TGIF!

My interview with Hollister went really well! Looking back there were no questions I wish I had answered differently, only a couple of questions I wish I had of asked at the end. It was basically a screening interview for the candidates but I think I definitely made it through Round One! Everyone was super nice and I felt it was pretty laid back.

I left their office at like 1:48 and had to be in Times Square before 2:00. Its amazing how hard it is to hail a cab on a Friday afternoon when it is pouring down rain. Finally one stopped and I jumped in. I had just enough time to change out of my flipflops and into actual shoes before we arrived at Planet Hollywood.

Planet Hollywood was a bust. There were like 30 people there, they brought us all into an upper level dining area and collected our resumes. It was awkward at first being at a table with like 4 strangers but I broke the ice and initiated some small talk. Finally the guy came back and was like, if I call your name, you are free to leave. My name was like fifth to be called. It was the biggest waste of time ever between the two hours yesterday and the hour today. Oh well, worth a shot I suppose.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday. If you ever find yourself dying of thirst in Grand Central, go down to the dining concourse, NOT the corridor news stand! I got a Vitamin Water, regular size, and it was over $3! I took the 5 train down to Union Square and as I emerged from the underground, I immediately came upon a Vitamin Water promo event where they were handing out bottles for free. Go figure.

Look At Me Being All Productive!

Today I began my trek across Manhattan to find a job. I visited 9 retail stores in attempt to at least leave a resume behind. I could have hit more but a stupid liarface at Planet Hollywood held me up. When I asked for an application she gave me one and told me to come back at 5:00 because they were doing an Hiring Open House. So I went outside and killed two hours in Times Square by filling out applications and inquiring at other businesses in the area. I return to Planet Hollywood at 4:45 so I would be early and all that jazz. I was sent to a waiting area to wait with everyone else where we were told they would come get us at 5:00. Finally around 5:30, I guess someone asked what the hold up was and they were told that the Open House was actually tomorrow at 2:00. WHAT THE FUCK?! They had 10 or so people sitting around waiting for this thing to go down, applications and resumes in hand, and they were just going to let us wait?! I was pissed! By then it was after 5:00 of course and I don't think dropping off resumes after 5:00 is very professional. I trekked it over to Grand Central and took the 5 train down to Union Square in hopes of finding Two Buck Chuck at the Trader Joe's Wine Store there. I never found the store, but I did find another Wine/Liquor store that had a Malbec on sale. I picked up two bottles and headed Uptown to Lana and Claire's place. When I arrived at 103 st I called Lana and she was walking Otis around 106th and 2nd. So I toted my bag of wine through Harlem at dusk. It was kind of scary! On the remainder of the walk we checked out this bar, The Duck, on 112th that Claire had told us about. Since we had Otis we just looked in the window and decided to go back tomorrow night. We also stumbled across this Cuban restaurant that looked really good, offered live music, and had reasonable prices. We decided to go there for dinner tomorrow followed by beers at The Duck.

After the walk we watched the Real World Season Finale and the Reunion Special. The finale sucked! I am ALWAYS a sucker for the season finale, even if I haven't kept up with the season. It is always so sad! This one was so lame! Everyone was pissed off for 90% of the episode! I wish they would have acted like adults and just enjoyed the time they had left together. Instead they were all just assholes. It was so disappointing. The reunion special was so much better! It was so happy to see Ryan was able to come back for it since he is leaving for Iraq so soon. All of the roommates were so stoked to see him AND it turns out he and Baya have a little somethin'-somethin' going on. Katelyn was being a bitch of course and they were trying to stir up all of this drama which made me mad because they haven't seen Ryan since they left Brooklyn and he is leaving so soon for Iraq. They should have just talked about positive things and maybe they did after the show. The Real World has always been a guilty pleasure of mine and I felt this season was one of my favorites. Maybe I am biased because it was in Brooklyn aired during my transition from HHI to NYC. Either way I thought it was good. I felt the people were much more 'real' than previous seasons and I liked it. I wish Ryan the best of luck in Iraq as he is bound to depart very soon, if not already. I hate that any of our soldiers have to go back, or that any of them are there at all, but hopefully things will change soon and we can get them all home safe and sound.

Oh! Express for Men called today and they want to have me in for an interview next week sometime. They called and I missed it so I returned the call and the manager said he had tried to reach me, but realized I had managerial experience, so he hung up and called his District Manager to see if there were any managerial positions open in the area for me! He said that he was looking for Sales Associates and not really managers right now but I told him that I would still love to come in and interview for an associate position since times are tough and there are not a lot of jobs available. We are going to set something up next week!

Tomorrow I have my Hollister interview at 1 and then I have to be at Planet Hollywood by 2! I hope I can make it! I am kind of stressed! I have to present a certain look for Hollister that would not be as appropriate for Planet Hollywood so I really need to change clothes between the two but a) how will I bring a change of clothes without them getting super wrinkled? b) where am I going to change? c) when will I have time to change? d) what would I wear that is presentable enough to wear to Planet Hollywood and to drop off more applications? Honestly, none of these jobs are what I set out to do here in New York. I wanted to get out of retail! But times are tough and I have to make the most of the experience I do have. At this point I will take a part time retail job. It will at least be some money coming in and allow me to continue to search for a more ideal job.

Ugh, it is after midnight and I still have so much to do tonight!!! How did I go from having nothing at all to do yesterday to being overwhelmed tonight?

Some Things Just Don't Mix

After plotting out my plan of action for Operation: Manhattan Retail tomorrow, I realized three things a) I needed to get out and go for a run b) I needed to go to the ATM to get cash for rent (ahh the joys of illegal habitation) and c) I needed copies of my resume to drop off at each place tomorrow. Using my outstanding logic, I decided I could combine all three by running the 1.1 miles to Staples and Duane Reade (drug store chain with the cheapest ATM fee) and then run the 1.1s mile back. I got to Staples, waited forever but made it out with copies of my resume and then went to Duane Reade to use the ATM and pick up some face wash. Success! Most of my plan was working beautifuly. Then disaster struck. I began running down Austin Street with my bag in hand totally realizing like I looked like I had stolen something and was making my getaway. After crossing Yellowstone I kept getting it, keeping a pretty good pace and feeling really good about it. All of the sudden I realized I had no idea where I was. Multi-tasking is apparantly not one of my strengths.

My Feet Dread Tomorrow...

Lana told me I should paper the town with my resume. By that meaning go around to all the big retailers and drop off a copy and/or fill out an application. I made a list of retail stores, looked up all of their locations in the city, found out where they were all located, and then put them in order according to proximity, thus forming a trail. I then went through and Google Mapped all of the destinations and directions for each using the subway as much as possible to help spare my poor feet. Hopefully something will come of this as it should take most of the day, if not two days. Ugh.

To put that into perspective, point A to point S is 5.1 miles walking straight to point to point, not including all of the stops out of the direct path which includes most of them. Hopefully the subway will be as useful as I hope. Maybe another route would have been faster, but this already took several hours to do, so I am sticking with it.

Bike Polo

Heres the video of the Bike Polo game I saw yesterday.



Can anyone imagine how bad I would be at that? I can.

Photos: Beautiful Day in NYC

These photos go along with the previous entry, I just thought it would be easier to divide it into two post and throw in some captions than to move things around in the post.

Washington Square Park

The Arch

The Bowery Area

China Town

Little Italy

Manhattan Bridge

Bike-Polo-type Game.. video to come.. I swear

I liked this building for some reason. Check out the exposed spiral staircase on the second level... and I bet someone pays a shitload of money to live in that place.

Beautiful NYC Day!

Today I had two good conversations with two good friends about my future here. As I mentioned, I feel torn about whether or not to stay here or go back to Hilton Head. I know if I were to find employment here I would stay but Lana made a good point today at lunch. She thinks that while I am looking hard for jobs here in the city, I could be looking harder and that part of the reason I am not is to have an excuse to go back to Hilton Head. I have to agree with her but I think it was on a subconscious level. I have never thought, "Maybe I shouldn't get a job so I can go back". She told me about her moving to the city and how she was depressed for three months when she first moved here but she is so grateful that she stuck it out. I think in my situation though, I have to the option to go back before the end of May but I don't have the funds to stay past May if I still don't have a job. After lunch I talked to Jen about it and she had some good points to. Overall, she just wants me to be happy with whatever I choose to do in life, which I have always known. She thinks I want to go back to Hilton Head because my life there is secure but that I want to stay here because it is a challenge. She hit the nail on the head with that one too. She also made a good point that I have been thinking all along, that if I go back to Hilton Head I can always hang out, work, and try again when the economy is better. The city isn't going anywhere and I am still young. I can still try again in the future if need be. Maybe it is just the wrong time for me to be here (AND I DON'T WANT TO HEAR 'I TOLD YOU' SO FROM ANYONE! I'm serious!)

On a far more less than serious note, after getting off the phone with Jen, I made my way over to the Abercrombie and Fitch flagship store on 5th Avenue. I have never really been a huge fan of their store seeing as how their clothing is super over priced and their stores are dark and loud. This store was like all others times a billion. I don't know where to begin, with the real kicker or just the mildly funny things.

First off, the only dressing room to my knowledge (more about this later) is on the bottom floor of this 3 or 4 floor establishment and even then kind of hard to find. You could ask an associate, if you can find one. It is SUPER dark in there, like being in a club with the music pumping. If you find an associate, you basically have to do cartwheels to get their attention even though they are honestly just standing there dancing. Not straightening or folding... but standing there being pretty and dancing. Not with each other, but by themselves. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING! They dance! No like hardcore pop and lock it style, but like standing-in-a-club-waiting-on-the-line-for-the-bathroom kind of dance. I approached one, who I assumed to be an associate, to point me in the direction of the nearest fitting room and she seriously turned around and started talking to another model/dancer. I could not believe it! I quickly found another one who was more than eager to tell me it was on the bottom floor, not show me the way, or where on the bottom floor, but just that it was there. Horrible customer service! Not only is the store confusing and easy to loose your orientation in, but like I said, it is dark! Under those circumstances, she should have led me there and then given me a discount for risking my life to try on a polo and jeans.

OH! JEANS! I forgot that part! They have a 'denim bar', if you will, where they have all of their styles of jeans in a case and you point to the one you want, tell the denim-tender what size, and they find it and hand it over to you. What if you were self-conscious about your size? You wouldn't want to approach Mr./Ms. Perfect Body behind the 'denim bar' to make the selection for you. Which brings me to another point regarding customer service. You have someone to remove a pair of jeans from the shelf for you but no one to show you the way to the fitting room because everyone else is too busy dancing in place. What the heck is that about?! I ended up just purchasing a polo because the jeans I had 'ordered' from the 'denim-tender' were too big and I was not about to make my way back up the stairs, find the 'denim bar', get a new style/size, trek back through the darkness weaving between the dancing models just to try on another pair of pants. Besides, the shirt alone was $60 which I charged to my credit card and have every intention of returning after my interview on Friday. Also I would have preferred to wear khaki pants rather than denim since it is an interview, but their stupid company apparently doesn't carry khakis in their spring line. If they do I missed it due to the darkness and/or dancing models standing in the way.

OH!!! I forgot ANOTHER part of my experience! They have shirtless male Abercrombie models throughout the store. They don't do ANYTHING, not even dance like the others. They just stand there wearing only blue jeans and flip flops but they have a person with them, like the characters at Disney World. I can understand if Pluto has kids fucking with his tail, the poor Disney intern in that costume has little defense and therefor needs a chaperone, but these are well built, muscular men. I think they could hold their own.

I made my way out the door and set out to enjoy a beautiful, sunny day in Manhattan. Whenever I get discouraged and ready to pack up my shit and leave, going on a walk in a different Manhattan neighborhood always reminds me why I am here. Today I headed down to Washington Square Park situated beside NYU. It was a beautiful park full of life and culture. They even have a dog run! I stood there and watched the dogs play for a few minutes then walked along the main thoroughfare where there were people eating, playing musical instruments, studying, chatting, and just enjoying being outside on such a nice day. I snapped a few pictures of the park's signature arch, highlighted in the movie August Rush, and made my way down towards China Town, passing through the Bowery on the way.

I didn't realize how far of a walk it was and by the time I got there I was about ready to leave, but then I remembered that China Town turns into Little Italy, so I walked around a little bit there and got some strawberry gelato. I was totally lost and the sun was beginning to set so I decided I should make my way back to familiar ground. I walked and walked and have no idea where I was. I did see some interesting buildings and stumbled across another park where this group of guys were playing a game that resembled polo, but on bikes! It was so neat and I am pretty sure I would be really bad at it. I took a video with my camera and will post it soon. Finally I found 2nd Avenue so I kind of got my bearings and walked up to Astor Place, beside the East Village to catch the train up to Lana's apartment for a couple hours of mindless TV and relaxation. Now that it is well after midnight, I will embark on the job hunt that got pushed aside today due to the irresistibly nice weather today.

Trader Joes is Awesome!

And it is kind of close to my house! I went there this evening and bought groceries that are healthier and at a better price than I would have paid at the other grocery stores in the area. I am so glad I know it is there! That is where I will be doing my grocery shopping from now on.

There was one unfortunate difference between their stores in NY and those everywhere else. The wine selection. As I may have mentioned before, it is illegal to sell wine in a grocery store in the state of New York. This meant no Two Buck Chuck. I hear they are pushing to change that law... so there is still hope.

I also did laundry today and applied to a few job postings. Oh yea! I got an interview with Hollister for a Manager in Training position for their flagship store opening in Manhattan. The interview is on Friday and while I dread corporate retail for some reason, it definitely has its perks. One of these perks is that they require you to wear flip flops! Anyone who knows me knows that I wear my Rainbows every single day when it is warm enough out. This made me very happy. Oh yea, they also offer benefits and all that good stuff. While it is not my ideal job, it is a job and with a company that I can move up in. Who knows, we will see what happens on Friday.

I have been having the hardest time getting to sleep lately and it is getting really annoying. There is really nothing to do at 3 am except watch TV and since we don't have cable, or a TV for that matter, I have to watch shows online. Its a pain in the ass.

The perks of moving back South just keep adding up, but the weather is getting gradually nicer here as Spring approaches. I still plan of giving New York a chance because I do like it here and it has a lot to offer. I just wonder if maybe the timing is wrong with not only the job market but where I am in my life. When I was moving up here, the thought of possibly having to move back was depressing and awful. Now I think I would be a little bummed things did not work out, but it would not be all that bad. I would still leave with a feeling of accomplishment even if I do not get a job. I will know that I can do it and that I can always try again when the economy stabilizes. It would be different if I knew I was having to move back to North Carolina, especially Pittsboro. That would be depressing. The key to preventing that problem is to make sure I save enough money for first month's rent and a deposit on an apartment in Hilton Head. Looking at my funds as of right now, I can definitely make it through April and possibly all of May. I need to get back on my budget as I have been spending a little too freely lately and I CANNOT end up back in Pittsboro, broke and without a job.

The speed limit in NYC was 8 mph in 1895.

That was the fun fact on my Snapple lid this evening on my grueling commute back to my apartment after a wild night out on the town last night.

I met up with Lana at her apartment and we took a cab over to the Upper West Side which involved going through Central Park! That's another awesome thing about New York, you never know when you're going to wind up somewhere really cool, if only for a minute. We met up with Claire and her friend, Ehryn, at the Amsterdam Ale House for a drink before heading to their other friend, Chuckie's party a few blocks away. We made our way to the party and after a little bit of sober/awkward time passed, drinks were being poured and we met some really cool people. It was by no means a huge party, but a lot of fun! There were two models there that each stood about a foot taller than myself. When you're a girl and you are that tall, I guess modeling or basketball are the only things that make sense.

Around 2:15 am, we decided to leave so Lana could meet up with her friend Nikkah downtown. Claire, Lana, Lana's friend Corinne, and myself piled in a cab and headed to 2 by 4 in the East Village. Claire chose to do the smart thing to do and go on home, while the three of us weren't going to let the fact that it was nearing 3 am slow us down. We met up with Nikkah and found that the bar was dead so we headed to Fish Bar a few blocks down. We were there until almost 5 am. New York really never sleeps. By the time we left, we had definitely had our fill of booze and went to crash at Nikkah's place with it being closest. We arrived at this nice doorman building on the Upper East Side and took the elevator to his 29th floor sweet apartment. It had a huge balcony with an awesome view of the city! There is no telling how much he pays in rent. I am sure it is absurd and worth every penny as you can see...


Around 10 am Lana woke me up from my peaceful drunken slumber and we headed back up to her apartment in Spaha. The walk to the subway was the walk from hell. I guarantee we were both still drunk, reeking of alcohol, and feeling like shit. It was miserable. We finally made it to the subway... finally... and that began phase two of our journey. The rocking motion combined with the clanking noises on the subway are very unpleasant when you are hungover. FINALLY we made it up to 103rd street and I crashed as soon as we went inside and slept for a good 3 or 4 more hours.

Lana, Claire, and myself continued to sit around in the living room being miserable and hungover until around 7:45 when I decided I finally had the strength to go home. I popped in a Hot and Crusty for a ham and cheese quiche because I was absolutely starving after only eating a grilled cheese sandwich all day. Then the headache began. It was horrible, almost to the point of making me nauseous. I also developed a strong craving for bacon and eggs. After I got off the subway I made a b line for the grocery store WHICH WAS CLOSED! AT 9 PM ON A SATURDAY! So no bacon for me. I do not understand how in the city that never sleeps, the fucking grocery store closes at 9. That's earlier than in Pittsboro! It was so sad. Instead I made hard boiled eggs and smashed them down with a Kiwi Strawberry Snapple. After my shower preceded by two Advil, my headache was gone! It was magical.

On another happy note, I discovered that there is a Bojangles in Brooklyn! I immediately checked out directions which pointed out that it would take over an hour to get to via subway and/or bus but only 15 minutes or so via car. I am not above taking a cab to Brooklyn for Bojangles. It may have to happen. I miss Bojangles so much.

UCLA

I just found out that Chatham County, where I am from, apparantly has area names like NYC. SoHo, NoHo, TriBeCa, and other areas describe a neighborhood by the location. There is now an area, in the middle of nowhere NC known by locals as UCLA which stands for Upper Chatham Lower Alamance. I think that is hilarious. I also think its strange that I learned this fact at 7:30 am on a Friday morning.

It's A Small World Afterall...

Clearly the lyricist of that song must have lived in New York. Last night I ran into a good friend of mine's ex-boyfriend at a bar in Greenwich Village. We struck up conversation somehow and he said he was from Richmond but lived in Philadelphia now. After he said his name, I texted my friend and sure enough, it was exactly who I thought it was. Unfortunately, I couldn't find him again to inform him of that random connection.

I checked out a few other bars yesterday evening as well that friends had told me about lately. The magical thing about Happy Hour is that you can preview the bars you may want to go to at night without trekking all over town in a drunken stupor AND you can pretend you're able to afford going out drinking in Manhattan when you're unemployed. Its a beautiful thing.

As far as the job hunt goes, yesterday brought about a tiny glimpse of hope! I heard back from two places! One job was an administrative assistant position that pays really well and is only Monday - Thursday! The other is a manager in training position through Hollister (if anyone has any connections with them, put in a good word!). For the Admin. Asst. job they want me to take some kind of assessment test so I submitted a request to take it and they are to respond with the details. Keep your fingers crossed!

For some reason I am awake. I don't know why. I was asleep in bed by 1 am, which is kind of early, but at 6:15 I woke up and was wide awake. Lately I have been sleeping until 12 or 1 in the afternoon so I do not know what all of this early morning business is about. I can't figure out if I am supposed to stay awake or try to go back to sleep. Now that I have been awake for over an hour I feel that maybe I should just stay awake and maybe take an afternoon nap or something later. My sleep schedule is all messed up. Actually, my schedule for everything is all messed up. Just another reason I am going to go crazy without a job. I like to have some stability in my life as far as knowing that I need to be somewhere on a semi-regular basis during a certain time frame. This sounds strange, but you go a month without a job and tell me you can't relate. It is weird!

Bottom of the Barrel

I hit an all time low going to the Queens Center Mall and went in several different retail stores looking for a job. Out of the five or so stores I felt I could work in and MAYBE enjoy, only one actually took my application and even they said they were just accepting applications. Gap said they would be hiring in April and to fill out an application online. I really do not want to get into corporate retail, or retail at all for that matter but that is where my experience lies. Unfortunately, if I were to get an offer from a retailer, it would most likely be as a sales associate and I am better than that. I can do better and I've worked to hard in the past to just be a sales associate.

After wasting hours of my life at the mall, I headed down the street to Target: Home of the shopping cart escalator I have raved so much about. Once I got there I completely blanked on what it was I needed to buy. I got a text from Lana saying to come hang out and it wasn't until I was in line at Starbucks ordering my White Chocolate Mocha that I remembered it was envelopes and super glue I needed to buy. Oh well, I will save it for tomorrow.

I hung out with Lana and Otis at her apartment in SpaHa and watched Milk, since she had never seen it. She really, really liked it too. See, it is not just me!

Tomorrow will be a better day, a hopeful day.

Getting Over It

I miss Hilton Head and my friends there a lot! I miss my friends in NC a lot too but I am used to being away from them. I think getting over a place you love and friends you love is a lot like getting over someone after a relationship. While I am in NYC and I have a lot to distract me, there are still a lot of things that make me miss what I had. Just like a relationship. I have always heard that the city can be a very lonely place and it is. Even though I live with a friend and have friends in the city, I do not have the bond I had with the people in Hilton Head. I shared a similar bond with my NC friends in different parts of my life, but like I said, HHI is what I am used to and this is a huge change.

Sean and I went on an exploration of Queens today. We went to Astoria, Little Egypt, and Sunnyside. The platform for the 7 train in Sunnyside had a magnificent view of Manhattan. I can't wait to have the funds to move there. That is where the action is and it is convenient to everything NYC has to offer. I have applied to countless jobs and have posted my resume to many staffing agencies, it is discouraging to not have any solid leads yet.

I am still optimistic that I will find something. I guess you could say I am a victim of the times given the current economic state of our country. I am impatient and tired of waiting. Hopefully things will take a turn for the better soon.

Tennis: Getting Back in the Game

After a day of searching for jobs, once again. I finally decided to take on another task, that of finding a tennis league to join. With a Google search, a few clicks of the mouse, and a $25 fee I was registered to my new found tennis group. I decided to join a local one and not USTA since I still hold a grudge against them from my experience in Hilton Head at Chaplin Park. This will give me the opportunity to get outside, back into the sport, and get some exercise. It will also give me a chance to meet people with a common interest and maybe do a little networking. It is kind of awkward because you arrange to hit with people via online message boards or you can email people of your skill level in your area. I don't know how often members who already have partners and friends check the message boards though. They also arrange events and tournaments in New York City which may be how I have to go about seeking people to play with. Hopefully something will come of it.

Obsessed...

This is what I was raving about...

Thank You, Government!

Today, I took off into the city to buy some new threads. I went to H&M aiming specifically for some more pants to increase the time between trips to the laundry mat. I walked out with a pair of jeans and a shirt.


I saw these unique kicks and thought to myself, "These are the brightest, most shiny shoes I have ever seen. Who would buy these?!" Less than five minutes later I walked past a gentleman waiting in line to make a purchase with these shoes in hand. I knew then and there I had to go back and take a picture. I cant help but ask myself how I made it through the majority of my life without owning/taking full advantage of a camera phone?!

It was such a nice day in New York! The sky was blue and it was a little warmer than it has been lately. I thought about taking a stroll through Battery Park or maybe Washington Square Park, but since I didn't have my camera I decided to head back to Queens to check out Target and the mall. Thanks to a tip from Aaron, I discovered Milk was out on DVD and they had it at Target to I graciously purchased a copy.

The Target in Queens is in an indoor shopping center and is multi-level with access to higher levels via escalator. You may be asking yourself, "How would I ever get a shopping cart up the escalator?"


Target has your answer! They have an escalator for shopping carts! Never before have I been so amazed! You push the shopping card through a gate, little teeth catch the wheels and it climbs to the second floor right beside you! It was kind of hard to capture this amazing technological breakthrough discreetly without looking like a tourist but as you can see, the people to the right are going down the escalator as the shopping cart to the left has been through the gate and has begun its descent. I will try to get a better shot next time. I was amazed and will continue to be amazed for quite some time. (I.E.- If you come to NYC to visit, we WILL be going to Target so I can show you this amazing feat of technology!)

On my way back to the subway, I came upon a White Castle! I had never been to one and it was dinner time so of course I stopped in to see what all of the fuss is about. It was outstanding! The french fries leave much to be desired but the little cheeseburgers were delicious! You can purchase 20 little burgers and 4 orders of fries for $20! Where was this when I was at ASU? Now I know how Herald and Kumar got into their predicament.


I know I've gone a little overboard with my spending this weekend but at least it is tax refund money and I have every intention of going back to my budget starting tomorrow.

Adrienne said last night she may be able to get me a job with her company working security at events at a center in Midtown. The pay is decent but I would have to get a black suit and they take out like $200 or something from your first check for your security licensing, even though they apparently give you very, very little training. It is a job and it would only be until I found a job geared more towards what I want to do... but I don't know.

OH! OUR TOILET IS FIXED! Woohoo!

Boonies Reunited!

Yesterday I went on a shopping trip so I could finally make some real food! I made chicken burritos and they turned out pretty good. They would have been a lot better if I had the seasoning to make magic burritos that I unfortunately left at my parent's house. I also made guacamole from scratch for the first time and it turned out pretty darn good. On my trip to the grocery store I came upon this...


It is hard to see because I was trying to be sealthy with my camera phone, but the stick on letters on the bumper say Dog Training. I feel pretty confident that he has no formal education in the field. Perhaps he should step up his marketing a little.

I also saw an unattended brush fire in someones front yard. It was raised and I had to move over on the sidewalk to keep from catching on fire myself.

Last night I met up with a couple old friends from Boone, Adrienne and Trevor. They moved up here a couple of years ago and to be honest, we haven't really talked since. They're super nice and fun people. Lana and John were also there, as well as one of Adrienne's friends whose name escapes me. It was crazy that all of us, except Adrienne's friend, had lived in Boone at the same time and used to hang out. We started at Crime Scene Bar, which was way expensive and we had to be on this make believe list to get in. We said we were there for the birthday party, flashed our ID's, and we were in. I think this "list" was bull shit. Luckily, everyone else hated it to so we left and went down to this place called The Pinch down towards Greenwich Village. We had a couple beers but Adrienne was tired and not really wanting to really throw down. I was relieved because a) I didn't want to spend too much money and b) I was tired. It turns out Adrienne and Trevor live one block from the Steinway Station which is on my line! We were able to catch a train together towards our respective destinations and parted ways at their stop. The mile walk home from the subway is definitely beginning to suck... really, really bad. Just when you are relieved to be home and step off the train, you remember you still have about 15 minutes to go.

Fun.. in Queens? YES!

Since the bars in New York are open until 4 am, it is hard to pry yourself away when you are having a good time and meeting new people. I met up with Claire and John and some of their friends for pool in Queens, not too far from my apartment. Some of Claire's friends were there and they were all really cool. After a while some of the group decided to go to the club next door and some decided to go home, since we werent looking to do either, we headed to this Irish Pub right beside my subway stop. It was practically empty, quiet, and had a jukebox. We were set. After a little while, I realized it was after 3 am so I decided to make my way home. I grabbed a chicken shiskabob from a street vendor ($5 for two DELICIOUS kabobs and two pieces of bread) and caught the E train home.

Yo Maggie

I went running today! Just over a mile... but the first time since Christmas Eve. I just remembered I forgot to mention that earlier and I know Maggie likes to stalk me via blog. I am going to start running again I think. It felt good and was a good way to explore the neighborhood a little more. I found out there is a Rite Aide, Papa Johns, a veterinarians office, and a huge cemetery right down the street. Keep a look out for me on Nike+... I meant to send in my results to add to my track record but I just totally deleted everything on my Nano including today's distance and time.

Sesame Chicken and Data Entry

I got a call from Mom today saying my SC Tax Refund came in the mail. Hell yea! To celebrate I went down to Queens Blvd and had some delicious, cheap sesame chicken. It was probably the best sesame chicken I have ever consumed in one of the dirtiest eating establishments I have ever stepped foot in. There were napkins and paper plates all over the floor and the tables and chairs were in a state of complete disarray. So worth the sketchiness! It didnt make me feel sick *knock on wood* and the portion size was huge! The price and quality blows Yummy House in HHI out of the water!

Afterwards I went and bought eggs so I can boil them or make egg salad and I bought Shout, laundry detergent, and Febreeze for my upcoming exciting trip to the laundry mat tomorrow.

I returned home to a reply from a temporary position I applied to yesterday doing data entry in the financial district. It is only a two week position and the pay is only $8/hr but they allow a flexible schedule allowing me to take time to interview for full time positions as well. This will give me a little more experience in the office setting and potentially open up the possibility of a full time position with their company even. If nothing else, at least I will make some money for a couple of weeks.