Transition!

Hi blog readers! It has been exactly one month since my last post. Why has it been so long? Well, as recently noted, I have not gone on any bad dates. I have not gone on any good dates. I have not done much of anything, actually. However, I do have a few things going on which I can detail, and I'm really excited about them!

Work. I have recently begun assisting a younger editor who is savvy in all things Final Cut, Avid, After Effects, Photoshop...and pretty much everything else. He really doesn't need any help, but it's amazing working with someone who can teach me things. I'm learning something new everyday and it's really going to improve my skills as an editor and it will make me a faster, better worker. The editor I had been working with for 8 months is currently working with a freelance assistant who knows Avid way better than I do so he's a much better fit for her. I have learned an incredible amount working with her, but unfortunately it's all been from google and trial and error. I can't say trying to solve huge problems with a gun to my head has been any fun for me or for her.

Roommate sitch. GREAT news! My sister is transferring to New York to go to film school! And that means she'll be taking over my roommate's lease in mid-June which is fantastic because now I can live with someone who is NOT passive-aggressive, defensive, dirty, or annoying. Yay! Both of my roommates will be leaving and my sister and I will get to pick our new roomie. We can make the apartment homey and maybe, just maybe!, spend time in the living room! I never do now because the mess drives me almost as crazy as my roommates do.

Two Saturdays ago my friend H and I went to California for a mini-vacation. She had never been to Cali before and I was very happy to be home and take her to Napa. My sisters just turned 21 and it was great being able to spend a little time with them as well as my parents. Below are some pictures from the trip.

Santa Cruz- Seagull chasing...yes, it's mature.

The Chinese gardens at Chateau Montelena

That's me in the background, wine tasting at Duckhorn. Yum yum!

Spring

I recently bought a groupon to a yoga place in my neighborhood that I'm becoming increasingly obsessed with. I did yoga pretty consistently in college but I've missed it since I moved to New York. I find it's difficult to find a teacher that I like; many teachers to a lot of chanting, meditation, or very slow movements. I want a yoga class that makes me sweat!

Enter YogaGil, the studio I'm now obsessed with. I found a teacher I really love (Lana is her name) and she is able to push me hard because the most people that I've ever had in a class are five! For New York, that's unheard of. I used to go to YogaWorks and you can't even stretch your arms out to the side. With the small classes I feel as though I'm getting private yoga instruction and I challenge myself because I'm more afraid of messing up! Anyway, as I sit at work every muscle in my body is aching and I'm loving every minute of it.

In other news, I'm waiting to hear from my sister if she's been accepted into Hunter College or not. If she does, there's a possibility of her moving in with me. I'm pretty sure my parents are against it, and perhaps I have selfish reasons for wanting her to move here, but it would be so great to get rid of my messy and sometimes stupid room mates (one left the oven on for the 3rd time last night!!) and live with my sister. It would just make my apartment feel more like home, and I wouldn't have to worry about having any awkward exchanges of any sort. My fingers are crossed that 1) she gets in and 2) she decides to come. We would have so much fun, especially since she's about to be 21!

It's only about 2 1/2 weeks now until H and I are going back home (to California) and I'm so excited about that. I'm looking forward to some time with my family and away from the city. Some warmer weather and sunshine couldn't hurt either. I can't wait to be strolling down this path:

H and the Teeth

My friend H recently had two dates with a guy we came to call "Christian Bale Guy." If only this was true. I'm writing her story because it's just too funny not to put out into the universe. So here goes.

H met this guy on OKCupid. Go figure. When looking through his pictures, we decided that he was cute, and in one of them he even looked like Christian Bale! So, of course, she decided to go out with him. Below, I will recall the conversation to the best of my ability.

Me: "So how was the date?"
H: "Meh. We had fun and we laughed and everything. I dunno."
Me: "Did he pay?"
H: "Ya."
Me: "Was he cute?"
H: "I think so."
Me: "You think so?"
H: "Well it was really dark in the bar and...I dunno...I just need to see him again to decide."
Me: "Ok."

PAUSE

Me: "What are you not telling me?"
H: "Ok, don't tell anyone this....but.....I don't know, I think he may have had some sort of...tooth thing."
Me: "A tooth thing?" (At this point I'm holding back my laughter. H is very...particular.)
H: "Ya, like you know people that have fake teeth?"

I stare at her blankly.

H: "Well, I just need to see him again to be sure. I couldn't tell if maybe there was something going on there."

At this point I'm laughing hysterically. We both go through her pictures of him again, making sure to closely examine the teeth- all of which look normal.

Cut to the second date. She decides, against my brilliant advice, to meet him at 10:30pm on a Friday night at a bar that is "more divey" (his words!) than the first. I told her that this was a booty call. 10:30 for a second date? No way. But she went anyway.

He seemed ok when she got there. Conversation was flowing, as was the whiskey. Each of them had the same amount of drinks, but somewhere along the way H noticed that Christian Bale Guy was very heavily intoxicated, much more than her. And, even more horrifying than an obnoxious drunk, the guy COULDN'T REMEMBER HER NAME! She kept asking him if he knew it, even at one point screaming, "Bastian! Call my name!" (fellow nerds unite please) but yet he couldn't come up with it. One might ask why he didn't just go to the bathroom and look at her number in his phone, but either way it was pretty bad. On top of his memory lapse, he kept trying to make out with her in the middle of the bar! (Did I call that one or what?) She said she was pushing him off her and he was belligerent. Plastered, as my mom would call it. Towards the end of the night she got fed up (don't ask me why she didn't leave once she discovered he didn't know her name) and told him she was going home. He had the nerve to ask if he could come with her. If it was me I would have laughed in his face.

Once home, she continued to receive nonsensical texts from him. The next day, as she was explaining the story to me while we walked the loop in the park, he even texted her asking if she could get him Nick Jonas tickets. Hmmm....this lad is not very clever.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, another bad date in Manhattan. It seems these monsters are lurking around every corner, just waiting to drunkenly humiliate us or forget our names.

I wonder what they must think of us.....

Oh, and I hope we can all see that the lesson to take away from today's post is: never accept an invitation to a "booty call date." Or agree to go to a "more-divey" establishment. Really boys, please try to impress us at least on the first 5 dates.

I Messed Up. Big Time.

So, taking a break from the dating world, I'm going to tell you about the colossal mistake I made at work this week. I would rather not humiliate myself, but I suppose these are the lessons we learn in life, and if I'm going to have an honest blog, I might as well be honest!

Obviously, it was an accident. I would never have purposefully deleted an entire freaking project!

That's right. Somehow, the drive I was archiving to was a drive belonging to another project, not the archive drive I had intended. Technicality aside, I single-handedly managed to completely delete and entire project. I freaked out. My hands were shaking, my mouth went dry, and I covered my face with my hands as I told my editor what I had done. I quickly spoke to the IT guy and had him try to recover the drive. I spoke to my boss and told her what I had done. Surprisingly, no one freaked out on me. I was able to get most of the footage back from the production company, but still I won't be able to recover it all (why the director of photography didn't keep a back up is beyond me). There may be some re-shooting involved, which would be terrible. But, there are many ways to look at this:

It could have been worse. It could have been for a major client who was coming in that day (it was a personal project my editor was working on). It could have been shot on the Red camera (in which case it would cost thousands to re-shoot). It could have been someone with a giant ego.

Thankfully, everyone at the office has been very supportive. Maybe it's because I admitted to my fault right away and was visibly upset. Maybe it's because I was honest and didnt try to cover anything up. Either way, the owner of the company came to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "nice going." I could have just died.

So, mistakes happen. Hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again. In a few years, I'm sure I won't ever think of this terrible terrible time. But for now, I'll keep my head down and tail between my legs. Maybe this is just a reminder to me to not get too comfortable. Maybe it's a lesson on reconnecting media in Avid. Or maybe I'm just that stupid.

Glasses? No, no, Jerk.

So glasses guy. He seemed innocent enough. Wearing a suit (he's a lawyer in Midtown) + a point. Nerdy (we talked about Star Wars online) + 2 points. Decent pick of place + 1/2 a point. Jerky attitude? Minus 2 million points.

It all started to go downhill when I met him outside and realized that he's a geek, not a nerd. If you have any confusion as to the difference, feel free to read about it here. He seemed nervous and kept assuring me that he thought it would be warmer and we could sit outside, and he didn't know about the place, blah blah. The rest of the date can be best summarized in dialogue.

Jerk: "So are you a vegetarian because of animal rights, health, environment, religion...?"
Me: "All of them....."
Jerk: "RELIGION?!"
Me: "No, all but religion."
Jerk: "Is it going to bother you if I eat meat?"
Me: "No, no, of course not."
Jerk: "Ok. Because I would only do it for environmental reasons."
Me: "Well I read this book about animal cruelty and I just couldn't eat meat again-"
Jerk: "Oh, I've seen all those videos but I don't really care."

Silence.

Ok....maybe I'll try to find something else to talk to this guy about.

Me: "I was going to email you this funny article I read about the Death Star today. It talked about all the weapons aboard and how many people would be needed to man it and the different levels it would have-"

He leans across the table towards me, looks me right in the eyes, and says, "I don't really think Star Wars could have happened..."
Me: "I wasn't trying to say it could, just that the article was really funny-"
Jerk: "Well, I think it will always be a mark of the twentieth century, but I in no way think it's possible."

Silence.

Me: "So are you close with your family?"
Jerk: "Not really. They live in Germany. They want me to visit more, but this year I didn't even go home for Christmas."

Later.

Jerk: "So what do you do?"
Me: "I edit commercials."
Jerk: "Oh, like what?"
Me: "Do you watch tv?"
Jerk: "Ya..."
Me: "Have you seen ____ commercial? Or _____?"
Jerk: "I don't care about commercials, I fast-forward them."
Me: "Well, we all do. But I bet you watch the Superbowl commercials!"
Jerk: "Ya, do you?"
Me: "The Oscars are my Superbowl."
Jerk: "So do you like...pay attention to who wins editing and stuff like that?"
Me: "Well, ya..."
Jerk: "Because people like me, we don't care about that stuff; it's pretty boring for us."

Fifteen minutes later:

Jerk: "Well I have to meet my brother so..."
Me: "Ya I should get going."

Outside the restaurant:

Jerk: "Good luck."

So, in conclusion, that was a pretty bad date. Now even the geeks are getting jerky? I took myself off of the dating site this week. My friends at work have decided to stay on it. As for me? I have decided to try to look at the world in a different way. I'll take out my headphones, put down my kindle, and try to smile more (I'm horrible at this). Maybe the real world is the better option?

...or maybe it's just New York.

upDATE

Once again, I would like to point out how bizarre it is that my blog has turned into a dating blog. I think the reason for this is because I was originally blogging about trying to figure out my career, and now I have one. Everything at work is going really well. I love everyone I work with and I feel lucky to work at this company. So...there's nothing really to say on that front. I suppose the most interesting thing about my life are these terrible dates I continue to go on. If you are enjoying reading it, I suggest you check out TwentySomethingDating which has become one of my favorite blogs about dating. Anyway, onto my story.

The guy who I fell in front of (twice) texted my two weeks after the date and explained that he hadn't asked me out again because he met someone else and things had progressed quickly, but that he would still hold onto my number in case that didn't work out because he found me intriguing. Ya, like that will happen.

Tonight I have a date that I really don't want to go to with a guy called "glasses guy." I'm not holding my breath- he wants to go to a dive bar. Can't they come up with some originality??


In other news, my friend H and I have been walking the loop in the park (6 miles!) every Sunday which is great because there are all these pink and white flowers blooming and people are starting to show their legs! It's wonderful! In just over a month H and I are going to California to visit my family. H has never been before and I'm excited to show her around. It will be nice to get away from the city for a bit and have a vacation. Anyways, that's all for now. I'll keep you posted.

Dating in New York. Who knew it would be such torture?

What NOT to do on a date.

I'd like to tell you all about my most recent humiliation. It happened to me on Saturday night and I still wince every time I think of it, which seems to be a lot.

I met "Ashton Kutcher Guy" aka. AKG at 675 Bar below Dos Caminos in the Meatpacking. I walked down the stairs and through the door at about five till eight. I was most definitely the only living soul there. And 675 Bar is most definitely a club. After what seemed to take hours, the bartender finally emerged with my Kettle One martini and it was not long until I met AKG. He was quick to tell me he had never been to the bar either. Ok, good...I'm not one to go clubbing!

After the initial awkwardness the two of us fell into good conversation. I switched to beer to avoid becoming the drink girl on the first date (nobody wants that!). We watched people filter into the bar dressed to the nines and discussed who was looking to hook up with whom. After a while we drifted into the foosball room where I kicked his ass at the game a handful of times. Go me!

At this point it was nearing midnight and we made our way back into the main room which had become a club. People were dancing. Girls were trying to be super sexy. AKG and I had our own moves and we made fun of everyone else. We really were having a great time. I looked to my left and who did I see? K was there dancing her butt off! We ended up hanging out with her and her friends for a while but by the time 1am rolled along I was starving. Note to self: never go on a date without eating beforehand!

This next bit gets tricky: I was wearing booties with a heel-but nothing crazy; I wear them to work all day. I had also, obviously, been drinking, but I was in complete control and was not acting like a sloppy fool or anything. What happened next was really unfortunate.

We were walking up the stairs from the club and I fell. Hard! It was so embarrassing! He was completely nice and made me feel better about it, but as I walked into the next bar (which was fully packed, by the way), I fell again! There was a puddle of water on the floor. It was completely mortifying. Honestly, it was one of the worst moments in my personal dating history. But, I kept my head up and ordered my veggie burger. He texted me the next day and asked to see me again. Why? I'm not sure. I was certain he was going to write me off as a crazy drunk girl, but he didn't.

Note to self: Next time, wear flats.