happiness, but I was overall so depressed and haunted by the book that I felt like I just couldn't move. I wouldn't attribute this all to JK Rowling. I would say maybe 20% JK Rowling, 40% my emotional instability, and another 40% my karma for snubbing the books and entire franchise, God is now making me the die-est of diehards.
When i got on the train to go home, reflecting on it all, I just kinda felt like this:
(I saw this picture once captioned as "How I Feel After I Finish My Math Homework" and I never forgot it, and as I sat on the train last night I thought, that's how I feel now!)
I had been texting a few people last night as I crept through the story to the end. I have had many faithful friends following me and supporting me on my first-ever journey through the series, (my own Dumbledore's Army, if you will) and I've been very grateful for them! This morning, my coworker, who has been the Hermione to my Harry on this trek through the series, said first thing to me as we got our coffee together in the kitchen area "So you finished it!" and, not that the story had left me for a second (it weighed very heavily on me and continues to) but I said... "I did, and if I talk about it, I think I'll cry..." and I started crying so then I thought, what the hell, so I brought up all my thoughts and favorite parts and we had a mini therapy session before starting our work days.
I'm not sure this 10 years worth of writing was meant to be read in less than 5 months. It's like chugging a 100-proof alcohol shot in a beer stein instead of having 5 mixed drinks spaced throughout the night. I will be suffering my emotional hangover until further notice.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Apartment Season
It's June! And it's my apartment season! And yes, I am moving again! And yep... it's even more painful than it sounds.
If you ever wondered why New Yorkers freak out about finding a suitable apartment, I'm here to tell you why. First of all, the rule of NY thumb is that 50% of your net income goes to rent. So when you're laying out that much, you want to get your money's worth. Nothing in New York (for us reasonable middle classes) is going to get you everything, so you have to start deciding what's more important to you... being close to the subway? Having laundry in the building? Short commute to work? You get the idea. And because rarely can people afford to live alone (how did I ever get a studio that first year?) the next challenge is finding decent roommates and environment. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. I have actually compiled some of my favorite lines from apartment or rooms ads from REAL ADS from craigslist. And these aren't needle-in-the-haystack crazy "where did that one come from" ads... these are almost NORMAL:
-No windows, but there is a small window above room door
-I am looking to find a reliable, clean, quiet and trustworthy person to rent an area of my furnished living room on a temporary, short term basis. There is a nice couch, I will supply sheets and pillows. There is privacy as I have dividers that separate the room from the other rooms. You will have access to a bathroom and the kitchen
-Do not bring anything that won't fit in your room. No over night guests ever, no guests at all without asking us first
-I would stay in the bedroom and you would take the living room (queen sofa sleeper or aero bed) with window closet and other closet space
-The room is LIMITED TO 4 NIGHTS MAXIMUM PER WEEK. Any 4, together, or separated, but just 4. Example: You are a commuter who lives outside of the city, but works in the city Monday through Friday. You stay in the room on nights Monday through Thursday, and return home on Friday
-I like my space and my privacy. I use the living room as an office so there isn't any "hanging out"
All this to say that last night I went to look at a room out in Queens (yes! I am getting over my fear of outer boroughs!) and brought Ronnie with me. As Ronnie said "it's a good thing they're meeting me now, since we're like a package deal anyway." It was actually a GREAT space and very promising, but they're interviewing a lot of people so the ball is very much in their court, so we'll see what happens. I'm going to see another place tomorrow, in Union Square. Apples and oranges. I'll be stressing and packing and absolutely poor by the end of this month, but here I go.
If you ever wondered why New Yorkers freak out about finding a suitable apartment, I'm here to tell you why. First of all, the rule of NY thumb is that 50% of your net income goes to rent. So when you're laying out that much, you want to get your money's worth. Nothing in New York (for us reasonable middle classes) is going to get you everything, so you have to start deciding what's more important to you... being close to the subway? Having laundry in the building? Short commute to work? You get the idea. And because rarely can people afford to live alone (how did I ever get a studio that first year?) the next challenge is finding decent roommates and environment. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. I have actually compiled some of my favorite lines from apartment or rooms ads from REAL ADS from craigslist. And these aren't needle-in-the-haystack crazy "where did that one come from" ads... these are almost NORMAL:
-No windows, but there is a small window above room door
-I am looking to find a reliable, clean, quiet and trustworthy person to rent an area of my furnished living room on a temporary, short term basis. There is a nice couch, I will supply sheets and pillows. There is privacy as I have dividers that separate the room from the other rooms. You will have access to a bathroom and the kitchen
-Do not bring anything that won't fit in your room. No over night guests ever, no guests at all without asking us first
-I would stay in the bedroom and you would take the living room (queen sofa sleeper or aero bed) with window closet and other closet space
-The room is LIMITED TO 4 NIGHTS MAXIMUM PER WEEK. Any 4, together, or separated, but just 4. Example: You are a commuter who lives outside of the city, but works in the city Monday through Friday. You stay in the room on nights Monday through Thursday, and return home on Friday
-I like my space and my privacy. I use the living room as an office so there isn't any "hanging out"
All this to say that last night I went to look at a room out in Queens (yes! I am getting over my fear of outer boroughs!) and brought Ronnie with me. As Ronnie said "it's a good thing they're meeting me now, since we're like a package deal anyway." It was actually a GREAT space and very promising, but they're interviewing a lot of people so the ball is very much in their court, so we'll see what happens. I'm going to see another place tomorrow, in Union Square. Apples and oranges. I'll be stressing and packing and absolutely poor by the end of this month, but here I go.
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