This week:

Friday, September 30, 2011

This week I:

  • Fell down a flight of stairs while dropping garbage and a box of wooden wall shelves causing residents to poke their heads out their doors to ask if I was ok
  • Got attacked by my cat as I attempted to force eye-goop (this is the technical term) into her infected eye
  • Found out my ex is engaged
  • Drank (almost) an entire bottle of wine by myself
  • Ripped my favorite jeans
  • Broke a wineglass at work
  • Got rain water spilled directly onto my head by the asshole who decided to close his umbrella over my head right as we entered the subway
  • Got stuck underground and in between stations for 25 minutes (with head still wet)
  • Talked (quite pathetically) about the Photographer I've been seeing for the past couple months to my room mates and coworker friends
  • Left the Photographer's apartment (quite pathetically) when he told me he had "a sexual relationship on the side"
  • Found myself standing on a dark corner in Brooklyn at 12am on a school night wondering where the fuck I was and how the fuck I was going to get somewhere that looked vaguely familiar
  • Realized I left my ring at the photographer's place, meaning that I will undoubtedly have to see him again (unless by some miracle I can convince K to go get it for me....this might be the best (most immature) option)
Nygirl3:0 New York: 1,000,000

Horoscope

Thursday, September 29, 2011

My horoscope today:

"Stick to common sense. You're gaining status. An authority communicates a transition. Reassess the situation; work smarter, not harder. Find another source of revenue. Home feeds your spirit."

Interesting....

When your ex gets engaged

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This does not happen everyday. And it has happened to a very good friend of mine more than once. So what is the typical reaction when your ex gets engaged?

My friend (we'll call her Christie) has had a few different reactions:

"Whatever, I don't care. I broke up with him."
"He called me last night and we talked for an hour! I wonder if she knows that..."
"I think maybe I made a huge mistake by breaking up with him."
"WTF now he's super rich AND good looking? ....Fuck."
"Maybe one day he'll realize we were meant to be."

"Christie, that was years ago, you know you're happier now."

"Ya....."

When this happened to her yet again, her response was somewhat different:

"Oh my god, John's engaged to that crazy bitch! What the hell is he thinking?"
"She made him delete me from facebook, wtf???"
"He was the best guy I ever dated."

Needless to say, I think that no matter when you dated, and no matter how you broke up, an engagement comes as somewhat as a shock. Yes, I think I can use shock as a way to describe my entire morning.

I strolled into work at my usual time, got my coffee, ordered a breakfast sandwich. Then things got hectic: I got pulled away to help train the new receptionist, the vault guy needed help, I had to fill people in about what happened at the office last night, and before I knew it it was 11am and I hadn't checked my email yet!

I checked my work email....then my personal email....then meandered over to facebook....and OMG WTF M's ENGAGED?!?

Literally it was the first thing I saw on my news feed. I couldn't believe it! So soon? So young? What's going on? Ahhh!

Let me note that I have had this reaction to almost all of the engagements/pregnancies that pop up on facebook. With each day that I get older, someone is getting married or knocked up! And the better I know the person, the weirder it is. 24? That's too young to be married/pregnant/divorced/dead! Am I right? Girls I was once very close to in high school have thus far been the most shocking...until today.

M and I didn't have the best breakup, but I definitely don't have romantic feelings for him now. I've always been happy for him and his "new" girlfriend. She looks very sweet: short, brunette, the girl next door type...the opposite of me really, which I've often thought it funny.

But it definitely made me think. What if I hadn't broken up with him? What if that was me? What if I was still in Arizona? He's been dating her ever since we broke up but I've been pretty much...single. Does this mean I'm behind? How different would my life be?

Reflecting back to our end, he really wanted a relationship, and I just felt trapped, like I needed to get out, needed fresh air. Obviously, we wanted different things, and I think we both got what we were after. He has the fiance in Arizona he so longed for, and I have my freedom in New York. In the end, we are both happy, and I am very happy for him. But part of me is exhaling thinking, "thank god that isn't me!"

Technology: I spoke too soon

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I suppose it's really all my fault. I mean, I was feeling super confident. They need someone to train the new receptionist, I can do that. Locating an element? Sure, I got it. Doing the Vault guy's job? Yep, doing that too. Exporting, converting, posting, laying back, making EDLs, OMFs, AAFs, you name it, I got it! Technology will not scare me as it once did. I beat the bastard! I know what I'm doing!!!

.....Until I don't. Today was one of those days.

I prove myself wrong. No matter how many notes I take, or people I ask, sometimes the answers are just not there. Take today, for example. I was laying back to tape and I had FIVE issues doing so. Every time I tried to do it, something went wrong. A tape wasn't basiced correctly. The deck was showing the image fuzzy. The sound didn't come through correctly, even though when tried again...it was fine.

In the end I suppose I can only know what I know and the more difficulties I run into, the more I'll know how to fix. And that sometimes even though you're doing something right....something will go wrong. I just have to keep telling myself....."it's not your fault its not your fault its not your fault."

On a different note, I will try to make myself feel better not by stuffing my face with the freshly baked peanut butter cookies (whose scent is wafting down the hall and over to my desk), but with an hour and a half long class of intermediate yoga. I bought a month unlimited of free yoga on groupon and I've been eager to use it. No time like the present.

Arizona in New York

Monday, September 26, 2011

So two of my girlfriends from film school came to stay with me for the weekend. One of them was chosen out of thousands to be one of the top 25 finalists in a pilot-writing contest. The winner was given a deal with Fox and $25,000! Congrats KG!

They arrived at midnight on Thursday night and we stayed up a bit talking, but I got to sleep around 1:30. On Friday after work we had dinner at Los Feliz in the Lower East Side with our friends R and J who we all knew from Arizona. Afterwards we headed over to Piano's (a cool artsy bar where Lady Gaga used to play before she became famous) for a drink. By the time midnight rolled around I was feeling pretty tired, and J had gotten angry with me because I told him to go flirt with a girl he thought was cute. He's the kind of guy you only see as a friend but he's in love with you so he always gets mad at any hint of you liking someone, or any suggestion from you about them and someone else. Did that make sense? Anyway I left early because I was tired and because of J's drama. End of story.

On Saturday M wasn't feeling very well....too much wine. And sangria. And prosecco. But after a little while we convinced ourselves to get up and go for a walk across the park. We saw a lot of interesting things...


A couple getting married....at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon on the most inconspicuous bridge in Central Park!

A pretty harpist!


The famous Central Park "Von Trapp" family who I always see singing by the fountain...

A fat dog lounging!! There was a dog festival going on.....ya...it was kind of weird...

I can't even really comment on this....elderly man with dog in tutu...eating ice cream....yaaa...



You just don't get weirder than that.....

ANYWAY, the girls left right after brunch on Sunday afternoon so it was a short trip but good to catch up, however briefly.

The Lamp Battle

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

That fucking lamp!

When I moved into my new apartment one of the old tenants left a lamp. It's a simple floor lamp with no shade, just a bulb on a metal pole, essentially. When my mom was visiting, she ordered a red lampshade as well as the little piece which attaches the lamp shade to the lamp.

Simple enough.....right?

WRONG.

The shade and metal piece was delivered about two weeks ago. In order to get the metal piece onto the lamp we had to take the entire thing apart. I had to unscrew all the screws, take apart the wires and pull the cord out from the metal pole in order to get the metal piece onto the pole. This was a huge hassle. My room mate and I spent an hour doing all of this until we realized that the little piece didn't even fit on the pole. FUCK! So now we have screws everywhere and a cord which absolutely WILL NOT fit back through the metal pole. I mean it. I tried snaking it through. I tied thread onto the cord and tried pulling the thread first to help get it through. I spent way too much time trying to get this piece of shit put back together and I have nothing. The result: we had to throw away the lamp pieces and now all we're left with is a bulb and a shade. The cheapest thing on the Bed Bath and Beyond website which looks like the shade would fit is $129.00!!

I so wish my dad was here to help me figure this out! I love the little lamp shade and really want to use it. But as of right now it's just sitting on my keyboard looking absolutely stupid. Maybe one day I'll get this figured out. Maybe?

The "Happy" Cab Driver

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A few weeks ago when my mom was in town visiting we decided to go for dinner at Tolani's wine bar, one of my favorite restaurants. We both had on cute shoes so decided not to walk to 1/2 mile to the restaurant. We hailed a cab on the corner of 64th and West End and got into the cab with the happiest cab driver on earth. Literally.

He made a sharp turn onto 64th with upbeat music playing and he was grinning from ear to ear as we opened the door.

"Welcome to my cab!" We got in the car all smiling; it's very rare to have such a friendly driver.

"In my cab we are about peace and love and being happy! No unhappy cab drivers here. You must always be happy. Always smile. Always be positive. No negativity here. You are young and beautiful and happy...."

Our cabbie rattled away while bumping Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" and swerving around corners.

After 5 minutes in the happy cab, we were ready to get out. Yes, he was a happy cab driver...but a little too happy for our taste!

Back to my life

Friday, September 16, 2011

This summer has been incredible. Incredibly hot. Incredibly stressful. Incredibly changing. I've learned an incredible amount.

I'm so happy to finally be getting back to my life. I have a home. Not a dump apartment where I live in constant fear of bedbugs, roaches, and waterbugs. No disrespect from my room mate. No issues with a bad landlord or incompetent super. It's so refreshing to sleep soundly in a soft, warm bed. To get out of the shower and enjoy being in my room watching a movie with Sasha in an environment that is clean and bug free! I like coming home and my new room mates are so nice and I'm really enjoying them. What's better is that I have my privacy back! The location is great. The building is great. It's great!

I've just asked for a raise at work. I know I more than deserve it, and even though I know I won't get as much as I want, I know I'll be happy with any increase in salary. I've learned so much. I feel like I'm constantly trying to cram information in my head. I'm doing tutorials for After Effects and Avid around the clock and I'm always taking notes and asking questions. Will I ever get it? Yes, it just takes time. I've come so far from where I was a year ago and I've learned so much about technology and this industry. I feel really fortunate to be working here.

Things are finally settling down and a lot of the moving/bedbug stress is melting off of my shoulders. Even though I sometimes still wake up and search my sheets, or check for any possible unpaid bills, I know I'm doing alright. I know I'll be alright.

I was walking to work this morning. It really feels like the first day of fall. The sun was shining and the air was crisp. It was like breathing in a fresh, new air, different from the summer. I was wearing all black and had my black sunglasses on. I walked past the backside of Lincoln Center where they have had fashion shows running everyday. I watched the models come and go through the stage doors, and all of the fashion interns running around like crazy- very glamorous. Even though I've had the summer from hell, and there were days I thought I just really couldn't get through it, I'm so happy I'm here and doing it.

I started thinking about all of the things that I've accomplished, and all of the things that I've been through recently. At that moment I decided it was all worth it, because I'm here doing what I always told myself I would be doing, what I always knew I would be doing. And those bad things that happened have just lead to better things. I'm on an upward climb and I can see the top of the mountain even though I don't know what's on the other side.

Last night the office threw a surprise 50th birthday party for the owner and we all had so much fun. Karaoke and a lot of alcohol! The owner gave a very emotional speech that left most of the girls at the office crying. I really respect him and I'm so happy I'm working here and not for a corporation.

Tonight I'm going on a 6th date with a guy K set me up with a couple months ago. I like him a lot, he's creative and funny, and very nice. I'm not sure we want the same things though I think it's too soon to tell.

A couple of my college friends are coming to visit this month and I'm looking forward to seeing them. Fall in New York is such a beautiful time. It feels like this season is bringing happiness with it. Funny that the past two summers have been so difficult but yet summer is my favorite season. I'll keep you updated...

The Landlord From Hell!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

I'm going to fill you in on some nasty things. Our ex landlord is the biggest asshole that ever walked the planet. Here's why:

Last week, I called to let him and the super know that I would be dropping off my keys, but that K would still be moving out until September 1st. I wrote my name and address down on a piece of paper, put it and my keys in a plastic bag, and dropped them under my super's door.

The next day, when K went to move the second half of her things, she found the apartment completely empty. He had THROWN AWAY all of her belongings! Her bed, shoes, clothes, food, athletic gear, everything. She called me in tears. How dare he do that to her! I'm appalled. I told her to go straight to small claims but she said she was too busy and too lazy. Oh well then. I hope she's able to get some redemption out of him.

Then, the second straw. Today I emailed the landlord to give him my new address so that he could send me the security. He responded back saying that I owed him rent through December! I went through my past emails, found the email he sent us stating that we could vacate early, and wrote him back saying that if he was planning on pursuing this I would take him to small claims. That shut him up. He apologized for the misunderstanding. Haha...sure...a misunderstanding.

Anyway, on a happier note, my mom was here with me this weekend and we FINALLY got the new apartment set up so that it is livable! I'm so excited to live in a new home that really feels like a home, not a prison sentence. I got a battery for my camera so I'll post pictures of my neighborhood soon!

All is much better now than it was a month ago, and I'm so excited to start this new chapter in my life.