perpetually dry contacts!

Picking up where I left off in the other post about my "out of character-ness"....I'm apparently on a streak these days. Either that, or it's a new norm. This non-confrontational/control-freak/mess of a girl is becoming more and more laissez-faire (there's a mini story to back this up, but I don't feel like elaborating right this minute). I think it's a good thing.

I MISS OURTUNES. Too bad the ethernet jack is coming out of the wall, and too bad NYU's ResNet people SUCK.

"Because once we hit the top, there's no stopping us"

I don't know. I really need a band, pronto. I feel like it would liberate me musically, because I'm starting to feel like I'm in a one instrument rut. Maybe 'rut' is the wrong word, because there's obviously something very special about the piano/voice combination, but....there's only so much room left for experimentation.

"Because once we hit the top, we've just begun"

I really don't want to say this, but I am so, so close to losing all faith in boys. And I know girls say it all the time, I know, I know I know it's cliched. But goddamnit, can't someone for once just prove me wrong?

At least I have hummus.

shweeeeet

I didn't have any Internet for a few days and I survived. I'm not as addicted as I thought I was. Points for me.

Hope everyone had a RIDICULOUSLY FUCKING AWESOME thanksgiving.
...................yeah, no. People make such a big deal over this one day, and when they enthusiastically ask, "How was your thanksgiving???!!" what am I supposed to say, "It was the BEST FUCKING DAY OF MY LIFE"

I mean, all you do is eat. Which is pretty sweet, I guess. But seriously. Un peu overrated, if you ask me. Oooh well, I still hope your thanksgivings were okay.
My parents are in AK, so between myself, my brother, and my grandmother, we didn't get a turkey, since those things last forever and I hate turkey leftovers. But I made steak, some kick ass french string beans (they're becoming my specialty), candied yams, mashed potatoes...which, for me, is a big deal. Even my brother was surpised that I had that much range in my cooking abilities. GO ME.

On another note, I really really love buying books. Any books. Novels, dictionaries, cookbooks, doesn't matter. I'm a huge dork. New books really turn me on, baby.

I cut mah hair. Got bangs again, I missed having them.

So, fun news: junior (or was it senior) year at spence, Frosch told me to submit some poetry to the Asian American Writer's Workshop, because they were compiling a youth anthology or something. So I did, and didn't hear from them. Until this fall. Apparently they picked one of my poems to be in the anthology, and....well, I cringed when I re-read it, but if they liked it, it's all good. So....I'm in an anthology! Very exciting. I'm dragging Elena to the reception. I take her everywhere with me, she's like a security blanket.
(It's her birthday tomorrow, party at our place)

I'm getting a sugar high from some pumpkin cake goodness that I just inhaled so.............bye.



p.s - I stole my brother's little gameboy color with super mario land and brought it back to the dorm. And I'm knitting a scarf. I feel like both of these things are not very conventionally me, but I'm enjoying the out of character-ness.

ohmygoddddd

I popped my open mic cherry.

And it was fabulous.

So, I brought Elena with me, and my other songwriter friend Sammy decided to open-mic with me, because she had never done it at this particular place (Caffe Vivaldi)...although she is an open mic veteran.
We went in, signed up, sat down. It's a tiny cafe, and basically everyone in the cafe was open-mic-ing. Aaaaand.........they liked me! They really liked me! I did Puzzle Sabotage and Silent Film, and people were actualllllly cheering (people other than Elena and Sammy), and after I finished and sat down again, the people around me even went out of their way to compliment me, the new girl.

Before I got to the cafe, I was nervous to the point of nausea; but once I stepped into the cafe I felt absolutely fine.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Okay. So I just wanted to share.

well-mannered frivolity

Two exciting things in my life this week:

Part I: Dale Wardlaw
The urban myth. He was in the city the past weekend, and - miracle of all holy miracles - he got in touch with us and actually called Elena to schedule a time to see us before he left. This may sound anticlimactic, but a phone call from the flake of all flakes is pretty spectacular. Anyway, when I saw him I had just run over from the east side so I was a mess, but who cares. We had lunch in the park and talked and I gave him both cds. Random: Apparently Olivia Katz is taking voice lessons with him in french right now because she's abroad, I guess. Well when I'm in Paris next fall......muhhaha. YeahI'mcreepy.

Anyway. I heart Dale. The whole thing was like a dream.

Part II: HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIREEEEE
Yeah. Gooooood stuff. Well first of all, we got there around 10 for the midnight showing, and there were all of these lines everywhere because they were showing it on 10 screens or something at Union Square. And so we get our tickets and are looking for our line, when someone tells us that our auditorium has already gone in. Initial response: "OH FUUUUUUCK." We dash up to our theater, walk in, and it wasn't full at all yet. We got amazing seats on the floor, didn't even have to wait outside in the cold at all, and all was good. Then we just chilled for like two hours before it started.
And then, the mooooooovie.
I don't want to ramble on about this and that right now but I definitely want to see it again. Maybe on IMAX next week with the bro (although hes kind of grown out of the HP mania, meaning I am the uber dork of the family). But Neville is my HERO. And Ralph Fiennes...creepy motherfucker. He was great.
I cried. I didn't want to, and I knew what was going to happen, but I cried anyway. One of my suitemates was genuinely freaked out and emotional during the whole last part of the movie and said it should have been rated R for how scary it was. I disagreed. But it was still great. Go see it.

Now.

what do they know anyway

I'm a little worried about registration tomorrow...fingers crossed.

I've been in the mood for a jazz club (preferrably Smalls) this past week. Perhaps this weekend.

Next Monday, Sammy and I are going to open-mic at Caffe Vivaldi. She's an open-mic pro, but it's going to be my first open-mic ever, I'm excited/petrified/eep!!

Lyrics for "Typical" are up for those who are curious. Mentally I've listed it as No. 27.5 because it doesn't seem like a valid song, but in reality I guess it is. It's more of an endearing transition piece, so that I don't fall into that not-writing-music-for-several-months-at-a-time rut.

Um.....Harry Potter is tomorrow night. Super excited. But at the same time, super super sad because I'm missing the first subway party of the year. And I was at both last year! And...boo.

The other day I went to the French Dept the other day to register for the minor, and I met with the sweetest old man, M. Zezula. When I walked into his office, there was this pretty little screen in the corner, the office in general smelled of wine, and on top of all of his paperwork was a collection of Colette stories. I've never felt so comfortable in an office setting; the actual process of registering took 30 seconds since all I did was fill out a card, but then he just kept asking me questions about Alaska (I was carrying my UAA tote bag that day) and how a friend of his was thinking about moving to Fort Lee. He was so adorable. And so...french.

On a different note, Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" gets me every time I hear it. Every. Single. TIme. I can't even explain, there are no words. A biography on him just came out, and I kind of want to pick it up. But who am I kidding, I don't have time to read for fun these days. Augh. Which leads me to...

Thanksgiving. I'm kind of excited to go home for a few days and just...disappear. Because that's what happens when I cross the river - I disappear from the map. I mostly just lounge around, read, enjoy the fact that I have a piano that is accessible 24/7 (without having to sign up), and drink tea. Mmm.

new shampoo

Sunday nights are filled with resolutions.

Monday, our french class meets at a pub next to the Bowery Poetry Club (our usual location ever since the strike), but first we check to see if Crime Scene is suitable as a classroom setting. I discover another Cafe Angelique on Bleecker on the east side and am ecstatic for a moment. I get an F on my french test today, along with most of the class. We all find it tres funny and I claim I will frame mine - 'My first F in college!' it will say. But the teacher acknowledges the ridiculousness of the test and we all laugh and sip our coffees and move on.

I browsed stationary and fountain pens today. Send me your addresses and expect a letter, this is the beginning of the snail mail revolution.

Tomorrow, I plan the rest of my college career in the hours between my Einstein class and Russian Lit. I predict confusion.

Past, Present, Future, Elsewhere.

I fancy the Petit Prince 2006 calendar and it is very likely that it will replace the Degas one that hangs a few feet away at the moment.

filler

I just don't know what the past two days have been. Weird, check. Depressing, check. Moments of complete despair, check. Little uplifting glimmers, check. NYU shuttle still shitty, check.

So last night I prescribed something for the weirdness of my life: drunkkkkkennesss.
And that worked, for the night at least. Went to Sammy's show, found a great chinese restaurant in St. Marks, believe it or not (didn't know it existed until last night), Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture (belligerent), and then ended the night watching/half dozing to Love Actually.

Today, I forced myself to sit in the library and do some work; but first, I sat in the park to read 'Notes from the Undergound' in the park with a hot cuppa coffee. That was nice. Then went to Bobst to start the real work and after an hour felt stifled so I went to Kimmel to try and finish the piece I've been working on (totally a fluff piece but I find it comically endearing) and let me tell you, I have never sounded so good. I know it sounds conceited, but a night of drinking and smoking dropped my voice a few levels and it does wonders. Anyway.

I called my dad while I was Bobst just to say hello, and we didn't talk for very long because he was busy. But then later on in the night he left me a long voice message on my phone, just rambling as he was driving, telling me that there was some ice on Knik River, etc...and that he thought I sounded a little sad before when we talked at the library, and hoped I was happy and enjoying life and told me he loved me. I saved the voice message.

Then went to see Pride & Prejudice with Emily and Kelsey. It isn't the 5 hour A&E version (which....I LOVE), but for what it was, it was good. I personally thought the cinematography was great - along the lines of Amelie and Finding Neverland with the twisting and extreeeemely long and complicated single shots. The music as well.

Harry Potter next Thursday *squeal* -- yeah I'm a Potterphile, I'll openly admit it.
Naima: Potterphile or pedophile??
Me: Um.....
Naima: You hesitated, that's not good.

Speaking of which, talked with Naima for a good two hours on the phone today. I could practically feel my brain melting after an hour or so. But it was worth it.

I have an incredible amount of work. To be honest, a part of me is somewhat unhappy right now but I hate melodrama just as much as the next person so I just need enough energy and motivation to tell the right people to fuck off (and by 'right people' i mean the assholes) and just plow on, you know? I keep getting distracted.

Also, I officially declared my major in Politics. Weird. I have yet to meet a Poli major who isn't an asshole (wait I totally take that back, because there's Stan, Priya, and Venice, and they are the exceptions.) Exciting. Whatever, I'm countering it with a minor in French and I have yet to meet someone in the French department who isn't awesome and great and friendly, so....yeah.

I'm tired, good night.

happy (belated) halloween?

This is my belated halloween post. Usually I wouldn't update about Halloween, but this halloween was actually fun, and I was uber decked out. Our costumes were good; Elena and I were Mario and Luigi, complete with Super Mario theme music "blasting" from a little tape recorder. How good were the costumes? Well, at the parade, a Japanese tourist stopped us and snapped a photo. Now THAT is pretty snazzy, if I may say so myself.

Went to different parties, met some cool new people, hung out with some cool old people. At one point there was a mini rooftop party at Mike's, very spontaneous, but there had been a party before us and they graciously left the string lights and tables up and we just went with it. A little chilly, but we had music & wine & string lights & friends & beautiful New York. What more can a girl ask for. Oh, and Elena and I had our first Wendys over that weekend. We went in at 2 am in our costumes and told them we had never been to a Wendys, and they gave us free frosties! Huzzah! Also had Blue Nine burgers for the first time - so that's not one, but two fast food firsts.

Then on Halloween, we went to the parade, which was kiiiiind of not as fun as last year. It just seemed like there wasn't enough music, people weren't drunk/rowdy enough, and not nearly enough people were dressed up. Oh well. But anyway we went to Gray's, I took another picture eating a hot dog whilst in costume (it's like a tradition now), and Levent was dressed as a girl. Good enough for me.











I hope your Halloweens were fun and creepy. More fun than creepy though.

Affectionately, Mario.

well, fuck.

So I'm in a really sour mood right now. I am not motivated to do any work after I get midterms/midterm papers back that have grades which totally do NOT reflect how much I am learning in those classes/the fact that I am actually doing the work. Why do I always get stuck with hard/unfair graders. It's frustrating. I know I sound like a typical spence girl right now, but I'M ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK, GODDAMNIT. fuck!

Halloween weekend was pretty fun, I'll update about it later, when I'm not in such a bad fucking mood.

Now I have to study for a fucking French test. fuckshitfuckballsihateschoolfuck.