Quite a bit has happened in the last 48 hours. With the help of my best friend, I cleaned my apartment and cooked a four course italian dinner for the people who work in the research lab that I'm interning at over the summer. I have limited cooking resources here in NYC, which mainly just affected the tiramisu. Instead of a fluffy, light consistency, it ended up liquidy. Tasty but more like tiramisoup. At some point in the night, I ended up trying to whip egg whites with a fork, even though I knew it wouldn't work, because back in Italy, I watched a girl to the same thing for over an hour to no avail. But, all in all, it turned out great and I felt like a real adult.
To explain the pain part of the title of this post, we have to jump back a couple days to the filming of the indie movie on saturday. At one point, I had to walk into the ocean with my socks and shoes on...leading to my shoes getting soaked. Which, was fine, considering I had ordered new shoes the day before, anyways, and was eagerly awaiting their arrival. However, the new shoes didn't arrive on Sunday (shocker) so I had to wear my skater shoes, which tend to cut into the back of heals, especially when I end up walking around downtown with them on. Monday, my shoes still haven't arrived, I wear my skater shoes to walk the two miles to and from work, making the wound worse. Tuesday, new shoes arrive!! But, as everyone knows, new shoes are not the way to avoid blisters... So, last night, I ended up walking from the East Village to Time Square, about two miles. By the time we arrived in Time Square, my heal looked, and felt like it had been shot. But, I fought through the pain to enjoy limping around the center of the universe.
The pleasure part of this story? Dinner, a show, and a moment. Dinner was 6 dollars per person thanks to Groupon. If you aren't familiar with Groupon, it is an online service that allows companies to get coupons out to large amounts of people. Stupidly good deal for both the customer and the company. Anyways, my first groupon purchase led us to Empanada Bar NYC. We each had a spicy chicken empanada, a curry empanada (both amazing) and for dessert, a half of a dolce empenada and cinnamon apple empanada. We were warned that the dessert empenadas were hot, but little did we know, that the server meant they would still be hot after we finished eating our main course empenada. Surprise! The dolce empenada was filled with essentially sweet molten lava. I think it was a chocolatey substance, but I couldn't really tell because I was in so much pain from the ball of fire that leaked out of the empanada and covered all of my fingers! But, it was sweet, I'll give them that.
We left the empanada bar, went to time square, where I had THE MOMENT. I was crossing the street, and a relatively attractive red head girl was crossing the street towards me. We made eye contact, I smile, she smiles, we look away. We're still walking toward each other when we both look back and smile again. Boom! Awesome moment. But, there's more. We cross paths, get to our respective sides of the street and look back at the same time and SMILE AGAIN! I chuckle, she giggles, and we both stop, grab our respective friends, and start telling them about the moment. This belongs in a Jennifer Aniston movie. As I'm talking to my friend I point and say "the ginger over there, is gonna look over here in two seconds." Side note, it's surprisingly easy to spot red heads across a crowd, even one as large as the one in Time Square. Anyways, two seconds later, she looks over smiles again and rapidly starts talking to her friend again. But, I decided, that was enough of that, and to leave the moment as just that, a moment.
Sadly, my moment abruptly turned into some street vendor trying to sell us tickets to a comedy club. "No thank...Wait, comedy club? How much?" I was suckered in. We bought two tickets and started walking away when it hit both of us. OH. MY. GOD. THESE ARE PROBABLY FAKE! We headed to where the comedy club was supposedly located and it wasn't there! Seriously? I blame the red head. I let my guard down for a minute and boom, scammed. "Wait, these tickets say the address is 300, this block is only the 200's. Let's go one block more" The address did exist, but it didn't look quite like a comedy club. We walked in and said "umm, I think we have tickets, but we want to see if these are real... this is a comedy club right?" "Oh, it is a comedy club, check with the guy out there to see if your tickets are real." So we head outside and find two guys on the stairs. One of whom had his pants unzipped and was tucking in his shirt. He also happened to be going commando...and looked a bit like the australian guy from summerland/Jason Stackhouse from True Blood. We asked the guy who wasn't exposing himself to the street, "Sir, are these real tickets." "Well, those are real tickets anyone could tell you that. They're real tickets, but not to this show. Sorry kids" My friend was so bummed, but it hits me...this is a comedy club...that is a joke...these tickets are real and this is a real comedy club. Oh thank God, it's real. I was so relieved. My friend was still trying to clarify when the guy said "Kid, it's a comedy club, lighten up. Yes it's real, come back in half an hour for the show."
We went and killed some time in Time Square (no pun intended). Came back and got seated with 8 other audience members. Of the 5 acts, not one failed to ask everyone where they were from. Therefore, I can tell you that on one half of the room we had a Philipean couple from Canada who had been married for 30 years and a couple from Brooklyn who were of mixed ethnic heritage. On my side of the room, we had a white couple from Calgary, Canada, a couple of guys from Denmark, and me and my friend. If you're picturing this scene and wondering why all the white people are on one half of the room and the non-whites are on the other side, ask our waitress, or every comedian that night, because they all pointed it out.
The poor Denmark boys got made fun of a bunch, as they were seated front and center, and clearly stood out. One guy was told he looked like he was from kansas, and his friend looked like someone from Children of the Corn. There were some funny jokes other than that, but I have no desire to share them, because I feel like they just won't be as funny the second time, especially since you weren't there.
That's about it. Pics are still on their way, including one of my battle wounded heal. Cheers to the daily adventure.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
It's all about the people
What's life? Not to get all deep and philosophical on this fun little blog of mine, but it's the ultimate question that each of us asks ourselves at least once. It seems to be a common question among young people. I hardly think anyone has the answer, but I think the key lies in your interactions with people, and with the entire human experience as a whole. I once read this short story that basically suggested that man kind advanced so much that they created a place to save the collective human experience in hyperspace and allow it to learn and answer all questions because it essentially was everyone. This thing, once the entire universe succumbed to the nature of entropy, said let their be light, thereby restarting the universe. An interesting take on the interaction between man, God, and science. Why do I bring this up? I have realized over the past week, that I have been blessed to meet some really awesome people, if only for brief interactions.
My new roommate: Roberto Corona. Spanish name. Born in Africa. Raised in the UK. Culturally confused? He is awesome! Unfortunately, he is barely here because he has cooler friends in Jersey but, when he is here, I probe his mind for information about the UK and try and copy his accent. He's such a good sport about it.
His friend Chelsea. She is from upstate New York, currently lives in Brooklyn, with all the cool kids, and handles Roberto's jokes well. We only spoke briefly, but she seemed pretty interesting.
Becca and KiKi: I was fortunate enough to meet these beautiful ladies at the New York Philharmonic concert in Central Park. Becca and I flirted a little bit, I found out that she was a teacher, played Scrabble better if she had a bigger board, and went to church religiously (pun intended). When I revealed that I was only 20, I think I took her by surprise a bit. Best reaction ever "No your not! Seriously? No. Wow. The universe is sending you older women" Becca, you have no idea! It was a fun random interaction. We talked about our blogs, because everyone has a blog these days. You can find hers here.
Patrick V. Hackeling: This guy is pretty amazing. He is an ex-lacrosse player at Swarthmore university. His true passion lies in filmmaking, however. He wrote a shockingly deep script and had the guts to try and produce it on his own, and star in it. I was fortunate enough to have a fun, smaller role in the film and get to meet him and his friends and be part of, what I hope, is an amazing first step towards a great career for him! Whenever it comes out, in whatever film contests or festivals, you all should check out "The Thirteenth Step."
Judie: I met Judie, a fiery red head with a personality kind of like Abby Schuto from NCIS on the set of Pat's movie. She has lived quite the life, being a make up artist and hair designer in Hollywood. Two of her siblings are also in the film industry, and the other is a doctor. Judie gave me some pretty realistic track marks as she told stories of interactions with crazy celebrities and wacky film shoots. What a life she's led.
Sam: The cameraman for the second half of the day of shooting with Pat. This guy recently got married at Cold Spring Harbor Labs. This place is absolutely beautiful! Tucked away in the hills of long island (seriously), overlooking the water, this medical facility researches neurological disorders while also hosting concert series and such. Sam works for them as a video technician. He was born in England, raised mostly in the states, did college in England and came back (leading to a slight, but noticeable accent). We talked about a zombie film he is shooting and how he really likes filmography, but can't find enough time/people to do it.
But, beyond meeting new people and experiencing touches of others lives (I think I'll post again about some of the people I've met. Some who have had longer interactions with me, or who were mentioned briefly in other posts but didn't get a paragraph like everyone here) I have created some new memories with an old friend.
I'm lucky enough to have my buddy KC in town to visit me. Today, we went to brooklyn to have dinner and wound up in the getto/hipsterville/Jewtopia. It was great food and amazing view of the city. We walked back to Manhattan, over the Williamsburg Bridge, as a storm started rolling in. IT was beautiful (pics will get their own post). On the metro ride back up to the bronx, we got on the crazy train. Some woman who looked a bit like Diana Ross started clapping and singing "ain't none yo' business" and would get mad if anyone looked at her. When she got off she said "I hope you have a bad evening and a worse night." Elsewhere on the subway, a homeless man fell asleep and fell over onto a very large black woman who just started laughing away. It was a fun moment. A different mother got fed up with her crying daughter after what I imagine was a very long day. Some guy recognized me and KC from the subway ride at the beginning of the day! He remembered where we got on and said that we were sitting a few seats away from where we sat in the morning. How funny!
It was a pretty awesome experience, and I hope there will be more to come. I'm dreaming of moving back here after I graduate. I hope it works out. Cheers to the daily adventure, and the people who make adventures worthwhile.
My new roommate: Roberto Corona. Spanish name. Born in Africa. Raised in the UK. Culturally confused? He is awesome! Unfortunately, he is barely here because he has cooler friends in Jersey but, when he is here, I probe his mind for information about the UK and try and copy his accent. He's such a good sport about it.
His friend Chelsea. She is from upstate New York, currently lives in Brooklyn, with all the cool kids, and handles Roberto's jokes well. We only spoke briefly, but she seemed pretty interesting.
Becca and KiKi: I was fortunate enough to meet these beautiful ladies at the New York Philharmonic concert in Central Park. Becca and I flirted a little bit, I found out that she was a teacher, played Scrabble better if she had a bigger board, and went to church religiously (pun intended). When I revealed that I was only 20, I think I took her by surprise a bit. Best reaction ever "No your not! Seriously? No. Wow. The universe is sending you older women" Becca, you have no idea! It was a fun random interaction. We talked about our blogs, because everyone has a blog these days. You can find hers here.
Patrick V. Hackeling: This guy is pretty amazing. He is an ex-lacrosse player at Swarthmore university. His true passion lies in filmmaking, however. He wrote a shockingly deep script and had the guts to try and produce it on his own, and star in it. I was fortunate enough to have a fun, smaller role in the film and get to meet him and his friends and be part of, what I hope, is an amazing first step towards a great career for him! Whenever it comes out, in whatever film contests or festivals, you all should check out "The Thirteenth Step."
Judie: I met Judie, a fiery red head with a personality kind of like Abby Schuto from NCIS on the set of Pat's movie. She has lived quite the life, being a make up artist and hair designer in Hollywood. Two of her siblings are also in the film industry, and the other is a doctor. Judie gave me some pretty realistic track marks as she told stories of interactions with crazy celebrities and wacky film shoots. What a life she's led.
Sam: The cameraman for the second half of the day of shooting with Pat. This guy recently got married at Cold Spring Harbor Labs. This place is absolutely beautiful! Tucked away in the hills of long island (seriously), overlooking the water, this medical facility researches neurological disorders while also hosting concert series and such. Sam works for them as a video technician. He was born in England, raised mostly in the states, did college in England and came back (leading to a slight, but noticeable accent). We talked about a zombie film he is shooting and how he really likes filmography, but can't find enough time/people to do it.
But, beyond meeting new people and experiencing touches of others lives (I think I'll post again about some of the people I've met. Some who have had longer interactions with me, or who were mentioned briefly in other posts but didn't get a paragraph like everyone here) I have created some new memories with an old friend.
I'm lucky enough to have my buddy KC in town to visit me. Today, we went to brooklyn to have dinner and wound up in the getto/hipsterville/Jewtopia. It was great food and amazing view of the city. We walked back to Manhattan, over the Williamsburg Bridge, as a storm started rolling in. IT was beautiful (pics will get their own post). On the metro ride back up to the bronx, we got on the crazy train. Some woman who looked a bit like Diana Ross started clapping and singing "ain't none yo' business" and would get mad if anyone looked at her. When she got off she said "I hope you have a bad evening and a worse night." Elsewhere on the subway, a homeless man fell asleep and fell over onto a very large black woman who just started laughing away. It was a fun moment. A different mother got fed up with her crying daughter after what I imagine was a very long day. Some guy recognized me and KC from the subway ride at the beginning of the day! He remembered where we got on and said that we were sitting a few seats away from where we sat in the morning. How funny!
It was a pretty awesome experience, and I hope there will be more to come. I'm dreaming of moving back here after I graduate. I hope it works out. Cheers to the daily adventure, and the people who make adventures worthwhile.
Monday, July 9, 2012
A new day another adventure
Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while. I haven't had that many adventures but I'll try to give a little recap of what I've been up to.
Last weekend, I was in a Starbucks in downtown Manhattan, drinking an over priced cold drink and people watching. I realized that I could now officially be considered a New Yorker. To complete my transition to New Yorker, I was wearing pants regardless of the fact that its been in the 90s since the first day of summer two weeks ago. I meandered for a while that day, down to Battery Park and around the new WTC towers. After that, I had an incredibly overpriced brunch at a restaurant called 5 points. Located at the center of the area that Gangs of New York was based on, I could not help but chuckling to myself thinking about the contrast of this 5 points and the 5 points in Colorado (it's Denver's version of the hood). On my way home, I had to catch the train with a bunch of drunk people leaving the baseball game. Entertaining, a little annoying, but generally entertaining.
On the fourth of July, I went to a friends apartment, barbequed, played dominos then went onto the roof of the building to watch the fireworks. It was absolutely amazing, seeing fireworks go off all over the city. There was so much smoke, the moon looked blood red. It also kind of looked like Manhattan was on fire. But it was wild being higher up than the fireworks and being able to see 20 or 30 fireworks exploding at any given moment. Granted, the 4th of July, the buses don't run, so I was left to walk home, through the Bronx, at 1 AM. This goes against everything I'd ever been told! "The Bronx is fine as long as you aren't walking alone though the Bronx at night..." I called my mom and had her keep me company till I was safe home. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Also, people find it necessary to set of fireworks around the 4th of July. So from the first until even today, I think there are gunshots or bombs going off (which isn't a radical idea, after all, I am in the Bronx) then I realize it's just fireworks.
This past weekend, I ran to work in running shorts again. Let's clarify...most of my underwear covers more skin than these shorts... I'm always half afraid I'm going to get shanked for dressing like that, but then I realize that people won't want to rob the guy that clearly has no room to hide a wallet or phone.
I have a second job writing for a music website called AltRockLive. I write reviews of CDs and soon I'll be writing reviews of concerts and interviewing bands. Potentially, I'll be interviewing Owl City tomorrow, we'll see. In fact, I'm listening to an album I'm reviewing as I write this. I was enjoying it, then all of a sudden, it got really dissonant and literally started giving me a headache. I was thinking that this was absolutely terrible. About twenty minutes later, I had to pause it to just let my ears rest. Some music kept playing. I realized, I had it opened and playing in two separate windows at two different places. Ugh, that was a miserable experience.
That's about it. I'll try and have a more exciting life... Cheers to the daily adventure, which is rapidly turning into the weekly/monthly adventure.
Last weekend, I was in a Starbucks in downtown Manhattan, drinking an over priced cold drink and people watching. I realized that I could now officially be considered a New Yorker. To complete my transition to New Yorker, I was wearing pants regardless of the fact that its been in the 90s since the first day of summer two weeks ago. I meandered for a while that day, down to Battery Park and around the new WTC towers. After that, I had an incredibly overpriced brunch at a restaurant called 5 points. Located at the center of the area that Gangs of New York was based on, I could not help but chuckling to myself thinking about the contrast of this 5 points and the 5 points in Colorado (it's Denver's version of the hood). On my way home, I had to catch the train with a bunch of drunk people leaving the baseball game. Entertaining, a little annoying, but generally entertaining.
On the fourth of July, I went to a friends apartment, barbequed, played dominos then went onto the roof of the building to watch the fireworks. It was absolutely amazing, seeing fireworks go off all over the city. There was so much smoke, the moon looked blood red. It also kind of looked like Manhattan was on fire. But it was wild being higher up than the fireworks and being able to see 20 or 30 fireworks exploding at any given moment. Granted, the 4th of July, the buses don't run, so I was left to walk home, through the Bronx, at 1 AM. This goes against everything I'd ever been told! "The Bronx is fine as long as you aren't walking alone though the Bronx at night..." I called my mom and had her keep me company till I was safe home. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Also, people find it necessary to set of fireworks around the 4th of July. So from the first until even today, I think there are gunshots or bombs going off (which isn't a radical idea, after all, I am in the Bronx) then I realize it's just fireworks.
This past weekend, I ran to work in running shorts again. Let's clarify...most of my underwear covers more skin than these shorts... I'm always half afraid I'm going to get shanked for dressing like that, but then I realize that people won't want to rob the guy that clearly has no room to hide a wallet or phone.
I have a second job writing for a music website called AltRockLive. I write reviews of CDs and soon I'll be writing reviews of concerts and interviewing bands. Potentially, I'll be interviewing Owl City tomorrow, we'll see. In fact, I'm listening to an album I'm reviewing as I write this. I was enjoying it, then all of a sudden, it got really dissonant and literally started giving me a headache. I was thinking that this was absolutely terrible. About twenty minutes later, I had to pause it to just let my ears rest. Some music kept playing. I realized, I had it opened and playing in two separate windows at two different places. Ugh, that was a miserable experience.
That's about it. I'll try and have a more exciting life... Cheers to the daily adventure, which is rapidly turning into the weekly/monthly adventure.
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