Some Patterns

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Leaving Town

You'd think I'd be able to find tons of things to keep myself occupied in NY.

Alas, I've become bored with my neighborhood and have decided that I am going to head to New Hampshire in search of excitement, adventure and camaraderie. I know, I'm crazy. But I am looking forward to a nice break from the heat and humidity, and will enjoy seeing my family as I always do. Plus, I now I have my license back (for those of you who are scratching your heads in confusion, dizzy with curiosity, I'm lazy - not reckless) and will enjoy private outings with my sister, no doubt.

Anyhow, when I come back I hope to be overflowing with writing ideas. It's easier to write about life when you've done something other than read vampire novels and create color patterns all day. ;-)

Captivating Reading Material

I have been having an incredibly difficult time these past few days finding enough motivation to get up and take a shower in the morning, let alone get dressed and actually leave the apartment. The weather is moderate and sunny, so by all means I should be up and about. Tons of great movies have come out lately, and I've got a whole new neighborhood to explore, so I shouldn't stay confined all day within the four walls of my room. This morning someone rang our buzzer, but I didn't know who it was so I couldn't be bothered to let them in (so bad of me, I know).

What is it that's causing such a general lack of motivation for me? It's a book. That's right, words printed on a page. Who'd have thought! My sister and my roommate both have been wanting me to read the Twilight series for some time now, and I've finally caved. I didn't love the first book, but they keep getting better and though I hate to read it, they are strangely addicting.

Luckily, I'm almost done with the 3rd book in the series, and I foresee my life returning to normal for a few days.

It's My Mower and I'll Shoot If I Want To

I ran across this article today - in brief, a man got violently angry at his lawn mower when it wouldn't start and decided that rather than give up, he would give shooting it a go. Because it's a rare known secret that shooting lawn mowers sometimes miraculously fixes them.

Sure, the man probably should have controlled his frustration and left his gun in the closet. He also probably should not have been mowing the lawn or operating a gun while drunk. But what surprised me was that he could spend more than 6 years in prison paying for his momentary outburst.

I realize that drinking and shooting a gun could actually be really dangerous, and so I see why it is such a serious thing. But honestly, sending this guy to prison for 6 years because he assaulted his lawn mower seems a little bit excessive. Couldn't our tax dollars be put to better use?

ColourLovers

I think I may have found the best web site ever!

ColourLovers is an awesome web site for people who like color. I've also determined it is an amazing web site for redesigning your blog (as I did mine). All the seamless repeating patterns on the site are downloadable. As if that wasn't cool enough, they'll tell you the exact colors in every pattern.

If you don't see any color schemes you like, you can make your own pattern. Plus when you make a new pattern if you are the first to use a color then you get to name it (pretty cool, huh?).

The site is all about loving colors and how they go together. What more could you ask for in a site?

Take a look at the patterns I made just now.

Shop Rite

Is that one word or two? Good thing I don't care about typos...

Anyhow, the other day a friend of mine and I went to go see the movie Space Chimps (mainly because we were seeking relief from the heat that an air conditioned movie theatre offers). We walked to a theatre quite far away and when we got out of the movie (which is not something I'd recommend for those above the age of 8) we were too tired to walk home so we decided to take our chances with a nearby subway station that brings to the outskirts of our neighborhood.

When we got off the train we saw a Shop Rite and we decided to check it out (we were both really thirsty anyhow), and oh my gosh it is the biggest grocery store I've ever seen! They've got 25 aisles at least, an amazing produce section (looks great probably because of a lot of turnover) and really competitive prices. They also have an entire aisle of kosher food which is pretty cool.

I'm completely in love! I knew when they had a sale on scrubbing bubbles my life was great, but when I found the green tea ginger ale? It doesn't get better than that.

Moving In Is Hard To Do

After much heaving and hauling, I am finally all moved in to my new apartment! I'd like to say it was an easy feat - a couple and a few key pieces of furniture - but since Brittany and I are both girls with a lot of stuff, it was arduous and long.

Before I moved I tried to get rid of a lot of things - CDs, books, clothes, hair and beaty products I simply didn't use were all tossed into the trash bins (or, because Brittany is an amazing girl with a big heart, put in the donation pile). Despite our best efforts to purge, we simply have a lot of crap. We're girls! Isn't that like a rule of females?

What really is unfortunate is now that I am all moved in, I've realized that I could have gotten rid of many more things. Oh, well.

Anyhow, the apartment looks great and once we deal with some minor issues it's going to be amazing! Now if only I can figure out a way to stay cool in 95 degree weather without air conditioning...

I've got it! Visit my family in NH for the month of August.

Prank Call Yourself

Have you ever been on a bad blind date and wished your friend would be a pal and call you with a fake emergency? I've had one or two occasions where I thought a conveniently times emergency phone call would have been incredibly helpful.

Now you can get that phone call anytime you like without the help of a friend using this web site. I read one review of this site stating the pointlessness of the concept, but I actually think there are rare occasions when this technology could be pretty useful.

Running in a New Neighborhood

Some of my most recent acquaintances might not believe this to be true of me, but I have to admit that when I was in college I was quite the running addict.

Ok, I'm already lying. In college I went running almost every single morning for perhaps a year (not including the summer) with a friend of mine. I liked running because I liked being outside and being by myself, but mostly I just liked to listen to my favorite songs every day for a half hour before I went to class.

Apart from the nature and the music, I didn't like running at all. I got winded in 2.8 seconds, I was always super slow and found the activity to be incredibly exhausting (small wonder). I'd always get cramps in my stomach and my sides, and no matter what I did (eating bananas, drinking more/less water, etc.) the cramps were perpetual. What I hated most about running was that I never got better at it. After a year of running, I'd not seen any improvement in my longevity and that was truly unfortunate.

Anyhow, lately I've been thinking that I need to start doing some form of exercise. I walk all over the place, but that doesn't really do anything good for my heart or my muscles. Once we move, we'll be living in a neighborhood that is absolutely perfect for running. I'm thinking I'd like to start again, but I'd to have a more positive experience this time around than I did during my previous stint as jock-extraordinaire.

If anyone has any suggestions about books or web sites, of even advice or personal experiences I'd love all the help I can get. :-)

Super Large Vitamins

Over the past year I've come to realize that I could stand to take a multi-vitamin. I have a tendency to eat things that are relatively healthy for me, but variety in my diet simple doesn't exist. I like grits every single morning for breakfast, and when it comes to eating vegetables it's like a top 40 radio station (simply no variety... I like avocados, what can I say?). I've certainly got some gaps in my vitamin intake, and drinking vitamin water once every two weeks doesn't really fill that void. So I decided I was going to take a multi-vitamin.

Excuse my language, but holy hell. When I first started my research to find the perfect vitamin I first thought that the human pills had been mixed up with horse vitamins. I'm not good at taking pills, and there is no way I could choke down a vitamin the size of a women's "One A Day" supplement. I want to be healthy, but I also don't want to asphyxiate in the process.

As an alternative, I found a Viactive vitamin (not the chocolate calcium ones) that was made specifically for women and advertised a berry coating in an easy to swallow size. I thought this could just be the trick for me, but these vitamins made me feel nauseous... it's almost as if they sat like a rock in my stomach for a few hours before they finally vanished into my system.

I'd basically given up on the multi-vitamin until my sister found a tiny vitamin called One A Day "Essential" - sure it doesn't have all the vitamins that I probably could stand to be getting, but it does have the essential ones (go figure) and the best part is that it is only about the size of my pinky fingernail.

And so ends the vitamin saga of my life to date.

Seeing Amanda

My roommate from France, Amanda, came to New York on the 6th of July and I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with her and spend some time catching up with her and her sister. Whenever I am going to see someone I have not seen in a very long time, I am always a little nervous because I wonder if it will be weird or awkward or sadly different.

Amanda is amazing, though, and while it wasn't like when we were in France (haha, go figure) it was definitely just as fun to see her a year later for brunch as it was to spend Sunday afternoons grading her kids' papers and watching bad movies in French. The only thing that would have made it better was if our other roommate Hannah could have been there (Hannah, if you're reading this, take advantage of our crap economy and come over!).

Long story short, it's just nice to see people you haven't seen in forever.

Also, we went to an excellent brunch place in Manhattan called Norma's. It's on 57th street (118 East 57th, to be exact) and it was probably one of the best breakfasts I have ever had! I paid $26 for my meal, but it was worth it. I ordered the Wa-Za waffle or something like that - it had tons of fruit and a torched sugar coating reminiscent of crème brûlée (so of course I was in love). If you ever want to go out for an amazing brunch, I'd highly recommend this place.

Coney Island

On the 4th of July not only did I attend what some people claim to be the best firework display in the country, but I also went to Coney Island for the first time ever and saw, in person, the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. The guy who won ate something like 64 hot dogs in 10 minutes! I was impressed. It was also really fun to be there because this year was the first time in the history of the contest that they had to go into overtime to determine a winner. I'll have to post a video clip of what the guys behind us were saying - it was wildly inappropriate but terribly funny.

Taking the train over to Coney Island is a lot of fun and is incredibly convenient to our new apartment. When the train gets close to the end of the line you can see all the rides and entertainment stretched out below you. When Brittany and I went we saw people advertising a freak show or something of the sort, and a woman was carrying a rather large live snake around her neck. We also saw tons of rides and of course had a sampling of the carnival food (I recommend the soft serve ice cream which was super delicious).

I am told that Coney Island sports one of the dirtiest beaches in all of New York and this may very well be true. However, having nothing to compare it to, I had a fun time frolicking around in the ocean (which is, by the way, freezing cold) and kicking sand at Brittany. I plan on going back there very soon with a book and an umbrella.

Staten Island Opinions

I was listening to a report on WNYC radio which interviewed a conservative woman on Staten Island. The reporter said the driving force for her to vote was that she simply didn't want to have a black president. She was quoted saying: "I don't want the impoverished communities to feel more empowered than they're beginning to feel... if you want me to be honest."

I'm pretty appalled by that statement. As someone who was raised to feel empowered and be an advocate for yourself, I just don't understand why anybody would want to suppress that feeling in others. If you don't want people to be empowered, then I'd argue you might as well be suppressing them. It's just sad... I thought in this day and age we were beyond that.

4th of July

So this recap is a little belated, but better late than never.

I think this year was the very first year since I was 5 that I have spent the 4th of July elsewhere besides on my lake in NH. The lake fireworks are no huge spectacle (especially by comparison to city fireworks and the ones you see on tv) and the mosquitoes attacking you for a half hour while you stand on the beach is hardly appealing. Still, there is something magical about the 4th on the lake... maybe it is the playing of Taps after the fireworks are done, the unified lighting of the flares at dusk, the fog horns and the cheers, or the prospect of something going crazily awry at Kidder's point (although I admit this tradition is one of the past, now)... it's probably a little bit of everything that makes the 4th one of my most favorite holidays.

This year was fun but definitely different. I saw fireworks with thousands of strangers and the sky was anything but dark... I think I was sitting under a street lamp. I shared the obscured view with a rat, and the sounds of the fireworks were muted by distance and other city sounds.

Still, what I could see from where I was standing was pretty cool - I saw smiley faced fireworks and planet fireworks which were pretty incredible. Next year I am going to find a better location... I'm scouting starting today and if any native New Yorkers have suggestions I'll gladly take them.

Psyched To Be Moving

The other day I was walking home from the train station and a little kid had a lit bottle rocket in his hand and was pointing it at two other neighborhood children as he chased them down the sidewalk. His parents were egging him on. I was in between the rocket blaster and the targets. Joy of joys.

Needless to say, I don't live in the best neighborhood and though my apartment is beautiful, it really doesn't make up for the seemingly endless sketchy-ness and noise that my neighborhood perpetuates. As a result, Brittany and I are moving and I know I speak for myself (of course) when I say I can't wait!

The neighborhood we are moving into in Brooklyn is very calm and quiet. We are going to be living on the top floor of an amazing building in a beautiful apartment. The apartment is more than twice the size of the one we live in now, and the rent is the same (yippee!). Here are some pictures of the place:


This is looking towards the doorway of what will be my room. I am standing in the corner by the radiator and windows.


This is the opposite view of my room, taken from the doorway.


This is Brittany's room, taken from her doorway.


This is a different view of the same room as above, taken from the opposite corner.


This is a picture of the doorways to the two rooms in the above pictures. My room is on the left, Brittany's is on the right.


In this picture you can see the door of Brittany's room and the two bathroom doors.


This is another view of the two bathroom doors. To the left is Brittany's room and to the right is a closet and Emily's room.


Here you see the 2nd bathroom's door, the linen closet and the entrance to Emily's room.


Here is Emily's room... I took this picture standing in her doorway.


Here is an opposite view of Emily's room, looking back to her doorway.


A view of the foyer, my back to the bedrooms, also showing the kitchen and the entry.


A better view of the kitchen - we have a washer and dryer, huzzah!


The living room!


The living room again.


And finally, standing in the living room looking back towards the foyer and the bedroom area.

Yeah, I can't wait to move.

I'm Protesting Amtrak Until I Use Their Services Again

When I came back from France and started using the public transit system in the US, I was a little upset with the quality of the available services and, in particular, the options for train service. I thought this might just be because I had spent 7 months living in a country with exceptional train service, a country who might be the world leader in that type of travel (well, in my opinion anyhow). When I moved to New York City my thoughts on public transit were somewhat appeased as the transit in NYC is, on the whole, exceptional. However, I regularly take trains elsewhere besides the city and it is my experiences outside of New York that have led me to come to the conclusion that train service in this country is abominable.

Exhibit A: I want to get to Washington DC for a weekend to visit my friends. Flying round trip I could probably find fares for about $300 but that's a little much for a weekend stay. Since I dislike riding the bus, I looked into the train and was shocked to find that my options are one way tickets costing anywhere from $98 to $151... essentially, taking the train is comparable to flying in costs. Why pay $200-300 for a train ticket when I can take the bus round trip for $15? I think the train should reasonably be more expensive than the bus, but I'd cap my spending off at $150 round trip.

Exhibit B: When I just went to the Amtrak web site to confirm the horrific price of tickets, I noted at the bottom of their web page it had a link that said, "Historical On-Time Performance" and I almost dropped my computer laughing. I regularly take a train called The Vermonter from NY to White River Junction, VT. Here's the thing... driving from my house in NH to my doorstep in NYC should take just over 5 hours. This is tried and true. Now, when I take the train I have to allow for time to get to Penn Station (45 mins. to an hour) and also to get from White River Junction to my home (about an hour). Let's be generous and add 2 hours to my travel time.

Now, the train is supposed to take approximately 7.5 hours according to the schedule. This makes my travel time a total of 9.5 hours if everything goes according to plan. 9 hours vs. 5 hours, already not too appealing.

To add insult to injury, the Vermonter is usually late by an hour or two, so your travel time is really going to be almost 12 hours of travel when all is said and done. What do I mean when I say the Vermonter is usually late? I mean that it is only on time a quarter of the time.

Call me crazy, but I find this service to be simply unacceptable. Going from Amherst to Springfield on the Vermonter train takes an hour and a half (in a car, it takes 15 minutes). Is it too much to ask that trains at least travel at speeds comparable to speeds attainable on a highway? One thing that really interests me about the state of our country is our gas consumption, and I am consistently wondering to myself why more people don't take public transit. I think I've just answered my own question.

A Visit to NH

Though I love being in the city, I also love my family and am not always able to lure them to my new home in NY. As a result, I decided it was time I headed back to NH for some rest, relaxation, and familial visitation. I also dragged Brittany home with me, kicking and screaming the whole way (actually, she was very excited to leave the pollution in exchange for some fresh air and greenery).

Brittany and I had a super time while we were there. I rediscovered how much fun bike riding is thanks to Brittany's enthusiasm. We went swimming in the lake, had an excellent breakfast at the local café and enjoyed watching Camp Rock with my sister (I'll probably regret admitting to this sometime in the near future).

While I was in NH I was personally reacquainted with the vicious mosquitoes and black flies that reign over the forests of NH, and am now sporting a super excellent and hard to achieve random polka-dot pattern all over my body. I also was reminded of just how much I can eat... I devoured an ice cream cone that was the size of my head, and also had 3 large pieces of pizza in one sitting. I may be small, but I can pack it in! I'm exceptionally proud of this for some unknown reason.

Anyhow, it was fun to see my family and have a break from NY (however, I must admit, I am glad to be back).