Moving to Brooklyn (Plus Spike Jonze/Maurice Sendak, Secret Science Club and Martha Stewart)

Despite the email/text feature to Blogger, I'm still behind. Here's what I've been up to the last 9 days (give or take)


10/8 Spike Jonze and Maurice Sendak at MoMA. Linette and I waited in line for an hour and a half, thought we got six tickets, turns out the chick at MoMA lied to me. It was sold out and had to tell friends who weren't in line that favor effort failed. She accompanied me to an Artist Access reading session where I accidentally flipped the bird on a bunch of miniature people while counting (young enough to not notice) and met an extremely sassy four year old with doorknocker earrings, a fake wedding ring and the type of exaggerated mannerisms that belongs in a cartoon. The Spike Jonze/Maurice Sendak was fantastic. We saw Julianne Moore and Cynthia Rowley, and there were other celebrities Spike Jonze was referencing to but couldn't find in a crowd (that and I wasn't trying too hard cos I was hungry and tempted by our tasty saigon bahn mi's in the bag on the ground.) The documentary, Tell Them Anything You Want is fantastic–and we also enjoyed the kitschy clip of Spike Jonze and Catherine Keener playing different characters from Sendak's childhood. The question and answer session was sweet; you can really tell how fond Jonze is of Sendak.

10/9 I skipped the LSAC law school forums. The weather was bad and I was carried away with the sheer force of my ambivalence to becoming a lawyer. That's still a not so minor detail I need to resolve. I'm interested in intellectual property law...but to be in-house counsel or start my own IP legal counsel company or non-profit. Not to be a lawyer.

Jessica and I went to the New Art New Ideas launch party at the New Museum. Saw some neon art (not a lot) but drank a lot of free white wine. We then went to her friend's layoff party in Midtown East. Drank a lot but managed to walk the long stretch of east to west 34th St and take the A-train uptown home.


10/10 It was a struggle to get up since I was so hungover. It was a mission to get to Greenwood Cemetery in time for Angels and Accordions. Managed to meet up with Phoebe and Linette just as it was started and it was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I got so many ideas I'm going to use for Peregrine Hawk: Assassin (PH:A) and I loved all the history and performances. The little children climbing up and down the hill during the grand finale while the hapless parents just looked on? Not so much.

10/11 I got up early once again and went to the Trinity Cemetery tour in 157th St. It wasn't as exciting and entertaining as Angels & Accordions, but it was good and informative. Also while looking around at all the tombstones, I decided to change the names on PH:A to be bird names.

10/13 Secret Science Club in the Bell House that was talking about the sounds that black holes make. Interesting! I went with Phoebe, Lauren and Jon. Lauren's sister came a little bit later and had these little yellow tomatoes with a husk. It was interesting–sweet and savory...like a cross between persimmons and mozzarrella. I hope to encounter these tomatoes in the future


10/14 It was an exciting day–Martha Stewart Show day! I received free tickets weeks before (during the SLC transport fiasco) and Hanorah and Linette joined me. The was free food and beverage from a truck (got a Nathan's hotdog and black cofffee) and the set was massive. There was a trompe l'oeil skyline of New York, a second floor and it was in full Halloween-mode, Martha style. I loved that she had a garden, a kitchen area, a test/work kitchen, a second kitchen in front of the craft table and though we didn't get free books (disliked the warm-up comedian even if he did exclusively give the books to just the row in front of us. WTH?) They played rap in between sets which was strange, and the cooking guest was the host of a PBS cooking show (made yummy looking pork loin.) The crafter was a chick who looked around our age (twenty-something) who seemed nervous and made a bird hat replica of her bird. And the animal guy had a bat, a parrot, Martha's cockatiel, an owl that was blind in the left eye, a scorpion and a tarantula. Apparently, bat houses should face south. My favorite segment was when they were making octopus costumes and the little boy was not very cooperative. It was hilarious. I bet he's not coming back again. I really liked the guest gifts which are $100 gift cards to Jayson Home & Gardens in Chicago. We went to the website and it seemed kind of expensive, but I'll see if they have anything on sale next time I'm in Chicago. Definitely need to stay away from the Chang & Eng porcelain statuette, as tempting and kitschy as it is.

Afterwards, I went to check out three apartments in Brooklyn (first two in Clinton Hill/Fort Greene, last one off Greenpoint.) The first apartment had a dog that won't stop barking and apparently we had mutual friends by way of Ethan from the Antagonist group in the LES. The second was a mess but really close to transportation but the girl didn't seem on top of things (e.g. utilities.) The third I really liked and is my second favorite (cute dude who might have cute friends, plus he goes up to Boston to see his girlfriend every two weeks which would have been a plus in me having the apt to myself.)

10/16 Checked out two apartments yesterday. The first one is off Montrose L-stop and I really liked it–it had a proper kitchen and living room and is close to the L, G and JM trains. It also had a laundromat downstairs (something I take for granted living here) and what convinced me to move was a bar I passed that was advertising organic beer. It's not as hipster/expensive as Williamsburg which is good, and not as sparse/ghetto/industrial as Bushwich/Bed-Stuy. It's a happy medium. The girl emailed me last night and I guess I'm moving in :)

The second apartment was in a loft in Bushwick off the Halsey L-stop. There were no rooms but instead had sections–the available one had a small work area with an adjoining bed but no walls. They had a DVD projector for films which is good, but were anti-meat, anti-microwave and anti-television. Big No. Even though the rent is quite cheap ($650 plus utilities), the flexible schedule and all the rules would have made me miserable despite the savings.

I'm also going to start volunteering for the MoMA Tim Burton exhibit–Sundays every even weekend which is going to be fun. I do need to find a steadier source of income but I still have saving to life off of, and I'm going to apply for a production/design job at McGraw-Hill Platts. Didn't too well on LSATs, scored on the 60th percentile but had a feeling I wasn't going to do well after the disaster that was the Logic Games section. Maybe this will be a plus in that I can slowly wean my parents off the idea of me going to law school?

Drinking, Dexter and why I'm not in Philly

Last week was a bit of a wash -- relaxing, but a wash, nonetheless. I met up with Aisha and her husband on Wednesday and Friday. They're traveling while they rent out their flat in London and they are looking to launch their new product. It was fun--and comforting to know I'm not alone in my idea that the best way to save money on rent is to travel (below the cost of rent.) Berlin's still in the cards.

Aisha and hubby thinks there's potential in Wombers. Lots and lots of potential. I'm going to work on "Peregrine Hawk: Assassin" first, and also start sketching out Wombers' illustrated auto-biography. I'm not going to remove Wombers' stuffing and turn him animatronic though. That would be very wrong (and traumatic for both of us.) I met up with the volunteer coordinator at MoMA for the Tim Burton retrospective this winter. It looks like a lot of fun, and the shift I asked for is every other weekend on a Saturday.

I worked on my "This American Life" Spring 2010 application. The essays and stories were not up to par with what I'd prefer, but my brain is still in recovery mode. I'm going to work on "Peregrine Hawk: Assassin (PHA)" in extreme mode this month as I want to have a few chapters and a proposal sent out to a few literary agents before the end of the month. I'm hoping to have the writing workshop have an impromptu meeting while we are waiting in line for Martha Stewart on the 14th -- Hanorah's on board, and Jessica and Phoebe are interested, and I'm waiting for Linette.

I went to my old roommate Alison's housewarming party on Friday night. It's several blocks away from me which was very good -- as I got way too drunk for my own good. On top of the alcohol, I indulged on Grand Marnier truffles. I think that's what did it--and the clue is in the vomit. I spent most of Saturday in bed watching the rest of "Dexter" and am no completely caught up. I made rum chocolate cupcakes for Phoebe's Haht Dish II house party on Saturday -- and am proud to say that I did not get too drunk (though slightly tipsy.) I also learned a new game, Apples to Apples, and though I did not win, I got two right.

I was too lazy to walk up to the medieval festival at Inwood yesterday. Lazy and I wanted to keep on reading "Dead Until Dark." It's not exactly fine literature, it's all in past tense, excruciatingly mundane in detail, and cheesy -- but it was interesting to read while replaying season one of "True Blood" in my head. I'll read other books in the series till I experience brain vomit. It is reassuring to know that it doesn't have to be good to sell -- just a good story and enough to keep people reading. Some parts were just too ridiculous, even for me, though -- and I had to keep on putting it down.

I'm supposed to be in Philadelphia today, but my bus was to leave at 6:50 AM. That's way too early for my sanity. I was to do a classroom visit at Temple Law and spend the rest of the day at Penn Law. I'm going to apply to Temple since they have low tuition (and a good legal writing program) and skipping Penn Law as the tuition is ridiculously high. I'm still not completely on board with this idea of doing law -- I think my mother is finally realizing that -- and ideally, I can sell PHA and modestly live on a book advance.

Sarah Lawrence, LSATs and 90s Teen Movies

I finally made it to Bronxville after my harrowing nightmare with Metro-North. I forgot how quaint and exhausting those green rolling hills, and though I still found the Tudor-style architecture charming, I was decidedly annoyed at the lack of a grid and the liberal ramblings of its students. I was asking one student for directions, and kept on getting distracted by her armpit hair in desperate need of tidying, and had a distinct flash of what my life could have been if I attended that school and it was no longer longing or wonder. The Novel Writing workshop seemed good but too supportive and less demanding than what I would need, and I was amazed that some have been working on the same novel for fifteen years. The instructor was intrigued by my Peregrine Hawk young-adult novel, and it seems like a great program but in the end, I decide that the weekly commute will be the end of me. I got my full refund and visited the Bargain Box near the train station and picked up a fantastic heavy woven fabric for art, and several fantastic books and McSweeney's 24 issue.

Metro-North, once again, screwed me over. It was to skip my Tremont stop, so I had to get off at Fordham and walk towards the subway. I hate Metro-North. I was too distracted too study and still irritated that my asshole of a roommate Ryan decided to color our apartment geriatric, and I figured I can't study anymore without going insane. I stopped by Chinatown on Friday night to pick up some mussels, but the seafood section closed so I made vegetarian noodles with tofu and raw mango coconut sauce for Linette.

I'm pretty sure I had another LSAT-related nightmare. I woke up early yesterday and grabbed a cab to the testing site, and was completely taken aback by the huddled masses clutching their possessions in small Ziplock bags per LSAT regulation. Between people behind me chattering away their nervousness at my back and the freaked out people still cramming with their test book as they studied in front of me, it was not a good time to be had by all. I calmed down by taking a nap and playing the jukebox in my head, and I think I did pretty well for the first four sections (Reading Comprehension, followed by three Logical Reasoning arguments in a row.) On the third Logical Reasoning argument section, some asshole decided to mess with the blinders and the noise totally threw me off my game and it took too many minutes for me to recover and get back on track. He was lucky he wasn't sitting next to me as I was ready to stab him with one of my many sharpened No 2 pencils. I was so thrown off that I was blinded by my weak spot, Logic Games. I kept on skipping games around for no reason which is VERY bad strategy. So I think I should score average in this test since my good performance on the Reading Comprehension/Logical Arguments ought to be offset by the disaster that was Logic Games. I think I redeemed myself at the Writing argument prompt, but unfortunately that section is unscored.

I made my way back to Astoria, and Linette and I had a late lunch at the Himalayan Teahouse. I was surprised that the the organic green tea noodles were not green. We drank some badly needed beer (Baltic beer good, Russian beer bad) while watching "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" and I took some photographs of Linette for her LinkedIn account. I made homemade tomato pasta, roasted some beets, made a chicken and butter corn stir, and baked some garlic king fish and finished off a whole bottle of wine in one go. I watched the last couple of episodes of that ABC family show, "10 Things I Have About You" which is somewhat enjoyable for the Kat and Patrick character, watched the first couple of minutes of the original film (oh how I was so much like Kat back then, right down to wanting to go to SLC but my parents prevailed in nixing that idea) but got bored as I have seen this film way too often recently. I proceeded to watch "Cruel Intentions" which, to this day, I still have mixed feelings about. I wish I had a copy of "She's All That" which I also have mixed feelings about, but sadly I did not have a copy of that. I figured last night was a good stay-in night as I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown all week.

I think I will skip the mimosa-fueled brunch in the LES today and work on essays and applications. I am going to put in serious effort this October in either finding a job/apartment in NYC or finding an artist residency in Berlin. I like the idea of being a lawyer, but I don't love it. I need my freedom.

METRO-NORTH, I hate you.

Metro North screwed me over four times today and the day's not even over yet. First, the journey from my neighborhood to the Tremont stop in the Bronx where it failed me. Then I attempt to catch the one from Harlem. This one skipped my stop (Bronxville) and went straight to White Plains. I had to wait another half hour to catch a train going back to NYC and stops at Bronxville (which is my 3rd ticket before I even make it to my destination.) And I was hoping to take a train to Tremont and home, but apparently the machine will sell you the ticket that the train will skip, and asshole conductor just told me that I either get off at Fordham, or pay the extra $5 for the next stop they don't skip. I hate you Metro-North. I really do.
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TRANSPORTATION BLUES

I woke up early to try and catch an early train to Sarah Lawrence in Bronxville this morning. I wasted 45 minutes waiting for a Metro-North Harlem line train from Tremont that apparently would have taken two hours to arrive. I make my way back to Washington Heights then to Harlem to catch the train...which I missed. I'm on the train now and will probably be an hour late on a class that lasts for two hours. And some old man is moving into my apartment today because of my never-around asshole of a roommate. Then attempt to study as to not spectacularly fail on the LSATs on Saturday. FML.

I'm tempted to ship all of my stuff to my parents, screw law school and move to Berlin.

The train conductor just informed me this one is skipping over my stop. Seriously? FML
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Monkeywrench

The most interesting part of today was that a fly tried to land on my eye. I am wearing glasses so that was some excellent maneuvering on the winged bastard's part.

I've had quite an unproductive day today. I was counting on September 23, 2009 to be an excruciatingly productive day where I would do six practice LSAT tests, but so far I have done one practice test, and too distracted to continue working on another. I spent the better half of the afternoon looking for sublets in Brooklyn and actually looking for employment, both activities I did not expect. My non-existent roommate threw a monkeywrench by informing me that a fifty-something surgeon is moving in to one of the empty bedrooms tomorrow -- he apparently picked a new roommate without informing me, let alone telling me his name. I was incredibly pissed, and launched on a quest to find a new residence which is throwing off my plan of moving out end of November/December and putting my possessions into storage while I figure out whether to stay in New York or run towards the bohemian bum life in Berlin. This is another straw over the stolen foie gras incident (which I wasn't reimbursed as promised) and his constant insistence that a refrigerator that is six inches too wide for the cubby space in the wall does and will fit. I've spent enough hours playing Tetris to know if something may or will not fit.

Realizing that most apartments would probably want a guarantee of income, I looked for job openings and found quite a few, but to be honest, I enjoy not working. The last nine months have been quite fantastic, and as I still haven't tapped my savings yet, I'm not concerned... though a potential/future landlord/roommate might be. I called Captain Sparkle who is waiting to hike the wealthy echelons of San Francisco, and justified my having a beer before 3 PM with a rambling rant about the unacceptable living situation.

I've been going to bed around 3/4 AM and waking up four hours later this week to try and cram some studying in, but I'm waving the white flag as I doubt I'll miraculously gain new logic skills and understanding in time for Saturday's exam. And to be honest, I like the prospect of law -- but I don't love it. I don't want to go to an extremely competitive and expensive law school and come out with too much debt that will effectively chain me into working grueling rat race hours in Big Law. I'm thinking of a public school with reasonable tuition (and where I will qualify for in-state rates by 2L and 3L, if not 1L if I go to SUNY-Buffalo Law) where I can get my JD at minimal cost and work for an art organization or start my own.

I already went through the machinery of renown names when I went to Central Saint Martins in London... and to this day I'm still amazed I got a non-ironic applause for attending it at a party back in the day. And come to think of it, I had no idea why I was there except that it was pretty much obligatory for anyone who wanted to be in fashion or design -- and I was much too young, more disenchanted than sober and promptly fell of the treadmill. I dread the same occurrence in law school, but I have calmed down and matured quite a bit in the last three years -- and realizes that for some bizarre reason, New York City calms me down. My chaotic trip to London this summer reinforced the effect this city has on me -- I have a love hate relationship with NY -- but it does calm me down in a way that no other city, well perhaps Stockholm, does. So right now I'm putting an extra chip on the pile for staying in New York, though I will see how the rest of fall plays out and whether it's going to drive me to the carefree arms of Berlin this winter. At least I no longer worry about myself not knowing and am looking forward to finding out where I land.