This is why I love New York.

Spotted at Banshee Pub on 1st Ave. Man, I love this city.

Goodbye, MacBook Pro-1.

Last Thursday at 3 a.m., I woke up with a 103 degree fever. I could barely swallow and basically wanted to die. I put off going to the doctor until Friday afternoon because I was pretty sure I had strep and figured that nothing the doctor would do would change that, but after maintaining that 103 degree fever for nearly 48 hours, I had to call it.

Yep, strep. Really, really, really bad strep. I've been given 10 days of antibiotics. (I am now on Day 6, by the way, but haven't gotten around to writing this until now...)

I spent the weekend in complete misery and was sicker than I think I have ever been as an adult. The good news is that the antibiotics kicked in by Sunday, and by Monday, I was able to at least put on pants that don't have a drawstring and drag myself into my cubicle. The bad news is that we, again, had Sales Conference this week at work, and I am now completely exhausted after being sick, and then returning to a week of back-to-back meetings.

To make myself feel better, I just bit the bullet and ordered a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, 2.4 GHz processor. My almost-6-year-old ORIGINAL MacBook Pro is on its last legs. I can't believe it has made it even this far. It's been a good 5 1/2 years, but it's time for this old jalopy to retire. (Does anyone else say "jalopy" ever? My mom says "jalopy.")

[this new, shiny goodie will be waiting for me at my parents' house next week]

My original, Gen-1 MacBook Pro has been with my since May 2006, a high school graduation gift from my parents. MacBook Pro had just released to the world at the end of January 2006, and I felt like the coolest kid on the block with my (then) hip technology. I made three different photo slideshow DVDs (most likely set to the Goo Goo Dolls or Matchbox Twenty) for my graduation party in June and thought that that was completely cutting-edge...

And, now, once I transfer all my docs, photos, and music next week, this ol' MacBook Pro is going to spend the rest of its days gathering dust in a Michael Kors shoebox in my closet at my parents' house. (No lie, that's where my last computer, the original "Blueberry" iBook clamshell still slumbers... I should really snap a picture of that when I'm home...) 

So without further ado:

An Ode to MacBook Pro-1

Dear MacBook Pro-1, do you remember when my roommate from Long Island spilled beer on your poor keyboard freshmen year?

Do you remember all the terrible Photo Booth pictures? Especially the ones of my terrible long-ish side bangs sophomore year?

Do you remember when you crashed during finals in May freshmen year, and I cried in front of you at the Apple store at Pentagon City? Damn Limewire.

What about that time when one of my roommates dropped her Diamond Board* on you? I still loved you, despite your dented exterior.

You were with me through some of the most terrible all-nighters in Gelman, down to the finish line, helping me crank out 15-page papers on the theories of Roman Jakobson or the themes of anxiety in Sartre, bringing me the joyful distractions of Facebook and YouTube and Pandora.

You kept your cool.

Until your fan and mother board and everything else started to go.

How did you get so good at cropping ex-boyfriends out of photos in iPhoto? You must have had a bad break-up in a past life.

Thank you for all the hours of staring patiently back at me as I tried to move the cursor across the screen and get these words out of my brain and onto the page. Thank you for not critiquing my clumsy metaphors in early drafts or lack of capitalization in virtually every single one of my poems.

Thank you for persevering. Thank you for accompanying me through college (and almost all the way through grad school!).

Do you remember when you crashed for the second time my junior year? When, it wasn't really your fault, but you lost every single last file/photo/mp3/short story/essay/poem off your silly little hard drive?

Yeah, I cried at the Apple store again that time. But, no, no, that wasn't your fault. It was mine. I was a bad mother, neglecting your hard drive and ignoring your memory issues.

I'll be better this time. I've learned.

Dear MacBook Pro-1, it's been real.

And bless you if you actually read all that. 

Tomorrow's my birthday. I may or may not wear something glittery to work.

*Diamond Boards are my sorority's version of a paddle... excerpt ours are literally diamond-shaped. And totally dangerous when dropped from a certain height!

Another rainy spring.

I seem to always mis-estimate how busy I am going to be. I feel like I've been even busier since school ended a few weeks ago. On top of that, I've been exhausted and it is so hard to get anything done!

I need to do real grown-up things that just keep getting put off.

But instead, I have been napping, shopping, and going to happy hour. All of which are VERY IMPORTANT THINGS, mind you, just not technically on my to-do list. And of course, I've been running around in the rain all of last week, trying to do fun things, but not dressed appropriately for the AWFUL weather that's been in NYC lately.

And of course, now I am sick... Just an annoying cold. But annoying nonetheless. And I am still at work today (but fading fast).

I have also discovered pinterest- which is now eating up my life. It's just so. damn. addictive. Follow me if you are one of the fellow recent addicts!

Coming up this week:

• Book Expo America (HUGE trade publishing convention in NYC, i.e. quiet time at work when everyone except me goes to the convention)
• Horrible, terrible, awful construction in my apartment - more on this later
• Summer class starts on Wednesday - ALREADY! Gross.
• My parents arrive in NYC on Thursday morning
• Weekend of eating out/bagels/tourisming/family junk

ABCs.

Anna Jane of see jane. posted this last week. I thought it was cute and was just waiting for the right moment to share all my secrets.

Age: 23

Bed size: full

Chore you hate: filing bills, papers, and other junk... I put off opening my mail for weeks at a time sometimes...

Dogs: Love them and want one again someday, but for now, I'm all cats.

Essential start to your day: The Today Show.

Favorite color: Pink. Pink everything.

Gold or silver: Mostly gold right now.

Height: 5'9".

Instruments: I have played and quit violin, piano, recorder, French horn, and guitar.

Job title: Publishing assistant.

Kids: None, currently. Someday.

Live: New York, NY.

Mom's name: Kathy.

Nickname: A.J., Jojo, Rogue.

Overnight hospital stays: Once in high school.

Pet peeve: Bad grammar, even in text messages. "Aint" still isn't OK. Even in a text.

Quote from a movie: Two - "Damn the man, save the Empire." -Mark, Empire Records and "Every man has but one destiny." -Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather

Right or left handed: Right.

Siblings: One older brother, R.

Time you wake up: 7 a.m. weekdays, and the kitties usually get me up by 8 a.m. on the weekends to feed them.

Underwear: Usually something pink, no lie.

Vegetables you dislike: Beets. Not so hot on asparagus, but I'll usually eat it. Turnips and some other root veggies.

What makes you run late: Lingering over the Today Show too long, forgetting to pack lunch the night before.

X-rays you've had done: Various. Many of my ankles/knees.

Yummy food you make: I make some pretty baller mac & cheese, adapted from my brother's recipe.

Zoo animal: I like the big cats - lions, tigers, etc. And otters.

Single in the City: The one who dated strippers.

For my first random dating experience in NYC, I thought I'd share this little gem:

Last spring, I met a guy whom, for these purposes, I will call Ron. Now, like the majority of men that I've met this year, I met Ron in a bar. Ron had guts. He sat himself down at my table of 5 or 6 girls and started talking to me.

Now, Ron had 2 things going for him: he was super tall, and he was very funny. Genuinely funny. And with the kind of humor that I appreciate most, which, if you're wondering, is dry, sarcastic, and not funny to other people. Sometimes.

Ron had a few things working against him, too: he lived in Queens. Blech. He dressed like a mix of a 90-year-old cruise-goer and a skater punk teenager (think Charlie Sheen bowling shirts plus DC skate shoes and orange cargo shorts). And Ron had a major complex about having never finished college.

With that in mind... We went out a few times. It was fine. I actually ventured into Queens to hang out with him at the Bohemian Beer Garden, which I actually rather enjoyed. But, alas, I believe I enjoyed the atmosphere and the activity (read: beer-drinking) more than Ron.

After that beer garden afternoon-drinking date with Ron, he offered to drive me back to Manhattan (my mom warned about this: "Make him drop you off a few blocks away so he can't see where you live!"). So as we were driving toward the Queensboro back to Manhattan, we passed a neon-lighted, seedy-looking strip joint.

Ron: That's the most famous strip joint in Queens!

Me: Errr...

A taxi passed us at this point with one of those advertisements for a "Gentlemen's Club" featuring a seedy, Russian-looking woman... New Yorkers, you know what I'm talking about. Everyone else, here:



Me, noticing the taxi: I don't see how those ads attract anyone. Those girls are always gross-looking...

Ron half-turned toward me and shouted: Look, strippers are people, too! Everyone has to have a job, OK? Now, I've dated a few of them, and let me tell you, they are real people!

I was too stunned for words. I'm sorry, but a few? Not like, one stripper? But you've dated a few of them? I think I mumbled something like, "Uh OK..." and we rode the rest of the way (all 15-20 minutes) in silence...

Thankfully, I was going out of town the next weekend and had an excuse to not answer his calls. And that was the end of Ron.

Look at you, Miss Carrie Bradshaw!

In the last year that I've been living in New York, I've had a lot of random experiences with men and dating: a few disastrous first dates, a few stage-5 clingers, and one meet-cute gone wrong. I feel like my stories are starting to rack up, and they basically amount to the quintessential Single Girl in the City experience.

One that I want to start sharing here.

Why? Well, so far, nothing has really worked out with any of these guys. BUT I do have a lot of pretty funny stories. One of my girlfriends in D.C., instead of asking how things are going, has literally started asking if I have any dating misadventure stories for her... So why not share with the internet masses as well?

While there will be several more complete stories to come (including the Tale of the Clinging Irishman), here's a little snapshot from last night:

On my way home at 2 a.m. last night, some random dude, maybe early 30s, literally chased me down from the the corner of my block about 30 feet... told me I'm pretty... got a little too close... and handed me a yellow rose just as I was getting to my door.

I mumbled, "Uhh thanks... Good night," and jammed my keys in the door as quick as I could.

He yelled through the glass, "I'm Sal! Ilivedownthestreet!" all in one breath and ran off.

Uh, what?

But I got a rose out of it. When I woke up this morning, my kitties had completely dismembered the rose where I threw it down on the kitchen table next to my purse. I wish I would have taken a picture, but I wanted to throw it away before they ate any more of it.

And THAT is the kind of thing that happens to me all the time. (OK, sometimes even more interesting things happen.) Get excited!

Why I Love New York Wednesday: The Singing Bus Driver of 5th Avenue.

Yes, you read that right.

There is a bus driver on the 5th Avenue line in the mornings (last spotted driving a M4 Limited #6407-031) who SINGS the names of the stops... along with other glorious, original ditties. At 8:30 a.m. On weekdays. When I'm too sleepy and crabby for singing. YET despite being mildly annoying, it always brings a smile to my and the other passengers' faces.

By chance, I've gotten on the Singing Bus Driver's bus 3 times this week, and 2 last week. Enough to hear him sing-song:

"6-5, 6-6! 6-5, 6-6! 65th Street! 66th Street! It's a beautiful day, look at this beautiful woman here, such a beautiful day!" (in his best opera voice)

"5-8, Central Park South! 5-8, Central Park South! Look at the park and its trees and its leaves and F.A.O. Schwartz, F.A.O. Schwartz!" (this was a bit like a samba or salsa tune)

And my favorite...

"49, 50th! 49, 50th! Rockefeller Center, center of the world, SAKS 5th Avenue, only for the bold, St. Patrick's Cathedral, save your soul!" (sung to a tune that reminded me of Enya's Only Time from the late 90s)

I don't know the Singing Bus Driver's name, but I am determined to find out... AND take a little video of this phenomenon. If you come from the Upper East Side in the morning and can be on 5th Ave. between 8:20 and 8:40 a.m., you may just be lucky enough to experience this for yourself.

Friday's five things.

So, I ended up returning those boots. They were close, but they weren't perfect. I don't want to settle for something that I don't love. I've had a couple crazy weeks at work, and now I'm also trying to write a massive paper and get everything done before I leave for Europe on Thursday!!! I'm definitely looking forward to being productive this weekend.

1. I'm meeting Nat & G for dinner tonight at Go Burger on 2nd Ave. They have rum-spiked milkshakes and custom burgers that sounds delicious! We've never been there, but they got a great review from UrbanDaddy.

2. When I left this morning, the kitties' ducky was here:

When I came home, ducky was here:

They do this about twice a week, and it always makes me smile when I walk into the bedroom at the end of the day! I love when they "share" their toys with me!

3. This shirt, which I love, is on-sale at J.Crew for $49.99:

4. Did I mention alcoholic milkshakes?

5. I actually bought it last week... but... I bought a new camera! Because I dropped the old one... I got the Canon PowerShot 12.1 Megapixel SD1300 for $107 from Best Buy. It's pretty neat so far. I don't know exactly how everything works, but it's light and shiny and has great zoom!

TGIF, everyone!

Friday's... one thing.

I'm not dead. I'm just exhausted and sick of winter.

Remember how I thought things would calm down once school started and I got back in a routine? Nope, no chance of that! Because with the start of school again came 3 snow/icestorms back to back to back! So my entire life has been thrown up in the air for the last couple weeks. Yuck.

I'm so sick of salt ruining my boots and shoes and pants-hems.

I'm so sleepy from all the cloudy, dark days.

I'm so done with winter.

So what do I love today?

Just Stella. That is all I want tonight.

I have a pretty decent weekend ahead and will hopefully be able to recharge a little and actually get around to cleaning my closet (as I've been trying to do for the last 3 weeks...): grad program happy hour tonight on the LES, brunch tomorrow @ Northern Spy Food Co on Ave. B which I've heard is absolutely amazing, and I'm hosting a little Super Bowl evening on Sunday, complete with turkey chili, pigs-in-a-blanket, classic nachos, and some more Stella Artois, of course.

Have a good weekend everybody! Thanks for sticking with me in this, the winter of my discontent... haha.. get it?

(Why doesn't everybody make literary puns? It makes life so much better!)

Busy week!

Such is the life of a grad student working full-time.

Because I've had almost a month off from school (classes start on this coming Monday), I have felt an enormous pressure to do something incredibly significant and awesome with my time off. And yet, relishing my precious time off, I have spent my time split between work, the gym, and my bed. Honestly, I have wanted to do nothing but sleep since Christmas!

Which, while completely necessary, also makes me feel like I am wasting this beautiful gift of free time!

Which causes stress and anxiety and (mental) exhaustion!

When I should be relaxing and enjoying my time off.

This is why I have not written anything this week. I have been busy trying to accomplish 1,001 things and trying to sleep away my to-do list at the same time. Next week, things should be back to normal when I'm tossed back into the school/work routine. And then I will continue to (attempt) to accomplish incredibly awesome things.

Lesson learned: free time is gift best spent snuggled in bed with 2 naughty kittens & a good book. Don't stress about reorganizing the closet, cleaning out the pantry, doing your taxes (yet), and cooking gourmet meals every night. Those things are best when saved for the rare free & calm Sunday during the school semester!

Bummer.

I dropped and broke my camera on Sunday night. I have no idea if I'll be able to recover the photos still on the memory card, including those from my birthday weekend, Christmas in Minnesota, and New Year's Eve. For the time being, I'll be taking low-quality pics on my new Droid or stealing my friends' pics from facebook. Bummer, dude.

The year in review.

I feel like this year has flown by. So, so much has happened in 12 months. January 1st, one year ago, I was freezing my butt off trying to haul all my clothes and furniture up four flights of stairs into my first apartment. Here are a few highlights from the year:

1. My first apartment, completely newly renovated before I moved in, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

2. Hammie & Misko. I have 2 adorable, naughty, smart, cuddly kittens. And I've had them for almost a year with no (major) disasters!

3. I started my first full-time job in May. After being an unpaid intern for 4 months, I worked my @ off to impress the right people and got the job offer. I now love what I'm doing everyday and love going to work.

4. I am halfway done with my Masters! As of fall 2010, I have completed 24 of my 42 credits toward my graduate work. Besides all the group projects, I really enjoy what I'm learning and can definitely see how it applies to the things I'm doing every single day at work.

5. New & old friends. I'm happy that I ended up in NYC because it's so easy to hop a train down to DC and visit my besties from college or for them to come see me. I've had some amazing times in DC, Maryland, and New York this year with amazing friends like Becca, Tamar, Endrit, Jen, Arden, Amanda, Jess, and so many more!

(me & Becca in February outside the Met)

(me & Krista before her wedding in Minnesota in July)

(with Becca & Endrit on top of the Kennedy Center for my graduation in May)

I've also made amazing friends this year at NYU: Gillian, Natalie, and Charity have really made this year great for me. I love my Subway rides and bagel dates with Nat, lunches all over Midtown and one epic trip to IKEA with Gillian, and all the wine and adventures (blowing off yoga) with Charity. (See The Birthday Weekend of Bad Behavior for more examples of fun with friends)

(me & Charity at the NYU SCPS Semi-Formal, i.e. Grad School Prom last spring)

(with Gillian, Erin & Natalie at Coney Island this summer. Charity was there too! She was taking the picture!)

6. Last, but not least, I'm so happy with how much I've actually seen my family this year. My parents and brother have come to visit me quite a bit, and I've made it home several times as well. When I moved last year, I had no idea how often I would actually be seeing them. And especially now that I have to take PTO every time I want to come home! My aunt & uncle in New Jersey have also made a big difference for me this year. They've really helped me out by bringing me groceries and such things or by picking me up and getting me out of the city for a night! It's been a very busy year, and I couldn't have gotten through it without the help of my family!

I have a lot to look forward to in 2011. In March, I'm meeting my friends from high school, Erika & Jenny, in Paris for 6 days, then visiting my friend, Arden, from GW in Copenhagen. I am planning to come home to Minnesota for a weekend or two this summer to spend some time out on the lake! And hopefully, I'll be planning a trip this fall with Natalie, perhaps to Las Vegas or somewhere else warm & fun! Also, hopefully various friends (like Krista&Brady!) will be coming to NYC to visit me.

And a happy New Year to all! I'll be spending the night out on the town with Jess, Amanda, Ashley, & Morgan (all from GW) & Gillian. Here's to a fantastic evening in the GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!

Happy trails to you etc., etc.

I'm finally headed back to NYC. Cross your fingers! It looks like I'm on time as of now... So while I'm killing time, I thought I'd start on my new year's resolutions list. Here goes:

1. Set a household budget and stick to it. This will be one of my first projects next week. I think I'm going to use a tool like mint.com to keep track of everything. I'll keep you posted on how that goes...

2. Hit the gym at least twice a week. This is trickier once classes start again, but I think I can maintain a Tuesday-Saturday schedule.

3. Clean out/organize my closet, desk, book shelves, TV cabinet, kitchen cabinets, bathroom drawers, and front closet... These will be conquered one at a time... hopefully.

4. Replace picture frames/pictures with new ones that actually match!

5. Drink more water, eat more vegetables, play with the kitties more... all those things I say every year (well, not that part about the kitties) and will try for a while before abandoning. Likewise, I'll keep you posted on these general efforts at healthfulness and how quickly I abandon them...

NYC, 2011, here I come!

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Politicky.

Some of you may have heard about the proposed Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero. Some of you may have noticed how this issue has completely taken over media coverage, outraged and alienated just about every group of people in the United States, and become a huge topic for debate in the last month or so.

This issue more than anything represents to me what is wrong with American politics and political dialogue. Americans have lost the ability to dialogue civilly about any issue without bringing in a sandstorm of emotion and inappropriate diatribes directed at the other side of the issue. This is not strictly a Democrat-Republican issue; the battle lines have been drawn jaggedly through the parties in this situation.

America, what's up? Many of our forebears were great communicators, skilled at engaging the other side in debate without personal attack and acknowledging the other side's opinions; disagreeing with their opinions, yes, but using more Socratic methods to attempt and bring the other side round.

American sensationalism has permeated our political sphere, and I'm personally becoming more and more disgusted with the way we discuss these issues with one another. My brother is one of the most conservative, party-Republicans that I know, yet he is amazing at dialoguing. He and I disagree dramatically on many hot-button topics, but we can still have great discussions, questioning the logical bases for one another's arguments without questioning one another's morality, ethics, or character.

In the conversations I've had regarding the Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero, I don't believe that a single person (regardless of their political persuasion or opinion about the proposed Islamic center!) has heard a single word that I've said for being so caught up in wanting to tell me their own opinions.

The problem, thus, is that, even in this time of everyone having an opinion about everything, still no one is being heard. The victor is He Who Shouts The Loudest.

Go read up on your Greeks - they knew how to do this right. French Philosophes and Enlightenment-era American thinkers known to frequent the Parisian salons (Hamilton, Jefferson, to name a few) could teach us a thing or two. And yeah, next time you're talking politics with someone you disagree with, shut up and listen, ask questions about why they think what they do, and then calmly tell them why you think what you do.

Trust me, learning to dialogue will save your relationships with anyone of a different political persuasion than yourself. And, well, it will make you nicer to talk to.

First celeb spotted!

Yesterday I was walking through Rockefeller Plaza on my way to work,
sort of in a hurry, and I was frustrated trying to push through the
mobs of tourists and squealing teenage girls.. When I realized these
girls were squealing because...

There was Tracy Morgan taking silly pics with the teenage tourists!

The single lady's dilemma...

I've realized something about living alone. It's a strange problem
that I never considered before.. But now definitely a problem.

I have a number of cute tops and dresses that tie in the back, and now
living alone, there's no one to tie my bows! (It's really hard to tie
a bow behind your own back.. It has to be done backwards without
looking.. Soo tricky!)

I've had the same issue with some zippers.

Warning: ladies, if you'll be living alone someday soon, don't even
think about buying the blouse that ties in back!

However tragic, as I look for spring and summer clothes, all these
items will be crossed off my list and hung back on the racks at
J.Crew. Only dresses that require no assistance from the salesgirls
will be considered!

Welcome to New Yahk.

In other news, I encountered my first stereotypical New Yorker yesterday, the bus driver on my way to work.

The bus was running a little late, and some lady got on the bus and started complaining and asking questions about the delay.. and the bus driver (in a perfect Brooklynese accent) starts yelling, "What the f'*** kind of question is that? F****** a**hole! What the f*** do you think I can do? Call the f****** mayor! There's f****** traffic on 5th Avenue!" It was great. He went on for about 10 minutes.

And it was amazing. I felt like a real New Yorker when I found myself thinking, "Yeah, what was that lady thinking???"

I like compliments.

The third random man in NY told me I have beautiful eyes today. This random dude at the hardware store. I don't mind one bit. It's nice to have strange men compliment me on an innocuous feature like my eyes. At least they're not whistling and yelling, "Nice buns!" or something.

I like compliments.

Wednesday, the teller at Bank of America told me I had beautiful eyes.

Today, the cabbie told me I was beautiful and had great eyes.

I was creeped out by the bank teller.. since he looked like a hobbit.. but the cabbie was an attractive Italian guy. And I'm starting to notice a trend. Nothing wrong with a little ego-stroking.