Waking up every hour contributes to strangeness...?

I had a dream last night where I had to send a Great Horned Owl and a Golden Eagle through the mail to get them "repaired". So I put them into boxes, which someone told me was OK to do, and that if they needed to get out, they would because they have very powerful talons. I've been having weird dreams lately...

Non-Easter Potluck

Finally, spring in Brooklyn! Thank god it's getting warmer, it was really starting to make me crazy.
Winter's in this city are intense. I thought I could deal with cold, being from the land of ice and snow and all, but winters in NYC and winters in MN are two totally different worlds. Winters in MN: Everyone is happy and jolly because they are used to it. Winters in NYC: Everyone is pissed off and depressed because they won't accept this season as reality. I found myself so much more affected by this past winter than I have ever been affected by a winter in my life. People just die here in the winter.
Anyway, so now it's spring! I have herbs in my window, and flowers on my tables. We had an Easter potluck last night with lots of good people and lots of good food (mostly cheese, haha). We had to use the leaf extension for the table for the first time! I want to listen to my roommate's Breakfast at Tiffany's album forever, but I am going to New Jersey now to sit on the beach even if the water is cold. Good thing too, since my neighbors seem to have come out of their winter stupor and have taken to playing loud, bass-heavy music from about 11am until 6am.

IT IS TOO COLD OUTSIDE FOR SITTING!!

I have the lovely job of working at the farmers' market. This is an awesome job in the summer. Knowing that is what gets me through doing it in the winter. Yes, we are out there in below freezing temperatures, crazy winds, snow, rain, hail, all that.

Luckily today I found just the perfect combination of layered clothing to keep me warm at about 18 degrees! Whiskey the Apple Guy told me I looked part fisherman, part farmer, part trendy in my mish-mash of apparel, but at least I'm freakin' warm, damn it!

Next weekend is going to be AMAZING, because on Sunday, it is 3 Things in 1! Tibetan New Year, Chinese New Year, and Valentines Day.

+ + =

Lost and Found

So ET was going through my computer a while back, and using trusty Search Companion Dog to go through my stuff, came across EVERY PICTURE EVER UPLOADED ON MY COMPUTER. I'm talkin' like stuff from waaaaayyyyy back in the day. Like when I used scandalous Anime pics as my RPing characters. And all the pictures I took and uploaded ever, including the ones I thought I'd deleted on purpose after putting them safely on Photobucket.

Wrong-o-rama. But it's good to know that my photos from India and Japan, from Beer Club, and N&E Gay Pride's vodka sno-cone truck, and the first year of 10K (RIP) are still in existence and in original format.

However, also found some strange goodies... including about 150 pictures, each in triple, of every single member of the Kennedy family.

Except this one looks a little too much like a photo of a crazy murderer while they're still only on the "watch for this guy" list.

And check out Jackie O's dress up top. Wow.

But I also found a few hundred photos of screenshots and demo pics from the Sims 2 Preview disc.


Please tell me this does not make you want to play the Sims again?????




Reminds me of the days my cuz and I used to buy each other without fail the newest Sims expansion pack for birthdays and Christmas.

Also good to know that I have lots of copies of Sandman somewhere on my laptop :)

Avatar

I saw Avatar last night. In 3D! I didn't blink for 3 hours. Those glasses are intense. Especially the Piranha 3D preview. Who doesn't want 3D boobs? Oh wait... Totally going to see that.

But Avatar.
Oh my god.
I was skeptical at first. I thought the acting in the first 20 minutes was terrible. I didn't even like Signorney Weaver at first. All the character's were too over-the-top type-cast. But then. BUT THEN.

DOES THIS NOT LOOK LIKE A GUY WEARING A VERY SENSITIVE BLUE MASK????
Unbelievable. There were moments on facial closeups I thought I was looking at Yoda. And they did a good job on Yoda. The puppet.

I left the movie thinking "This is the Star Wars of our generation." James Cameron could easily have stretched this out into a series. As it is, of course, it is amazing, but conveniently left open for sequels/prequels.

George Lucas was at the top of the game in his day. He did stuff for movies and special effects that allowed Avatar to even be a dream. All I'm saying. Lucas-Cameron. Way to go.

I wish I could find some good screenshots of the landscape. MOSS THAT LIGHTS UP UNDER YOUR FEET. I want to go to there.

I also want to go to here.

In 2010 I Made a Video!

First shot, not bad considering I didn't even know I had a movie maker that came with my webcam :)

Terrible, Awful, and Poopy

Don't you hate it when your hipster-Hasidic upstairs neighbors take a 20 minute shower at 2am causing your toilet to overflow as expected as you told them 5 hours ago that your drains flood over with poop and band-aids if water is run anywhere in the building for more than a minute and that you would be calling a plumber first thing in the morning but until then to please please please only take 2 minute showers?

I hate that.

In Manhattan

Imprompt-to Baroque Opera under a bridge in Central Park.


Sunset on a lake by a castle.


Halloween shopping on Broadway.


Staring at gigantic advertisements at night.

Mondays = Fridays!

So this summer I bought some green bean plants. 4 to be exact. I wasn't sure at the time when to pick my beans, and I got a bunch, but I let them whither on the vines, unfortunately.
However, I had a survivor! I recently planted some indoor herbs, and also transplanted my one remaining bean plant with the one surviving bean still clinging on.

My bean baby. The last survivor.


Turned into a delicious creamy bacon pasta! One bean. He did a good job.

Last night we got all dressed up and went to this restaurant (originally for drinks and dessert since we already made dinner) called Chez Oscar that I bike by all the time. It turned out to be really great. And I tried 2 new things: steak tartare and escargots! Both so good.


Also, I only paid $3.95 for my boyfriend. How much did you pay?

DUMBO Art Fair!

A merry-go-round that I really wish I could ride (not enough space around the edges so no one could.)
A rainbow tee-pee made of plastic strips!
An old brink building with pyramids of plastic bags filled with green kick-balls.

'bucha baby!

I harvested my first batch of homemade kombucha! Harvest might not be the most appropriate word, but it just seems so fitting...

If you're not familiar with kombucha, here's the run-down: it's a fermented tea drink, made commonly with black tea but also with green and herb, that has live cultures and enzymes that are good for you.

But to make it you need a "scooby" or a "scoby" or a "mother" or a "baby" or a "bucha shroom," whatever you want to call it. I call it a "jellyfish" because don't know another way to describe it but to call it what it looks like: a jellyfish-mushroom. Really, it almost looks like an old slimy pancake sitting in the bottom of a trashcan filled with coffee grounds.

I don't know how you grow your own jellyfish. I got mine from some friends who didn't want to travel cross-country with it in their car. What happens with the jellyfish is that as you feed it the tea mixture during the fermentation, it grows. You can cut and peel as many layers depending on how big it gets. I could give several people layers of my scoby so that they could start their own kombucha batchs.

You've probably seen GT's Kombucha
in the grocery store. They have a bunch of great flavors. There's a few other pricey brands, too. This one decided to channel the wine look. I generally like ginger, but I'm a ginger fanatic. The guava is good too, and even GT's green one is delicious, although it takes the first bottle to realize it.

Kombucha smells like vinager and tastes like sour cider or vinger tang. I like ginger because it gives it something spicy to bite on.

Anyway, my batch is currently on the last third of fermentation... 2 weeks in the cupboard, and 1 week in the fridge for fizziness. This first batch is ginger, and I started a basil-mint for next month.
Even The Economist had an article on it.

Here's my set up. Boiling water, black tea, jellyfish... pretty easy, you just have to make sure it's all sterilized.

I don't know how to find time to do all this, but I also made a batch of homemade soy milk tonight, between watching the movie King of Kong: Fist Full of Quarters. Godo movie, good milk. I think tomorrow before work I'm going to grab a begal, a bottle of soy, and go to the garden.

The jungle

I sit here somewhat shamefully watching another episode of the second season of Lost. My boyfriend recently got into it and sucked me back into the abyss. I almost escaped it when I left the country and didn't have a TV for 2 years, but alas, I am now all about Sayid, Sawyer, Kate, and Charlie romping through the jungle fighting polar bears and building themselves a nice little island life.

But I have my own little jungle just behind my house! I'm lucky enough to live in a real house in Brooklyn with an actual backyard. However, as much as I've tried, it cannot be tamed. The boys at one point weeded it down to the dirt, but the weeds are dinosaurs and continue to take over. I tried planting wild flowers and sunflowers, and the sunflowers came up all pretty.

I have 2 tomato plants that are on their way out but still getting me tomatoes. 1 chive, 1 mint, and 1 chocolate basil given to me from farmer Joe at the McCarren Park green market.

This backyard is impossible. That mound in the middle, that's actually a chair. We've been using it as a measuring point, but now it's completely overgrown. A morning glory plant started on the back fence but now they've crept through all the weeds, crawlen up the sunflowers. There's some yellow flowers springing up, too.

So it's kind of pretty in a way, but frustrating that I couldn't get the garden that I wanted. At this point though it's not worth it. Not only is it almost winter, but with winter I have to move out of this house for reasons I'll leave for later.

It's surprising how dedicated NY is to gardens and plants. It's more evident at the farmers markets, all kinds of farmers come down from up state. There's also a ton of community gardens and rooftop gardens. My neighborhood around Pratt in Bed-Stuy has a lot of community gardens. There's a Target garden around the corner that's got a nice lawn, and another with a lot of veggie plots next to Evan's apartment. Having my few plants, it's nice having basil-mint tea in the mornings, and decorating my room with sunflowers.

I stumbled across this garden initiative called the "Dragonfly" vertical farming. Doesn't sound like it's going to happen anytime soon, but it's an extension on the vertical gardening idea that could feed cities locally, and which the rooftop gardener pioneers have already started.

Luckily, there're green markets all year round when I can't grow any more tomoatos.

Dedication

I haven't written lately. It's been a while, actually. But now my computer is fixed, I can share photos again, and I'm still in New York.

This photo is my dedication to keep blogging, to keep writing at least once a week, to critique food I eat, review places I go, to tell you about my molding, flooded house, and the new cocktails I've tried. As I sit here at 1am, watching old episodes of Lost and eating a sandwich made from really old vegetables, I realized I want to keep telling people about the old vegetables I eat.

I got home tonight from meeting two friends in Chinatown for some bubble tea. We all know each other and have been to the same places during school, but all during different times. But it was strange because it felt like we had hung out together before when really this was our first union as the 3 of us together. We hashed a lot about school, and work, and the awk-offs we're going to have, and the triple date we can go on for the first time because we all have boyfriends now. I felt like I've been in a weird rut lately with jobs and social circles and nothing really special or exciting. But now that it's fall and there are people here I love, during my favorite time of the year, and I'm going to do fun things in New York and write about them. I'm going to tell you about the awkward triple date we go on. Hope you don't mind.

Cheers! This isn't going to be like my friend Sasha's blog, which has also inspired me to start up again, but it's not going to be a diary either. I'm going to do this at least once a week. I need to keep writing to stop from such a terrible routine.

Tomorrow I have an interview and a date in Central Park, and need to spend some time working out my schedule. Wish me luck!

Humbert Humbert the Turtle wants out REAL bad

It has been a while, my friends. Cause... stuff... live.... I graduated. And I'm working. And my sublet turned into a real house (literally, with a backyard and a huge kitchen to boot). Still don't have a working computer of my own, but luckily the bf does.

It's strange being in the city with no one here. It feel almost like I'm in another country waiting for something to happen. Stuck in my hotel room, willingly imprisoned because you're too scared to be alone in the city, because you don't know what you'll do alone. It's weird. I really like New York, but I haven't done all the seeing-things I've wanted to yet. Haven't been to the Statue of Liberty. Haven't visited the MoMa. Haven't gone to Times Square. Stuff like that. Everyone thinks "wow, you live in New York. You must do crazy stuff all the time." To which I respond: "Oh ya, like watch episodes of The Office in my bedroom? Totally."

Doesn't help that the weather has been shitty, and subway rides are going up to $2.25 or $89 for 30 days unlimited which is mostly the best deal. I decided the real best way to go is to get a bike. I do feel bad, though, cause bf is building me one but it got halted. But I really need a bike by the time my metrocard runs out.

Beast is in Germany mucking horse stalls. Face is back from Germany and will be drivin' out here in her new biodisele van soon. Buila's in P-Town. Alley Cat's back in CO gettin' all healed from surgery. Bf's working at Radegast Bier Garten.

I've been going to yoga more. And will hopefully keep it up. Yoga to the People. Donation based yoga studio around Manhattan, with a new studio in San Francisco- check it out. I'm hella sore.

Really excited to be going home for Fringe in the end of July. I realized a lot of my being unmotivated and sad here is because I didn't have a transition from being a college kid to being just a person. I didn't go home for the summer to chill out. I'm just stayin' here. Which is fine and dandy, but I'm looking forward to some Minnesota summer. Hopefully my boss won't think 2 weeks is unmanageable and I won't have to look for another job when I get back. Cause that's exhausting.

Really want to go to California. Really bad. I miss sushi-ing with my Twin-san.

eXCALmATION poiNTS

I DON'T HAVE A JOB BUT I HAVE AN APARTMENT!!!
AND A BOYFRIEND!!
AND I'M ALMOST DONE WITH COLLEGE!!!!
I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS RIDICULOUSNESS.
!!!

What's Love Got to Do With It?

F-ing spring, popping up and all screwing with my emotions. What is it about fresh air and flowers that turns your heart to butter? At the time you need it to be the strongest?

Especially great timing for more drama, what with the already overwhelming anxiety that is the end of college. I have a thesis to write. I have homework to catch up on, an internship to attend. Jobs and places to live to figure out. Am I moving back to Minnesota next month? Am I staying here? What am I DOING with my LIFE is the main question bobbing around these days.

I've applied for 3 jobs, one with a tutoring organization and one with a elementary school in Harlem as a teacher's aide, and one with a youth retreat group back in Minnesota. I'm also going to be applying for a job as a leader with People to People Student Ambassadors. If I don't get a job I can't stay in NY. If I stay in NY, I'll miss out on skinny dippin' season in Minneapolis.

My entire block has been taken over by the movies. Well, a TV show I guess. It's called Bored 2 Death. I don't have TV so I don't know anything about it but apparently Jason Schwartzman is supposed to be in it although I haven't seen him today. They're filming at the coffee shop on the corner and there have been hipster kids hanging around all day.

TOday I also met Jimmy, Tina's 45 year old Saudi Arabian friend who lives around the corner. He is weird and creepy and has always chatted me up when I walked by before. But tonight we had pizze with him and watched a bellydancing DVD. Still weird and creepy. He definatley jerks off to that video. "Ya, you go, look at you."

Awkward.

Spring "Break"

More like, Spring Work Week. Thesis writing and internship, woo! There have been a few things to do. Actually, last night was the first time I went to bed before midnight in about 4 days. Blame it on Kayla's Birthday Margarita and Dance Night on Thursday, Birthday party for a high school from on Saturday night, Holi on Sunday (pic), date on Monday, and St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday. A favorite musician of mine, That 1 Guy, played last night and I had planned on going, but plans change and I was passed out really early.

New York weather... I thought Minnesota was random. The last 2 days have been beautiful, and today's it's rainy and gross. I can't wait for NY in the spring. And everyone is saying NY in the summer is even better. Not going to lie, I kinda want to be around for it. I'm leaving my options open. If something comes up here... maybe I'll stick around for a bit.

St. Paddy's day was disappointing. The parade was more a procession of all the Irish people in the city. And the streets were full of drunk high schoolers drinking beer "secretly" from Starbucks cups and trying to pick fights. We left pretty quick and got a Guinness at some Irish pub on 2nd full of suits and ties. Pretty rad. I got to see my friend Ian from Hopkins that night, celebrate his 21st in the Village before I ducked out early to go sleep for once.

Speaking of sleep, now that I've done that, I need to get some work done.
Peace!

Borscht and other things good

I made borscht last night and I can't help but show it off cause it was fuckin' amazing. It also took forever between our hotplate that barely gets hot enough to boil and our 2 cup blender.

Look at the delicious redness!!







We were fat and happy afterwards with Tina's NYC Garbage Conference stolen fruit and cookies.

My apartment almost caught fire today

I suppose it's ok since Tina got a NYPD officer's phone number out of it.

The rest of the world is ignorant

"There have been over 9 million refugees and internally displaced people from conflicts in Africa. Hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered from a number of conflicts and civil wars. If this scale of destruction and fighting was in Europe, then people would be calling it World War III with the entire world rushing to report, provide aid, mediate and otherwise try to diffuse the situation. This article explores why Africa has been largely ignored and what some of the root causes of the problems are."

I think it's worth taking a look at.