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[15 Apr 2008|04:15pm] |
My brother and KumSeong came to visit. I spent so much money on food and drink. It was worth it though because I hardly have the excuse to eat out, so I ordered great things that I can never cook myself.
It's so strange to try and show off a city to people who inherently hate city life. It's like "well, maybe we can go to Prospect Park because they have lovely TREES?"
Speaking of trees, today I ate lunch in Madison Square Park. It was nice in the sun. Not a cloud in the sky. On Friday I have plans to meet Amanda there, as she works just on the other side. It's like a perfect meeting point, and hopefully by then they'll have the tables and chairs set up.
The Knees had a photoshoot at a loft in Williamsburg this weekend. Normally I really hate pictures of myself, but I have a few shots that I'm partial to which will look a lot better after the appropriate photoshopping.
I have a new office at work. I'm excited that the 'marketing team' (me and my boss) will have our own space to chill and brainstorm in, but there is absolutely no natural light, which I'm not excited about in the least. It's like a closet office. I'll have to take regular trips outside to remain sane.
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[06 Apr 2008|09:35pm] |
Friday night Aaron and I went to the Flux Factory's beginning of the end party. It's a typical tale: artist colony faces displacement at the hands of Eminent Domain. In order to make the most of a normally sad situation, they've decided to throw a series of apocalyptic parties in the month running up to their demise.
I have a personal history with the Flux Factory. It's strange how it sort of made its way into my life: When I was in the emergency room at Bellveue this past summer, the girl in the bed next to me had been brought to the emergency room by her flat mate after falling from a ladder and hitting her head. I could hear her talking to the doctor about the fact that she lived in an artist warehouse in Queens, and that she was removing insulation from her room when she fell. Though I couldn't see her because of the curtains between our beds, I felt like I was sort of eavesdropping on her whole life story.
A few months later, a friend of Aaron's ended up moving to an artist warehouse in Queens and invited us for an art exhibit they were having on a Friday night. At one point I was in the communal kitchen, and noticed a list of free hospitals and clinics noted on a freehand map of New York someone had drawn on the wall. One of the hospitals circled was Bellveue. When I mentioned my emergency room story to Aaron's friend, she introduced me to her flat mate who turned out to be the girl I was next to in the emergency room. Surviving a trip to Bellveue is enough to make compatriots out of strangers, so we ended up talking for the rest of the night.
The first trip to Flux Factory was a sensory overload. Everything was customized, and had a theme. Everything that could be made into an art exhibit, had been. The kitchen reminded me of a tropical rain forest, with vines creeping over the pot rack, and planters hanging from the windows. The library was two storeys, with a hidden room behind a moving bookcase. The bathrooms had been turned into micro parties in and of themselves. There was a gallery, a wood shop, a practice space, and a huge rooftop terrace overlooking all of Manhattan.
The feeling at this latest party reminded me of Mardi Gras. When you know it will all come to an end soon, so you decide you might as well make the most of it and party like you have no regrets. Every wall was covered in graffiti. Not street graffiti, more like art graffiti. People made exhibits encouraging visitors to 'take their own piece of the Flux Factory home with them.' They turned the two storey library into a two storey slide. The rooftop terrace had 10ft tall wood letters with light bulbs on them spelling out FORGET IT. They were standing up directly in front of the view of the city. The whole thing had a "fuck it, we're going down in flames" feeling. It was great.
Saturday night we went out again and did a little bar hop in Williamsburg. Larry Lawrence (a hidden bar, but not quite a speakeasy) on Grand, Iona on Grand, and Rose (the wine cellar in the basement) on... Grand. Can you tell I like Grand St? One day I was walking down the street (when I used to work on Grand) and saw a torn out page of a magazine in Japanese with an article all about the boutiques, bars and cafes on Grand St. It was adorable to think that somewhere in Tokyo, a Japanese magazine editor was weighing the cultural cachet of Williamsburg, and somehow decided to send its readers down Grand rather than Bedford. Quite an editorial leap of faith.
Today I listed one of my Eames pieces on Craiglist. A pastel yellow leather Aluminum Group lounge and ottoman for $4000. I got two e-mails inquiring whether it was still available, and haven't heard back since I responded earlier in the day. There was a great flea market down the street on Lafayette. The first of a soon to be weekly Fort Greene Flea Market, put on by Brownstoner.com, which is a blog about brownstones, and the cultural goings on of Brownstone Brooklyn. I met my friend Caroline there, since she lives just a few blocks into Clinton Hill, and we browsed the flea for a bit. She bought a scarf, I bought some Corning Ware coffee mugs and bowls with the same brown flower print my Grandmother used to own.
After the flea we stopped in at Smooch for a late lunch. Every time I eat there, I'm reminded just how good the food is. It's about 95% organic, including the wine and beer (the few dishes that aren't organic are listed). I had a chicken and turkey sausage sandwich with mixed greens, and Caroline had a salad with chicken and avocado called the Sassy Lassy. We had a few glasses of organic Malbec, and talked about the neighbourhood. After lunch (which extended into dinner by that time) Caroline had to walk to Target, and I had to go buy quarters for my laundry. There's a change machine in a laundromat near by, and I always feel guilty for using it but then taking the quarters back to my own apartment. No one's ever said anything but I know one day they will and then I'll have to start planning ahead and buying quarters from the bank like everyone else.
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[04 Apr 2008|09:38am] |
I created a Wikipedia article for my work yesterday. Well, actually, I created it a week ago, but it had to go through my boss, and the CEO for approval and was actually uploaded yesterday.
Within three minutes it was flagged for deletion. Despite my previous insistence to remove any fluff or peacocking from the language before we uploaded it, a random user defined the article as blatant advertising, and marked it for speedy-review.
Naturally I appealed, stating that my article was no different from any other company's in the space, and that by citing awards and press recognition, I warranted enough notability of the company in order to justify a Wiki article.
Somehow overnight a moderator erased the flag, and allowed the article to stand as it was.
Internet democracy lives!
(Although to be honest, the original user who flagged it did sort of have a point. The only reason we created it WAS for advertising.)
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[31 Mar 2008|07:00pm] |
The whole city's in a foul mood today. Coming off the heels of a beautiful weekend, it's a rainy, grumpy Monday. Work today was shit. Coming home I had to hang off the greasiest subway pole, and had one of those drivers who just loves to slam on the brakes and then randomly release them, so the whole car jerks. Do they do it on purpose? Some drivers are fucking amazing at managing a train. Like riding on air. Others seem to be placed on this earth to annoy New Yorkers. They have to know that it throws everybody off their balance.
Now that I'm home, I'm listening to Stereolab's Mars Audiac Quintet on vinyl because it's a fucking solid wall of sound, and really dronal (droning + tonal). It seems to fit today. I'll probably go to bed about 8 or 9 if I'm lucky, because last night was just not enough sleep. I'm sore all over from working in the yard on Sunday. I tilled that soil like it owed me money.
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[30 Mar 2008|10:53am] |
Last night I met a friend from work at this ridiculous mess called the R Bar on Bowery. It's one of those places where we all end up eventually, never on our own accord, but because a friend of a friend is there and a social obligation requires it, etc. My friend from work is beautiful. She used to work in fashion and has a really great style. I had cleaned up well myself. So when the bouncer put on airs and said "What party are you here for? This is a private event." We just sort of shared a moment together like "you've gotta be kidding me." Laura, my friend, said something like "oh, we're here for Meredeth's birthday" which could have been true. It was too loud inside to actually hear. The both of us rather stuck out like sore thumbs. Everyone inside had transplanted themselves from the Upper East Side. It was really strange to see all these striped shirt meatheads on The Bowery. That they're descending below 14th, and into the previous cultural freakshow of the Downtown crowd is a bit unsettling.
We had one drink and left, having fulfilled our social obligation, and wound up at this brilliant French bar/cafe that had a lot of dark wood, provincial settings and a low, tin pressed ceiling. At the corner of the bar nearest the door there was a giant vase and what looked like the budding boughs of nearly half a cherry tree arcing out of it. The branches took up so much space, it was really impressive. I guess spring is officially here.
I bought some peat moss and a hoe yesterday, and will probably start prepping my soil today. The Dogwoods are already in bloom, and the grass in the park across the street is starting to look a little greener.
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[29 Mar 2008|10:52am] |
I'm posting from my bed right now. The only reason I woke up is because it's so sunny outside, which is an infinitely nicer way to wake up than by an alarm clock at 6AM. I have absolutely no plans for this weekend, which is also sort of nice. There's a lot I have to do around the house.
Lately I've been thinking how convenient it would be to have a credit card. I swore off them in 2001 when I maxed out my 'Student Mastercard' and they upped my limit, only for me to max it out again. Since I just started a new job, and never received the last paycheck from my previous job, I have no money but have a really long laundry list of things I need to buy:
-Brown dress shoes (I have NONE, I'm really more of a black shoe person)
-Work clothes that can double as transition-to-spring clothes
-Peat moss and a hoe (to prep my soil for sod)
-Sod ($$$!)
-Plants (I'm thinking Hostas)
-Album maintenance and cleaning kit
-Air conditioner (this one can wait a few months more I hope)
I also REALLY want to go to the ROFLcon at Harvard, and have already paid for a two day pass, but I have no idea how I'm going to get there, and where I'm going to stay once I'm there. Two of my co-workers were trying to convince me that I should submit it as a work request, and get the company to pay for it. I know it's internet related, and we're a digital media company, but for some reason I think that might be a stretch.
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| Dave Brubeck |
[27 Mar 2008|11:55pm] |
Tonight I saw Dave Brubeck in concert. Unless you know my personal obsession with Dave, this post might leave you stale. However, if you're aware of how much I regard this man as a living legend of jazz, then by all means feel free to continue reading.
The CEO of our company brought me, and two other fans with him to accompany him in his Patron seats at the Lincoln Center. This meant 5th row from the stage, and access to the private intermission lounge. There was a two martini cocktail reception before, and a two martini cocktail reception after. And now it's 12 in the morning and I have just managed to navigate myself home on the A Express (running local.)
The concert was absolutely amazing. The Dave Brubeck Quartet started out first, and completely stunned the entire audience. After a 30 minute set, there was as 15 minute intermission, and then the Ramsey Louis Trio took the stage. But honestly. How can ANYONE be expected to follow Dave Brubeck? As much as I love Ramsey Louis, please. We left the auditorium for the bar after the third song.
I'm still in awe. Dave Brubeck is 87 years old. 87, and has the musical agility of a 30 year old, if that. Some of the chords he produced were absolute genius. Not to mention the time signatures. On the negative side, I rather missed Paul Desmond, Dave's regular sax player who died of lung cancer in the '90s. But honestly, that's just nit picking at this point. I could continue, but I'd rather not. The set was absolute genius all around!
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| Fashion |
[26 Mar 2008|02:45pm] |
Karl Lagerfeld is doing a Fendi shoot down the street. For some reason seeing him in person made me feel like what seeing Andy Warhol in person must have been like. You really can see his white hair for two blocks.
The models were climbing all over this giant rusted metal interlocking F, and the backdrop of the shoot was the Flatiron building, and behind that, Downtown.
I took my new work friend Laura to the organic bodega, and the two of us stopped into the cutest little Goodwill along the way. I know it may sound like I'm joking but this really was the best Goodwill I've ever seen! It was like a boutique. They had an entire wall of suits and another of evening gowns, and some great every day clothes that were obviously donated by well-to-do Manhattanites.
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| Update from work |
[25 Mar 2008|02:43pm] |
I forgot to mention about last night: Aaron came to the conclusion that his next big life goal was to get to professional level where he could survive off freelance work alone. When you do IT and Coding stuff, that's really a possibility. He said he wanted to go freelance so that he wouldn't be tied down to any one location so that he could arrange an apartment swap with someone in Buenos Aries for two months. Everyone's heading to Argentina right now. It's really popular. I think because 1. it's cheap, 2. there's lots of cocaine, and 3. it's the only country in Latin America where white people still run everything.
I got home around 10:30, and realised I was pretty buzzed. In a stoke of brilliance, I decided I had better start eating if I wanted to wake up bright and early without a hangover. The concept being that the food would dilute the alcohol in my system, etc., etc..
Unfortunately I not only woke up hungover, but also bloated.
I went for a walk around my work neighbourhood at lunch today and discovered some really unique shops! An organic bodega, a huge antique mall (looks overpriced), a shop that sells nothing but knives and scissors and all types of scary blades, and a dress-form store, which, apparently is a showroom entirely dedicated to retail mannequins. There's also a doggie daycare, and Jay Z's 40/40 club.
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| Long day |
[24 Mar 2008|10:38pm] |
Restless night going into Monday morning. Had a lot of work to catch up on in order to start the week off right.
I now have TWO work computers, a PC and a MacBook Pro.
The CEO stopped by my desk to pass along some books from his private library. This definitely made me feel special.
I met my friend Aaron for some drinks after work. He's just started a new job that he's not too sure about. We went to this really interesting place in the Flat Iron called the Cutting Room. Really old school New York. But for some reason felt the need to hop to another bar and wound up at this relatively deserted gay bar. Really strange. Not a good choice. Mosaic mirrored walls ALL AROUND.
Caught the Q back home and have just updated my joint weather blog: http://www.meteorblogogist.blogspot.com
Long day tomorrow.
Jason's friend Vikki is supposed to take me to an underground speakeasy that's modeled after a Parisian metro train to see her brother perform and catch a few drinks.
Will update later
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| I'm going to start using this again. |
[23 Mar 2008|09:42pm] |
Not for any sort of literary awards. Just simply for banal updates on my life.
I've decided this for a couple of reasons:
1. I feel very comfortable in New York now. I have a hand-full of good friends to call on for social situations. I know my way around the city, and have discovered some interesting places to hang out.
2. I've just been hired as a Marketing Assistant at an unnamed media firm. One of the fastest growing companies in America, with offices in London, Los Angeles, and soon Europe. The atmosphere is very late 90s internet boom. Lots of free shit and cocktail parties. Should prove interesting to write about.
Today:
It was near 50°F and not a cloud in the sky. I woke up early and cleaned the apartment. Took a long walk all the way up to Williamsburg, and passed through the Hasidic neighbourhood along the way. I'm used to being stared at in public, but walking through this area as a gentile is like parading naked through a colony of puritans. Bad times.
Made it to hipster Williamsburg, felt more at ease. Everyone was out of town/not returning my calls this weekend. I visited three record shops looking for the latest Monade album, but no luck. I may have to order it off the Too Pure label website which is only in Pounds Sterling. Expensive!
Walked across the Williamsburg Bridge to the Lower East Side for the very first time. Decided this was the best bridge to walk across due to lack of tourists (Brooklyn Bridge, I'm looking at you) and the fact that the pedestrian walkway is far and above the trains and cars (Manhattan Bridge, ahem). The views of Midtown are superior, and on the other side you can see all of South Brooklyn and the Navy Yard.
While I was at the 2nd Ave F and V station under Whole Foods, I saw a guy that successfully embodied a modern interpretation of the Andy Warhol look. Made me feel warm inside.
Now I'm listening to a Miles Davis record with the window open a crack, and a cool spring breeze occasionally creeping in. I know I should probably be ironing a dress shirt for work tomorrow, but I really can't be bothered.
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[05 Aug 2007|10:47am] |
Since I've started working, my job has basically taken over my entire life.
Every morning when I wake up at 6AM I check my work e-mail. And when I come home again at 8 or 9 pm, I check it again. I check it all weekend long, and actually look forward spending a Sunday afternoon planning out promotions and scheduling press releases. It sounds really boring but I do like my job. I really like my co-workers too, because like me, they have the necessary sense of humor required to actualise that despite how we may justify it, we've all signed our lives away to join a cult. This is really the closest I can get to explaining it. We work together, we eat together, we go out drinking together, we buy drugs and go to house parties together, and recently it's been proposed (by our director of green initiatives) that we volunteer in our community one weekend a month together.
Since I both live and work in Brooklyn, and since Brooklyn has been gentrifying at alarming rates, I almost NEVER leave my borough. Everything I could ever want in life I can find in Brooklyn. And on the rare occasion that I have some excuse to venture into Manhattan, I actually feel like a tourist, like I'm on a mini vacation. I look forward to finding excuses to go to Manhattan, so when my co-worker invited me to her birthday party at the Knitting Factory I was excited to have a reason to visit the island.
It's funny when you go out socially with people from your work environment. Sure, you may get to know one another more on a personal level, but office dynamic and hierarchy are always evident. The ultimate directive may change (from making money to having a good time) but you are definitely still at work. This was all the more apparent last night when we sent the intern upstairs to the bathroom to go roll a joint. And when I decided to switch from beer to water when I heard one of my clients was stopping by later on. (This was post intern joint mind you!)
This also makes it rather awkward when you somehow fuck up socially, and fear the consequences will inevitably resurface in the work environment. Or if you're socially neurotic like I am, and over analyse everything to have many different hidden meanings. It can be more work than when you're actually working!
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[26 Apr 2007|03:53pm] |
My worldly Posessions.
As of tomorrow I will no longer be a resident of Chicago. As of right now, all my stuff is in a giant pile in my living room.
I feel kind of guilty for saying that I won't miss living here. I spent half of my time fantasising that the streets I walked down belonged to another city.
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[23 Mar 2007|02:54pm] |
I found an apartment. I don't know quite how to explain it except to say that it is a tiny, minuscule, petite, little studio. Actually, it's basically a room. But it's a room with a full separate kitchen and bathroom, hardwood floors, 12ft ceilings, and huge windows, so I suppose that counts for something. It's in a pre-war tenement building on one of those narrow, ancient, one way streets lined with 19th century row houses, towering oak trees, and slate sidewalks in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. I kind of lucked out, but I always did have good real estate karma.
Anyway, I'll be staying in this sparsely furnished studio until I can find (in order of importance) a job, and then a permanent apartment, at which point I'll have to send for all my furniture and personal belongings. And by 'send for' I most likely mean flying back to Grand Rapids and renting a U-Haul to drive said belongings back to New York. Fun times.
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[01 Mar 2007|03:39pm] |
I'm moving to New York.
If you know anyone who is looking to sublet their New York apartment for May, June, and July please let me know. Otherwise I will have to find a roomate on Craigslist.org who will probably murder me in my sleep. I suppose it's better than being murdered while you are awake, but still.
Ryan
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[02 Feb 2007|04:03pm] |
Sean, KumSeong, Dad, Mom, Auntie Phyllis, Ruined The Photo, Grammy
I suppose I don't really have much to update on. Graduated University. Getting sick of Chicago. Looking for jobs in New York. Tried LSD. It's really cold outside.
I think that's about it! Cheers!
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[13 Jun 2006|05:45pm] |
I'm still not sure if I believe in god, but my life has been filled with a series of small miracles lately that have lead me to be quite thankful to... well... who or whatever is responsible for them.
Miracle 1. My brother wandered off into the woods to experiment with peyote and was not eaten by a bear or led off a cliff into the unforgiving sea by a talking dog.
Miracle 2. I found the same exact brown leather briefcase/messenger bag for sale as the worn out one I've been lugging around for the past two years. Filene's Basement, 60 dollars.
Miracle 3. Despite entrusting the supposed competence of EVERY APARTMENT RENTAL AGENCY in the city of Chicago, I managed to find (all on my own) the perfect two storey, brick coach house only four blocks from the Damen Blue Line station (or as I like to refer to it, the epicentre of hip).
P.S. It was built a year before the Chicago fire (1871) and survived, and has been through a gut rehab on the inside last year with brand new appliances windows and bathrooms.
Miracle 4. The weather lately has been fucking amazing. I hate to sound self centred but this is what I call a perfect day. 65-70 °F, not a cloud in the sky, and minimal humidity. It's been like this for about a week now, and usually around this time of the year it's 80, humid, and hellish.
Miracle 5. I tried to introduce my mom to the idea of Chicago public transport, of which she was initially quite apprehensive. Much to my surprise, there were no crazy people on board, the train was not crowded in the least, and didn't smell of urine, death, or discarded chicken bones as it usually does.
Praise be to Jesus, for that last one especially.
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