3 years ago today I moved to new york.

happy anniversary to me!

faildogs = best site.

From jezebel :

But what a TV show will not tell you, no matter how many episodes you watch in a row, is that the people you meet here will only like you or want to help you as long as they can believe themselves to be better — more talented or more successful or richer or smarter — than you. The people you meet here will pretend to be your friends as long as it’s convenient for them or as long as it’s consistent with the versions of themselves they’re performing every day. The people you meet here will never hesitate to say things about you in print that they’d never say to your face. They have made a bargain. They will do whatever it takes to stay here. You came here because you thought you had a lot in common with them, and the thing is, you do. But those things aren’t the things about yourself that you like.

They're yapping about SATC here, but really? Do people really think about nyc, or more appropriately, the people who live here, in that way? Really??

For my part, I've met some of the best people here. I think I've become a better person in my time here, and that is at least partly because of the people I've met here. And it has nothing to do with the superficial shit that people ALWAYS weigh in on when nyc is brought up. When I dated a dude in Ohio, I would be introduced to his friends and invariably, without fail, the first question out of their mouths when they found out I lived in nyc was one of the following:
1. How much do you pay in rent?
2. How much money do you make?
And to that I always managed to respond in a polite yet evasive way, but really I wanted to punch them in their faces with a big FUCK YOU because really? You think these are acceptable questions to ask a virtual stranger? And I'm the one, by virtue of the place I'm currently calling home, that is obsessed with money? I know a lot of people who moved to nyc for a lot of reasons other than making money and achieving fame. And I know a lot of people who moved and here and found money and possibly a certain amount of fame, but that doesn't make them bad people, false people, or treacherous people. Being driven and being nice aren't mutually exclusive, you can be both.

And finally, I'm tired of the people who claim that living in nyc holds them back from their true selves - that they have to dress a certain way, act a certain way, be a certain way in order to be happy and/or accepted here. I think that if you feel that way here, you'll feel that way anywhere. The problem isn't with nyc, dudes.

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My poor boy has shingles.

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Still, Mr Boshingles and I are going to try our very hardest to see Wire for free tomorrow.

Here I am, being a nerd, nearly two years ago.

Well, I do.





They shot an episode in our offices today, and I became Stupid Gawking Fan #589430584930.

I wish I had worn a more flattering shirt.

This is where I grew up:



my dad took this photo - it's of our driveway. The building you see is my dad's workshop. I really love this.

This shit just keeps on coming:

http://nymag.com/news/features/43892/

Most horrifyingly embarrassing thing just happened to me!!

My ex-bf Vill is Bulgarian. Nikola once claimed that the word "buggery" derives from the word "Bulgarian." I, of course, told Vill about it, because I like to stir up Balkan tensions. Vill vehemently denies it, until he looks it up on wikipedia and finds this:

Etymology

The word bugger and buggery are still commonly used in modern English as a profanity, and "buggery" is also synonymous with anal sex.

The word "bugger" was derived, via the French "bougre", from "Bulgar", that is, "Bulgarian", meaning the medieval Bulgarian heretical sect of the Bogomils, which spread into Western Europe and was claimed by the established church to be devoted to the practice of sodomy. "Buggery" first appears in English in 1330, though "bugger" in a sexual sense is not recorded until 1555.

Hilarity ensures, at least for me, as Vill is fairly mortified that one, it's true, and two, a Serb called it.

So today I'm at work, and I call the IT guys to get new printers installed. They take over my computer to install the printers remotely, and Vill pipes up on IM - I use adium, and I have the notification bubbles turned on so even when a chat window is minimized, the other person's text shows up in a bubble on the upper right of my screen. And IT guy is fiddling away with my printer setup, and there is NOTHING I can do to get the DAMN bubbles OFF MY SCREEN. Anyway, one by one, this appears on my screen:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
When we're in bed
I'll stick it where you poo.

IT guy actually asks me, "do you want me to pretend I'm not seeing certain things?" And I mumble something like "uh, yes please?"

And now I sort of want to die of embarrassment.

[Granted, I have done nothing but make fun of Vill constantly about this for the past month or so. BUT STILL. ]

You guys, I'm really really bummed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7236106.stm

Fuji still makes instant film, but still. It's really bumming me out.

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In other news, I was playing online scrabble last night with jackallen, and my first word was "quid." AND THEN, about ten plays in, I got the following letters:
a e l o t s z
So I made ZEALOTS SQUID.

Zealots squid!! It was like, 100,00 points!

I bought this and it just arrived and it's beautiful and awesome and I can't wait to take artsy-fartsy b&w polaroids.

Also, that nasdaq photo was on Rock the Vote's site yesterday. I'm like, internet famous!

Chee!

My dad is really pumped that I was on cable business channels this morning!

Poll #1133014
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I get an iPhone?

I totally shouldn't have been nervous at all about my class, because someone was wearing uggs. Uggs. To a shoes design class.

EDIT: haha on the the unintentional "shoes design class" - it's evident how frazzled I was by the very thought!!

Today is my first day of class and I'm woefully under-prepared. I just realized that I need to trek over even earlier than I thought to get a student ID so I can even get into the building where my class is. Also, I don't have a notebook. Do I need a notebook? I'm assuming so. But I"m looking forward to the student discounts afforded to me with my ID. As well as, obviously, learning how to make shoes.

So I'm nervous! And there is a tiny part of me that worries that 19 year old hipster art school students are going to see me for the 32 year old, state school grad, Ohio born&bred hick that I am and snicker. But Nikola just re-assured me that I'll certainly be wearing the best shoes, so that makes me feel a bit more secure.

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Meanwhile, work is very busy, but I've started to become really good at not letting it consume my life, which is one of the main reasons I signed up for classes. I've renewed and continued my obsession with Polaroids, I've been scouting Propacks on ebay and found Fuji film that fits my Mio! I sneakily configured the color printer at work to scan and email stuff to me on a private channel sort of thing, so I'm going to start scanning my growing pile of photos soon. Most of them are of me and jackallen looking incredibly yet typically unphotogenic but whatever, <3.

A friend sent this to me from eTrade!

Pfizer (PFE) is updating the warning on its Chantix anti-smoking treatment to say that patients attempting to quit smoking with Chantix should be observed for serious neuropsychiatric symptoms, including changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior. The company said the new warning is based on a safety review of post-marketing reports by Pfizer and the Food and Drug Administration. "A causal relationship between Chantix and these reported symptoms has not been established. In some reports, however, an association could not be excluded," the company said.

Hi, I changed my username! I feel like doing a recap post, so here goes:

Last weekend, my pal J came up from KY. We hadn't hung out since I visited him in Barcelona, and we went to see Wu-Tang, which was a-may-zing. Highlights:
- Method Mad jumped around a lot and stagedove (what) and stood on the audience. as. he. was. rapping.
- I might have a crush on Method Man now.
- Ghostface was curiously dressed like Santa. He kept yelling at the light and sound guys - "Turn the blue one on! Turn the red one off! Turn the blue one on! Make my mike work!"
- ODB's mom was there! She came out on stage carrying the most enormous yellow purse I've ever seen.
- Erykah Badu serenaded "Happy Birthday" to Raekwon.
- As suspected, I couldn't identify U-God, Masta Killah, or Inspectah Deck.
- I read a review somewhere that RZA didn't show up, but I'm absolutely positive he was there, hanging back with GZA.
- Cappadonna was in some ridiculous head-to-toe Pepsi garb.
My only disappointment was that they didn't play "Gravel Pit," so I had console myself by watching the video 500 times.


This past week, I went to the gym twice, saved about $60 on bringing my lunch to work, spent it again as I kept oversleeping and taking cabs to work, and saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was really beautiful and life-affirming without being saccharin, and went to dinner on the UWS with Tim and his ex. I had a pomegranate-glazed porkchop with mashed yams and green beans, which I'm re-creating (stealing) this week. I also finally got around to seeing Double Life of Veronique, which I also really liked. On Saturday, I had coffee with Nikola, got my hair did, and went to see Blonde Redhead with Miss Amy and friends, they were really good (no Wu-Tang though). I padded around in my pyjamas yesterday, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom, mopping the floors, re-organizing my closet, reading and generally being totally chill because I didn't have to work today, either. Today was brunch with Tim, Whole Foods, and now I'm settling into a couple glasses of wine and El Topo.

A is coming up Wednesday night, I went grocery shopping and bought all sorts of foodstuffs, as I've planned out 4 dinners to make - I'm not like, suddenly domesticated and cooking for my man, but merely honoring my 2008 resolution of spending less money on bullshit (like take-out salads and pizza) and saving money by actually cooking good food (like porkchops with pomegranate glaze, with mashed yams and baby broccoli, because I am a thief of recipe ideas). We're planning to go see Last Year in Marienbad, and will probably have Sunday dinner at Tea & Sympathy, and will otherwise stay indoors so we can gaze adoringly at each other while not making anyone else ill.

I need to scan my polaroids and post them on my recently-in-use Flickr . I got my dad to sign up for Flickr! We're friends. I just discovered that Fuji makes film that is compatible with my discontinued Mio, although only in Asia, but I still got 5 packs for $20 on ebay. FTW wallet-sized polaroids! I'm also in the market for a used Pro Pack with flash unit. They're going for $60 on ebay, but I'm waffling. Also, every 20 minutes I decide that I want an iphone, and then promptly talk myself out of it.

9 days until my shoe design & construction classes start!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7182817.stm

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My paternal grandfather did not want my parents to adopt. He fretted that I would grow up to marry my brother, that no one would know but I would, in fact, be schlepping my brother and we'd have children with horns and we'd be banished to the ends of the earth and then the world would end, etc. He was a true drunk, and usually yammered on about this when pickled. Everyone used to laugh at him, but I bet he'd be pleased pink with this article.

Possibly the best line in network television history:

Now you're like one of the Arabians my father used to own: rode hard and put away wet.

Maybe what makes it so awesome is that, for maybe 10-15 seconds, I thought "Arabians" was referring to a harem, and not horses.

Yay Gossip Girl!!

Things I'm jazzed about:

1. My registration for classes at FIT is complete! Starting Jan 30, I'm going to be taking a course in shoe design and construction along with its co-req, accesories design and human anatomy.

2. My meat/fruit/cheese girl pseudo-dinner party tonight! I'm making:
huge salad with duck breast, wensleydale cheese with cranberries, green grapes and spiced pecans
dates and gorgonzola cheese wrapped in bacon
pigs in blankets!!
melon wrapped in proscuitto
pickled beets with goat cheese
assorted fruit - pomegranates, clemetines, blackberries - and double cream brie
fig spread, even though I'm counting on other people to bring bread (and wine!)


3.


4. It being 68° today.

5. Something else that I can't talk about yet!