today, I ate a pickle.
friday [06 23 06]
ahhh ... my neck hurts from a few minutes of head banging a la wayne's world to some chicks karaoke-ing (yeah, I’m using it as a verb) bohemian rhapsody at the bar last night.
After the intern-alumni reception—which was in fact a lot of good hors d’oeuvres, decent wine and successful networking—the interns and some of last year’s alumni went to NYU’s White Horse to drink overpriced Budweiser and sing karaoke. I graced the patrons with a little bit of the Salt N Pepa and after one song, I couldn’t get enough of the microphone. For the first hour or so, basically the only people in the bar were with our party, so I had nothing to be embarrassed about (except my superb signing voice). Actually, another intern, Elizabeth, can sing pretty fucking well and blew everyone else away as did some other random chick. It actually was a lot of fun – it was the first time I got goofy (not too drunk though) since I’ve been here – lots of dancing to Tupac and singing along with Bryan Adams. Ahh college.
Today was my day off. Man, I can’t believe that June’s almost over already. Seriously. It feels like I’ve been here for a few days while at the same time it feels like home (without my family and friends). I remember back on my first day when my supervisor told me about getting today off, it seemed so far away back then. Low and behold, it’s come and gone. And while my plan was to see museums and Broadway, the weather was shitty and I had some writing to do so I didn’t even leave the dorm (save a walk to the gym) until two. I did have a good time wandering the village. I was looking for affordable yet cute vitange stores and while i did come across some great places (one had a collection of barbie dolls and playboys from way back when among other useless crap), I also come across other "retro" stores that sell $200 used dresses--not designer--fromt he 80s and 90s. The nerve. really. They even had "vintage" leggings (leggings, in case you didn't know, are all the rage under miniskirts and shirts that really should be worn with jeans. not leggings, but jeans.) that sold for $35. Why the fuck would you pay $35 for a pair of faded black strech pants when you can get a new pair made out of the exact same material at forever 21 (NY's cheap shopping haven beileve it or not) for $10.
The amazement that went along with my first days in new york was fading, not gone, but dissipated. Back then, even though the weather was as hot as it was today and my bag was as heavy as it was today, the newness of the city and the change of being here was like an IV of adrenaline straight into my heart. Now it’s more like a NoDoz when my eyelids start getting heavy. That doesn’t mean that I’m any less enamored with nyc than I was before—I’m just looking at things through a different eye than I was when I got here.
Taking advantage of that unplanned and natural lead in, I have been getting pretty artsy lately if I do say so myself. I picked up new charcoals and paper today but it started raining almost immediately after I left the store so I didn’t get to go to the park and sketch like I wanted to. Next time.
I had the best sandwich ive had in a long time today. It was a fresh mozzarella with basil, tomato and olive juice on the best bread I’ve had in nyc – seriously, it was. So fluffy and tasty. The sandwich was about three inches high, most of it’s mass created by three large slices of fresh, water-stored mozz. It could have had more tomatoes and basil, but it was still one of the best things ive eaten this summer. I found this sandwich at a little restaurant on 2nd Ave down around 6th or 7th street. If there was more space to it, it would have been like a small-town diner. Old men walked in and greeted the entire wait staff (of 2) by name and was handed a plate of his regular, no order exchanged.
By the way, the sandwich was served with a pickle. I ate it. All of it. I don’t know why I ate it or what prompted me to take the first bite that tasted like the Chinese cucumber appetizer they serve for free at Miko’s back in Urbana. It tasted like just like a salty cucumber, which I liked. I think I decided to take a bite because it still looked like a cucumber and not like a pickle. I bet they made it on site from fresh cucumbers in the owner’s wife’s garden. It only makes sense.
mo and tiffany bought their plane tickets to come visit me the weekend after fourth of july. im so fucking excited. it means a lot to me that they actually took the time to get their shit together and come visit ... manhattan better watch out. they thought it was bad when the muppets took over, now wait until twangswinkberg shows up.
ahhh ... my neck hurts from a few minutes of head banging a la wayne's world to some chicks karaoke-ing (yeah, I’m using it as a verb) bohemian rhapsody at the bar last night.
After the intern-alumni reception—which was in fact a lot of good hors d’oeuvres, decent wine and successful networking—the interns and some of last year’s alumni went to NYU’s White Horse to drink overpriced Budweiser and sing karaoke. I graced the patrons with a little bit of the Salt N Pepa and after one song, I couldn’t get enough of the microphone. For the first hour or so, basically the only people in the bar were with our party, so I had nothing to be embarrassed about (except my superb signing voice). Actually, another intern, Elizabeth, can sing pretty fucking well and blew everyone else away as did some other random chick. It actually was a lot of fun – it was the first time I got goofy (not too drunk though) since I’ve been here – lots of dancing to Tupac and singing along with Bryan Adams. Ahh college.
Today was my day off. Man, I can’t believe that June’s almost over already. Seriously. It feels like I’ve been here for a few days while at the same time it feels like home (without my family and friends). I remember back on my first day when my supervisor told me about getting today off, it seemed so far away back then. Low and behold, it’s come and gone. And while my plan was to see museums and Broadway, the weather was shitty and I had some writing to do so I didn’t even leave the dorm (save a walk to the gym) until two. I did have a good time wandering the village. I was looking for affordable yet cute vitange stores and while i did come across some great places (one had a collection of barbie dolls and playboys from way back when among other useless crap), I also come across other "retro" stores that sell $200 used dresses--not designer--fromt he 80s and 90s. The nerve. really. They even had "vintage" leggings (leggings, in case you didn't know, are all the rage under miniskirts and shirts that really should be worn with jeans. not leggings, but jeans.) that sold for $35. Why the fuck would you pay $35 for a pair of faded black strech pants when you can get a new pair made out of the exact same material at forever 21 (NY's cheap shopping haven beileve it or not) for $10.
The amazement that went along with my first days in new york was fading, not gone, but dissipated. Back then, even though the weather was as hot as it was today and my bag was as heavy as it was today, the newness of the city and the change of being here was like an IV of adrenaline straight into my heart. Now it’s more like a NoDoz when my eyelids start getting heavy. That doesn’t mean that I’m any less enamored with nyc than I was before—I’m just looking at things through a different eye than I was when I got here.
Taking advantage of that unplanned and natural lead in, I have been getting pretty artsy lately if I do say so myself. I picked up new charcoals and paper today but it started raining almost immediately after I left the store so I didn’t get to go to the park and sketch like I wanted to. Next time.
I had the best sandwich ive had in a long time today. It was a fresh mozzarella with basil, tomato and olive juice on the best bread I’ve had in nyc – seriously, it was. So fluffy and tasty. The sandwich was about three inches high, most of it’s mass created by three large slices of fresh, water-stored mozz. It could have had more tomatoes and basil, but it was still one of the best things ive eaten this summer. I found this sandwich at a little restaurant on 2nd Ave down around 6th or 7th street. If there was more space to it, it would have been like a small-town diner. Old men walked in and greeted the entire wait staff (of 2) by name and was handed a plate of his regular, no order exchanged.
By the way, the sandwich was served with a pickle. I ate it. All of it. I don’t know why I ate it or what prompted me to take the first bite that tasted like the Chinese cucumber appetizer they serve for free at Miko’s back in Urbana. It tasted like just like a salty cucumber, which I liked. I think I decided to take a bite because it still looked like a cucumber and not like a pickle. I bet they made it on site from fresh cucumbers in the owner’s wife’s garden. It only makes sense.
mo and tiffany bought their plane tickets to come visit me the weekend after fourth of july. im so fucking excited. it means a lot to me that they actually took the time to get their shit together and come visit ... manhattan better watch out. they thought it was bad when the muppets took over, now wait until twangswinkberg shows up.
posted by Erin at 8:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home