Playing tourist

The only time I get to really "see the sights" of whatever city I'm currently living is when other people come to visit and I venture to show them around. Of course, secretly... ok, so not so secretly because I'm never one to hide my enthusiasm... I'm thrilled to finally give myself a good reason to indulge in touristy things.

Why don't I just go see play tourist myself? Hmm... good question. Probably due to a few reasons.

3) playing tourist fun -er when done with friends
2) I'm lazy
1) I'm a cheapskate - rather forgo the transpo fare, the temptation to shop, and hole up at home with a book

Good think my goddaughter, Stef, came to visit.

i <3 nyc

There's always something going on in New York. Well... DUH (it's the city that doesn't sleep, right?)

For me to actually think it's awesome, you have to tag on one of my favorite words in the English language - FREE. Just this week, I know where to go for a free haircut (actually, 2 places), free concerts - Coldplay & Maroon 5, free parties, free drinks, free seminars... and a bevy of other free activities. Trouble is... I can't really make it to much because I need to get home before it gets dark and scary coz I really live Jersey City. *sigh*

So, I'm crossing my fingers and wishing on falling stars *that I'm sure are up there somewhere beyond the smoggy haze of pollution and glare of city lights* that I want to be able to afford living here.

From rats to riches... or the appearance of it

If you've seen my facebook page lately, you might have caught my cries of disgust against a furry little pointy-nosed creature prowling around the basement of the house I'm renting a room in. A basement room!!!! To be fair, it's probably a mouse, rather than a rat. I guess there should be a difference, since I saw a real rat scurrying around the subway rails not too long ago, but you'd never know it by the way I've been screaming and crying like the crying little sissy girl that I am. The rat in the subway was huge... the size of a small cat... much bigger than the albino lab rats I used to work with (which I fortunately never had to touch, thanks to my great lab team).

Anyways, my real contention with them pesky rodents is that they're trying to get at my food! For two nights now, I've been hearing them trying to gnaw through the two plastic bags I've hidden my bread in... *shudder*. So far, I've been trying to get them to vamoose back into their little mouse holes by throwing stuff towards their direction and commanding them with a very firm and ominous sounding voice to hightail it out of there if they knew what was good for them (empty threats nonetheless, but the mouse didn't know that).

Anyways, enough of that! Let's talk about the rest of the day.

At work, there was a press meeting, so I got to wear a Bill Blass dress. It's reminiscent of the 40's creamy colored dress. Very posh. Probably cost more than a semester at college. Haha. And lo and behold, I really did look rich! For a while at least... until my hair got mussed and I wrinkled up my dress from sitting.

There was a fashion show for the press, which was pretty cool to watch. Later on, there was a fashion shoot in the same showroom. Watching the models do their stuff was interesting. Watching what goes on in the background is even more so. The hair and makeup people standing by to do touch-ups and last minute changes... the designers moving this, tucking in that... and the next model waiting in the sidelines doing a little dance and swaying her barely there booty to Madonna got into her groove in the background.

Meanwhile, it was blazin' hot outside. Very much like Texas heat, reaching up to a hundred (or almost). A storm was brewing and building up a good mad for later that night when the sky crackled and thundered. I was walking home from the bus when the sky decided to start showing its wrath. I swear I thought it was going to try to give a bit of tornado since the wind was spiraling and throwing all the leaves, dust and muck around so hard that I had to shield my eyes with my arms. I was a sorry sight, trying to fight that wind just so I could get to my front door.

Then I went home and pigged out on Doritos and cinnamon rolls. Overall... a very interesting night and day.

Total Goof

Ha, this is really not a good sign of my editing skills when I totally goofed on the dates written on the blog. I thought I was so clever in updating the first blog to make something that i wrote yesterday good for today. So... not so clever.

Sweet jibberdijobers!

I swear I'm usually better at editing than this! For those of you who haven't heard, I'm here slugging it out in NYC trying to get myself into book publishing. So far, no dice. I ended up temping at a fashion designer's instead (which is an interesting experience in itself).

When I left Canada, I told everybody - two weeks or bust! I either had to get an intership, or job that could lead into publishing, or an administrative job that paid too much to turn down, or go back to Edmonton in two weeks to bum out on my aunts couch while I keep applying. Two weeks turned to four, turning into five... now I'm still here, almost nine weeks overdue for a reality check, but still reluctant to leave. Why is that, I ask myself? It's not like I'm having the time of my life here, kickin it NYC style or even Jersey style. I go to work, commute, then hang out at home by myself. It's a good thing I'm great at being a hermit anyway. Plus I like being a homebody. As much as I love the city and want to go out exploring, between commuting and being weary of getting home after dark, I don't have time to hang out. Plus, I don't exactly make enough to go out with friends if I want to afford food beyond the dollar menu and make rent. So why am I still here?

Good question.

Stubbornness? Complete obstinacy? Maybe. I just don't want to be beaten.

My health is slowly returning and my determination is making its comeback appearances in spurts and surges. I used to be an incredibly determined person (if you never noticed it, it was because it was in the guise of naive optimism), but after I got sick, my bullheaded determination turned more into a quiet determination that really was more of actual optimism than just the look of it. Now that I'm stronger physically, i now feel like there's something I have to prove - to myself, if no one else. Somehow, I want to prove that I can survive and succeed by myself without leaning on my family. That I can live standing on my own two feet if I want to, because that means, if I'm firmly planted on my own feet, I can be a real support to others again.

If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere... right? Supposedly.

So I'm giving myself until the next week. Or whenever they have a replacement temp for me at work.

After that, where to next? Probably back to Dallas instead of Canada. Ugh! And in the middle of summer too? Oh well. My brother wants me to go so he can live with me over there and not work while he finishes school.

Whatever... I'm ready for anything! I think ;)

Addendum

Ok... so I had meant for that first post for yesterday, but came up with the idea of blogging again pretty late in the workday and was about to go home.

I can't seem to get into my old xanga page. My password won't work. Is it because I hadn't used it for a while?

First Post... Step-on-Me

I haven't written, much less blogged, anything substantial as of late. I mean to cure myself of writers block by just writing anything and everything again. My brain has probably turned to liquidy goo from its lack of exercise lately.


I love New York City. When people blab all about how there's a certain energy to it, it's because it's true. And believe me, if anybody can tell, I can. It's even gotten me a bit more energized (or that could just be me getting healthier again). But that's a story for another day.

It's a semi-gloomy rainy day in New York yesterday. As I walked to work from the PATH train to my job down Fashion Ave., I slipped on one of those gold plates on the sidewalk. If you've never walked through NYC's Fashion Ave., those gold plates are like the stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame... except a bit more spread out.

By the way, I caught myself in time before I cracked my skull open. Good. Now that my brain's turned to mush, I might have made quite a mess.

Then I got stepped on.

No, not right after the slipping. Fortunately.

Actually, somebody stepped on my slippers, my Islanders (the best slippers ever!!! I blame my mishaps on my lack of hand-eye coordination rather than the footwear). My foot then ricocheted around to slap my opposite calf, thereby leaving some nasty muddy stains on my bare leg.As you can see, I'm quite prone to potentially embarrassing mishaps. It's a good thing I'm fairly immune to most forms of embarrassment by now.

Then later in the day, on my way home, I got stepped on again.




my islanders