Simplicity of Sundays

It's a beautiful Sunday morning and I feel it ought to be taken advantage of. I did my daily duty of checking for any auditions and sending out final headshots and resumes to NYC casting directors and feel I ought to reward myself with a leisure Sunday stroll.

Mandie informs me of a Farmer's Market that happens within our lil' community every Sunday, so I thought it opportune to make an appearance. I seize my Ipod for some background jams and my camera for capturing any interesting moments and make my way towards the centre.

Our community is actually huge. It's called Stuyvesant Town. This 'town' is occupied by a cluster of buildings that encompass about 8 blocks worth of land. However, within each cluster there are little parks, a basketball court, a fountain, lots of foliage, you name it. The MAIN cluster is called Oval. There they have the gymnasium and a giant fountain where everyone lays by- doing whatever they bid to do and a chic cafe. Here is where they host the Farmer's Market and rightfully so. Oval is much larger than the other clusters and seems to be the 'heart' of the town.

So I arrive to the path which shall lead me to my Sunday splurge and I am greeted by a large, cheery sign.



So I follow the dirt path which eventually turns to a paved path while the entire time I am emcompassed by a cool, enveloping umbrella of foliage. I see wanderers here and there and then I see it emerge between the trees and bodies. A tiny, mini market, which these locals call a GREEN market rather than a farmer's market. The shapely white tents poke holes through the trees in my sight and urge me to come forward. In the meanwhile I am jamming to Big Star and wondering perhaps this music isn't appropriate for this earthly event...naaah.



I must say, I expected it to be larger. I am so used to the markets back home in Phoenix and they are such an event to go to! Like First Friday's, there are aisles and aisles of tents; artists and paupers alike. However, I suppose there is an attractive quality to the petite and quaint ambiance of it all. Plus the giant fountain as a background was pretty sweet. People hanging around-old, young, hip, nerdy, student and transient-all living in harmony...er...well something like that.

I pass by the merchants, completely satisfied with my trip and the exposure to this event. I love the fact that you can buy fruit and vegetables that look so fresh and so healthy. I didn't engage in a barter with any of them, but it wasn't by choice. Hypothetically it WAS by choice because I CHOICE not to spend money that I so desperately need to salvage. However, I made a mental note; with my first paycheck I am purchasing fruit and veggies from these darn merchants the first chance I get!

Tote'n'bad habits

Oooookay. So being here I have acquired two bad habits. 1) Grew a liking for Tote bags 2) Grew a liking to going to bed around 3am

Starting with 1) Tote bags. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE advocate for cute tiny clutches or hand bags. I rocked the little tots. I loved carrying as little as possible because I found purses to be cumbersome. However, that was in Phoenix when I had a car that I could leave the things I needed in. Now in New York I have no car and I need certain necessities. Well, for the first week I tried cramming them in my small clutch bags and it just wasn't working out. I actually ended up losing two checks (PINCHE). So my sister let me borrow-hah, correction-I straight up just took to use her tote bag. It was annoying and large and still is, but it does it's job. I need to hold water, a snack bar, my wallet, my camera, chapstick, portfolio, gum and other random miscellaneous items. Tote bags do there job in that essence. Her tote bag even held an umbrella! That amazed me! However, she is getting pissy and wants it back. This means I have to go tote bag shopping...ugh...so not looking forward to it. Anyone wanna buy me a tote bag?



As for my second vice...I have been going to bed rather late. In fact, it's 12:25am right now on a Saturday night. I am such a loser for blogging rather than partying in NYC. Whatever. I can't help it. I sleep late and wake up around 10:00-10:30am. I want to say I am adjusting, but that isn't the case. I just surf the internet or read or blog or look up auditions. I even try setting my alarm early so that I wake up earlier, which means I didn't get enough sleep so that I'd be tired and go to bed earlier. That doesn't work either. Ugh! Maybe I should run around the block?

Do you want love? Do you want fame?

So that Lady Ga Ga song has been in my head this entire week. I will pretend that song is about acting. If I do, then yes, I want to play the game-oh I most certainly do.

So during the week I just looked for auditions and looked for more things to assemble my room. The good stuff occurred yesterday (Friday the 14th).

So on Wednesday I got a call for an audition with a scout and then afterward I would have this modeling audition for this jewelry line. We schedule the auditions to be for Friday. I hopstop it and at 12:30 I had the scout audition.

Now when I arrived the building looked nice on the outside so I figured that this must be legit. When I signed in I went through this weird Alice in Wonderland door through a door through a curtain waiting room. Inside I saw a mother with her young daughter and her baby son, and two girls perhaps younger than me.

The woman with her kids was quite animated. Her name was Alisa Washington West and I forgot her kids names...but her son was absolutely adorable and her daughter was very pleasant and sweet. Plus she was a little poet! She wrote a few songs about God and R&B romance and she sang very sweetly. I think she'll have a very good future. Her mother, like I said, was very animated. She was cool, but I can see her being a stage mom. She was also a writer and had a book published called Bad Blood: Mask versus Mask. It's about a face off show down between Michael from Halloween and Jason from Friday the 13th.

http://www.tesco.com/books/browse.aspx?bci=4294708637|AuthorHouse*74|Crime%20%26%20Thriller*11|%C2%A35%20to%20%C2%A310&N=4293959920

Slowly, one by one the auditioners were being called in, new people came in and eventually it was my turn.

Now the "scout" that called me in was wearing all black. He kind of reminded me of a creepy version of Jack White, but with his hair greased and slicked back. When we entered the room I already had a bad feeling about this-not bad in the sense that I felt I was going to be raped, but just that I was wasting my time and that I should've known. He was telling me about the accomplishments his company WMT had and that they helped several people become successful if they were strong and talented enough for the industry. He said that he helped to get Molly Sims recognized and he had a giant picture of her posing on his wall with him in the wwaaayyy back-honestly looking creepy. I asked him if he photoshoped himself in there because that's ridiculous to be way in the background and he scoffed and said no. So I said okay well show me something else. So apparently there was another talent who was also a chief and he got her somewhere too. He showed a video clip of her being interviewed and he was standing next to her there. He gave me the look saying can't photoshop video. I still wasn't convinced. He mentioned that they aren't an agency but they are talent scouts (what's the difference?) and that for $99 he'll take my headshots, which only produced 10 prints, my resume posted on their website and...that's about it. I told him I'd think about it and I'd call him if I decided to go down this avenue. He was being weird but perhaps that's just an east coast behaviour. He asked when I'd call because he thinks he could sell me and I said I don't know and that I needed time to think. I was told as a rule of thumb, whenever someone says pay me first and then we'll work later-it's a scam.

So I left feeling glad I "saw" through it. I then called the photographer/casting director for the modeling gig and it was weird because the name said Jens Look, but it was a man that answered. That took me back. I asked if the meeting was still on and he said that he had some unexpected visit and that he'd be available after six. I said I don't know if I could make it, but I'd call otherwise to confirm or deny.

I was in the Herald Square area and decided to take advantage of being in the area. I walked around and remembered seeing a shop that sold postcards so I bought a few to mail to some friends and family.

I decided to head home and remembered that my chair arrived! Those who know me know that I am a thrifty shopper! I love a good deal and I love it when it's a REALLY good deal. Seriously since day one of being in NYC all I have done was search for auditions and search for furniture 24/7. Seriously, loser of me I know-but I can't help me. It's in my nature. So anyway, I searched for days, for about two weeks for a comfortable computer chair and finally I found a good deal. A chair marked at $100 was discounted to 40%, but I called the rep and got them to make it 50%! Plus it had free shipping! I was soooo stoked! Mandie, however, pissed me off that morning because she woke my tired booty up unnecessarily to tell me that I had to take the chair into my room that I couldn't leave it in the living room. I was utterly shocked and angrily shoved the chair in my room and went back to slumbering. Well, we can do that. We get made for a minute and then it's over with.

Anyway, while I was assembling my chair I get a phone call for this other audition that I submitted for. It was for a video game commercial and it basically was mocking that Gold 4 Less commercial. It will involve a nerd who is playing this new video game and he's surrounded by women. That sounds easy enough. So I said I'd meet. Ben, the casting director, said that I needed to meet at six...oooh...same time as the other one. Well I decided to go with the commercial and I got directions to get there. Well the directions seemed fishy, but I had no idea really-I am new here for goodness sakes! Plus it was in Brooklyn and I figured it'd be a long trip.

So I leave an hour before the audition time because it was estimated it'd take an hour. As I board the train there is this girl kind of glancing at me every once in a while and finally she approached me asking if I came from Phoenix. Turns out she was my old modeling coach! Crazy! Xaviera is her name! We boarded together and pretty much caught up since we last saw each other. She's really chill and just a couple years older-so her and I are most definitely going to hang out.

Anyway, an hour goes by and my stop finally arrives. I get off wave goodbye to Xaviera and am struck with a wall of confusion. I feel rather cold, there's a strong breeze, I hear seagulls and smell the familiar smell of a beach. I read the signs and it matches the directions from Hopstop, but I decided to call the director just to be sure. Well turns out I ended up in Bayside?! How the heck that happened is a mystery to me. Hopstop royally messed up. So the director gave me directions and I follow them. However, on the train they also don't match up to the train system! I decided to make the best executive decision and exit where I figured was close to the goal. Turns out I was way wrong too, but no matter what I was on the wrong path. Round 3: I call the director and explain again what happened and he apologized and decided to give me thorough directions from a reputable source. I follow them and alas, I make it there. However, we are now 3.5 hours deep in this excursion, I am sweaty, frustrated and tired. When I met the guys they were really chill, but I just didn't care anymore. I did and I didn't. I cared because I wanted the part, but I was just all those things above that it was slightly interfering. In the audition I had to act as if there was a nerdy guy sitting in this empty chair, dance and say this line "I love a guy in a gold jet pack!". I felt really corny because there was no guy, no music and I had no idea what the game was about. I did my best though! Although I am complaining about it now-I gave it my best shot, I followed their directions and acted as if I really was a dancing fool.

Then to make matters worse, when I took the train home there was this burly Rabbi looking man that boarded the train carrying two noisy and full bags. He originally sat across from me. My biggest pet peeve that I realized I have is when the train is empty and there are other seats available DON'T SIT BY ME. WHY?! I mean seriously why? You have the whole picking in your grasps and you choose to sit next to me?! Secondly, don't come around me if you're sick! This guy was sneezing and coughing openly in the train. Then following it by a disgusting snort of his bogies and he swallowed and make a smacking noise with his lips. He also persisted to talk aloud. I felt it would be rude to get up and sit elsewhere, so all I could was slowly inch away and bury myself in the book I was reading.



By the time I got home it was around 11pm. I was so tired! I also remembered I forgot to call that photographer, which is not a good thing. I sent him an email today, but he hasn't responded....uh oh....

Also, today I acquired a bed frame! Now my room is complete! Well...once I get the bed sheets and duvet in the mail, which will be on Monday, it will be 100% complete! I am so happy!

Tons Of Fish In The Sea

So it has been a while since I wrote. I have been busy actually getting myself out there.

I will talk about Monday the 10th. That Sunday I was looking at Craigslist (yes, Craigslist) and I saw this amazing gig. It is a series for some local musician and they were casting roles and one of them was a Mermaid role. It is a $1200 paying gig! So of course I wanted to do it, plus mermaids are tight. I called the guy and he said where to meet on Monday. I don't understand it but in NY most of the auditions I have gone to have taken place at nighttime. This one being an example. It STARTED at 7pm! So as usual, I get way lost getting there and have random people tell me directions and Mandie on the phone with me guiding me to the location. I finally arrive and there is a room full of other actresses auditioning for this role. I sign in and look around for a place to sit.

This audition was unusual because it didn't take place in some professional office like most auditions I have gone to. No...it took place at a bar. MacMenamus to be exact at Seaport. Some popular place to go near the seaside for restaurants and merchants.

Now when I left the house, I felt pretty attractive. I styled my makeup so it looked ethereal and light, almost pixie like. I also style my hair so it'd be long and wavy-like how you'd see typical mermaids. I basically looked up Ariel and mimicked her style. I also wore a purple top (Ariel wore purple seashells :P)

However, in NY right the the humidity is at it's prime and people pretty much walk everywhere unless they are ballers and have enough money to have a car or have enough money to pay for taxis. Well I am poor and need to stretch my money so after I took the metro in the general area I wanted to walk there because Hopstop (east coast's version of Mapquest) said it'd be less than a 10 minute walk. I figured that wasn't bad. Of course though it wouldn't go smoothly like that. I get WAY lost. The 10 minute walk ended up being 45 minutes. By the time I finally found the joint I felt like a sweaty, sloppy mess. However, I kept repeating $1200 in my mind and it kept me going.

After I signed in I gandered around the room to find a place to sit. I see a stool open at the bar between two girls and decide to seize it. To my left was an attractive, young girl next door type and to my right was a fiery, attractive, kick your ass kind of girl. Sara was to my left and Lyric (Melissa) was to my right. Immediately we decided to break the ice and we are all talking. I felt like these two girls were my conscious. Sara was the sweet angelic one but wasn't naive about life. Lyric was the bad girl who felt you conquer the world with pepper spray and your fist. I loved it! We looked at each others resumes and headshots, complimented one another and talked about our backgrounds. Sara was a native New Yorker and Lyric came here from another country (she never said where) and lo and behold she moved from Phoenix too! However, her move was a while ago. Lyric was seriously hilarious to me. She was hard knock and yet so adorable at the same time. She had my rolling the entire time and Sara said that she ought to go into stand up comedy. I truly think she'd do well. She is like a female Dave Chappelle! She was immediately sniffing me out and telling me I need to act more hardcore or else I will get eaten up here. She said my niceness is evident and I need to harden or else I will be taken advantage of. Hahaha. I felt that perhaps she was over assuming and I told her about my encounter with the douche bag brah's from the metro the other night and she told me I shouldn't have wasted my breath with them. I should have just looked them in the eye and them 'pepper sprayed their ass'. Literally! Everything I would say she'd say forget it, you have too much of a pretty face to get it messed up-pepper spray their ass! It was her quote of the night and probably of the year. It's like the phrase at my old job at Ajo Al's "Dude what's up!". Then I found out Lyric was on a reality television show called The Bad Girls in season 2! SHE TOTALLY WAS! I went home and looked her up and that girl will cut you. Beware. So while Lyric was educating me how to kick ass in NY, Sara was educating me about how to make my mark via performing. She told me about local agencies and websites to check out and how to improve my resume. East coast resumes are totally different than west coast.

I really liked those two girls. They were nice in their own way and helpful. :) I got their info, I need to contact them. I am pretty bad with that stuff though. I mean, I have to write down to call my father for goodness sakes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPJyV-WR7mg

In the background there was this feel good positive bohemian hippie DJ. She wore really cool layers and had her hair long and wrapped in a flowy scarf. She was tiny in frame and smelt like patchouli. I watched her with curiosity and briefly exchanged words with her but it wasn't anything in depth-she was working. When it was my turn to meet the casting director Jac, he too had a similar style going on. I think he was Jamaican but he almost had a French accent. He wore look capri style pants and a plain tee with a bean bag looking cap. When he met me he was instantly writing good remarks and said three stars would be a perfect score. Problem is, he had a few other girls with three stars as well and he would have to narrow it down. I called him today which is Saturday and he said he needs to call back tomorrow. As for the DJ woman, that was his wife! I should've guessed it. How cool though, I would love with work in the business with my partner, ya know? How easy and great.

Anyway, by the time I made it home it was well after 11pm. I was so exhausted with everything; train rides, auditioning, audition seeking and having two strong characters entertain me that I pretty much fell asleep when I got home.

New York is great!

Day 7 It's A Hard Knock Life

Sooooo, it's now a beautiful Saturday in Manhattan and I am bored and starting to succumb to the sickness that has doomed this household. Fortunate for me, it's only the sniffles thus far.

Skipping the boring crap that happened all day (which was only cleaning and searching for more items for my bedroom) the evening approaches. We all decided to celebrate Amanda and Angelo's engagement so we make a reservation at this very hip place called Sea in the Meat Packing district. In March when I first was introduced to the magic and mystery of New York we all went here: Gillian, Kat, Graham, Mandie, Rachel, Bruce? and myself. However, when we went it was called Highline.



Graham, Mandie and I are going to meet A squared there because we were coming from different directions. NY like every city has the nice parts and the slummy parts mixed in. With this being said, we were on one of those slummy sidewalks to get to the nicer area and I see this haggard broad on these steps with some loser goon hovering over here. I don't even recall this action but I apparently glanced in their direction while walking and I could just here this trashy cigarette scarred voice utter "Yeah bitch, get out of here. Keep walking". Now this prompts my attention so I turn around to see who she is talking to and realize the low class trash is talking to ME. I was SO taken back by this that it made me laugh. This obviously pissed her off more so she kept yelling "Keep walking bitch, get out of here". Of course, I make it a point to laugh louder and I honestly couldn't help myself. I tried to stop laughing because I don't know what this woman is on-clearly not sane and my laughing could upset her so much as to assault me. However, that was that and the entire time we were in motion so nothing went down.

We make it to Sea and we have a ball. The food there is EXCELLENT and the ambiance is gorgeous. I definitely give it a two thumbs up and I consider myself to be spoiled with good food taste.

We went here for Kat's bday in March and they had a cake that she was surprised with-it was figured it'd be a good idea to do the same for A & A.

JUST LOOK AT THAT ROCK. DIZZAM!!!!!!!!!!!






We had a wonderful dinner and lovely conversations, but all good things must come to an end. So we head back to the subway station and before we part I thought it would be a sweet idea to get a final picture of us. That's typical-not unusual at all, so I thought. So I gander around and I see a group of boys approaching and NORMALLY it'd be easy to ask a favor from a guy, so I went up to the one closet to me and politely asked if he could take a quick shot of all of us. The 'gentleman' completely surprised me to say the least. Hell broke loose in the subway. He put his disgusting malice of a hand onto my camera/hand and shoved it down, then he persisted to wave his frou frou hand in my face as if I was some fly he was attempting to shoo away and said blatantly "NO". I was so stunned by this that I couldn't react right away-then I became angry. First of all you don't touch my camera (ESPECIALLY since my baby boy just bought it for me) and secondly you don't ever touch me-EVER. So of course, I had to allow my frustration to slip and I told him that he didn't have to be a douche bag about it. I figured that was that and turned to walk back to our group. What I didn't know is that the retard began to advance on me. That's when Mandie stepped up. He was calling me a bitch and a slut and Mandie went straight up psycho on his ass. Then of course I chimed in because Mandie was defending me and I couldn't let her do that alone. Mandie did the big sis thing where they shove you behind, so she was in front of me. One of the ogres of the group stepped up and attempted to get in her face but then Graham had to step up too. So, imagine us three yelling at these imbeciles and then Graham also yelling at us to shut our traps because we really didn't need to get into a rumble over this. I mean, really? Think about it this way-we would have to explain to the cops that the reason we got into a fight was that he refused to take our picture. WOW.

Anyway, I quickly decided to divert my attention to the original goal and I stop a sweet young girl and she took our picture because she was well mannered!


Then those guys wouldn't knock it off-they happened to take the same train we did the L train and they were being obnoxious a-holes, waving and blowing mocking kisses towards us. I hope if you retards read this that you get/got your comeuppance!!!!

Phew...feels good to vent. :)

Day 6 If you make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere

Due to the fact that I had such a terrible experience sleeping, I found myself awake at 11:20. My throat felt scratchy and my nose was incredibly stuffy. I knew that the germs of Mandie and Graham I had been desperately trying to evade somehow found me. I immediately went to my room and took my Mannatech supplements and took my immuno pill that Mr. Snow so generously gave me. I must try to nip it in the bud! Drank some OJ and socialized with Amanda and Angelo while Mandie and Graham were still sleeping.

Turns out that they had a friend who left town over the weekend and he offered them his place to stay at :( Bummer. Couldn't blame them though-we were being boring ducks because they were sick and I was new to the hood. They left to go have lunch and I chilled at home, cleaned a bit and searched for more mattresses (yes I know...how long can I search, right?)

I had an audition today at 6:30. I got ready for it and got directions as to how to get there and departed. However, I took the wrong train and ended up much further than I wanted to be. I had to walk over 13 blocks to get there, but when I got there it was a mad house! It took place at Champion Studios and there were so many auditions going on! The hallway was jammed packed-just like in the movies (how ironic). When I went in, it was rather chill. There was Zef-the director, his female friend (forgot her name...damn, but she's Persian!), his camera man and his script assistant there.

I think the audition went well, but I can never trust these things. However, he did invite me to a party tomorrow night in the Bronx and I totally said yes! I am thinking this means I have the role because why would you party with a talent that you just rejected, right??? I have bad but good news. I now can't make it to the party because ANGELO PROPOSED TO AMANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoo hoo!!! So tomorrow we will be celebrating with them for their engagement! So as sucky as it is to not go to the party, it is totally for a great reason and I am SO happy for them! Ironic that she was just talking about not being engaged yesterday!

I take the wrong train to get home...again, and when I finally make it home Graham decided to meet me somewhere so we can get food to take home. A local place called Moe's and the best I can compare it to is to Chipotle's. We get home, I munch and I finally crank down and purchase a mattress set....although I am concerned about my purchase! I can't help it...

Day 5 In The Dog House

The following morning, I am pleasantly sleeping on the futon in the living room satisfied with my previous nights work. Circa 6am I hear the sound of expected guests arriving-Amanda and her boyfriend Angelo. These are our homies from Phoenix, AZ and I had already expected their arrival-what I didn't expect was me feeling as exhausted as I did. So what did I do, as any hospitable host would do? I rolled over and pretended I didn't hear them come in. Mandie and Amanda hung out in my freshly furnished room while I counted the fluffy sheep in my dreams. I was finally awakened by Graham around 7:30 or 8 to tell me to go sleep on their bed because people wanted to hang out in the living room. Whoo hoo for me-a nice comfy bed?! I was being rewarded for all of my hard work!

So I snooze a little longer and finally awake around 10 to the silence of what seemed to be an empty house. What a waste. However, Graham was still around and informed me that my peeps went out for a pleasant breakfast in the buzz of NY.

Then terror struck me when I realized I left the van parked on the street directly outside so I phone Mandie to ask details about the parking privileges we as residents have. She informed me not to worry and that I am allowed to park there, only on Tuesday and Fridays between the hours 9:30-11 am I not permitted to park (peculiar times huh?).

However, I decided it was wise to go down and reconfirm. As I progress towards the van, my heart sank and there on the wide eyed window pane perched an obscenely flamboyant orange ticket. Angrily I snatch the offensive piece of paper from the clutches of the window wiper and peer around to see if anyone saw my publicly viewable punishment. Then I go to read the street sign and lo and behold the old bird was right! So why was I being ticketed?!?! I read what the regal officer wrote and he stated that I was in way of the bus stop. Are you freaking kidding me?! The bus stop was 100 yards away and there were cards directly behind me, weren't they ALSO obstructing passageway of the bus?!
Sooooo, being the way that I am-I photographed every angle and I am going to fight these damn NY police bastards! My ticket was straight up BS and they need to know that this lil' AZ miss wont put up with their NY crap!




So, I moved the van because I was fearful another prick cop would come by and ticket me again. Yes, that is correct-I, MINA MARIE MIRKHAH, DROVE ON THE STREETS OF NY. Might I say...it was badass.

Then Graham and I return the Uhaul, go to BBB(bed bath and beyond fyi) to buy pillows and we took a taxi home. Graham went to a Yankees game (that bastard), while Amanda and I (Mandie was in school-loser) decided that margaritas were calling our names.

We walk to this local Mexi joint called Vamos and before we even get situated in our bar stools, the Jamaican looking bartender Marcos tells us our drinks have already been paid for. We start laughing and I reply perplexed "You're joking!" Now I am not sure if this is a NY thing but he retorted "No, you're right I am joking. No seriously." This of course confused me more and Amanda and I are exchanged looks that interchange between confused, excited and nervous all at the same time. I just decide to order my drink and I get a margarita. I wanted it on the rocks but Marco said getting it frozen means I get to have two of them. Well hell, two is always better than one! (yes I know there is less alcohol-doy!) Amanda gets her frozen strawberry and we eat our chips and shoot the shit. She talks about her new job which is badass. She also humorously makes a few points at how she's been with Angelo for six years and still no proposal yet. I talk about John and my non-existent job and how I am enjoying NY thus far. That's when the margarita starts to set in. We both start getting loud (and we are already loud to begin with by nature) and we're laughing hysterically over the most inane things! Marco didn't have to do much convincing for me to get my second margarita and I realize there is no way on God's green earth that I can drink this and walk out the bar. I don't know what happened to my tolerance but the one knocked me on my arse. So Amanda and I decide to split it-phew. What's hilarious is Amanda too is going to the Yankees game-now she'd be attending the Yankees game belligerent. Hahahaha. We walk home to meet her friend whom she'll be accompanying to the game.

Angelo was searching online for ultimate frisbee competitions in Central Park to entertain himself while Amanda was gone. When they left it was Mandie and I remaining and I felt it was wise to sleep off the drink.

I awake to the mousey voice contradicting the lion's shake of Mandie, whimpering for me to walk with her to the grocery store. Now I had no problem with going-but I was so heavy with my sleep and groggy with the fogginess of sobering up that all I could do was stare at her between half closed glossy eyelids. I remember her figure towering over me, staring with an expecting look. Eventually words came to me and I hoarsely replied with "Sure". Like a hibernating bear, I stretch of the sleepiness and walk with her to the grocery store.

When we return I eat a sandwich and surf the net while Mandie read. Next thing I know, Graham barges into the house loud and full of life-clearly the boy was drunk. He pounced on Nigel with fatherly love and rejected Gilah-which was hilarious because when he's sober it's nearly the other way around. He danced in the living room like it was a dance floor and eventually made his way to the bedroom. Amanda and Angelo came up within minutes and that meant I had to hit the hay. Tonight they got the futon.

So Mandie and Graham got this brilliant idea that I should sleep with them on the bed. At first I was thoroughly opposed to this idea...but then again sleeping on wood flooring doesn't sound much better. So I consented. I had a brief convo with John before I decided it was best to go to bed. When I slinked into their room, I began to regret my decision-but it was too late to go back. Mandie was on the far right and Graham was right in the middle. Now I don't know who's brilliant idea it was for him to be in the middle. I figured I'd be spooning with my sister...not my sister's hubby! I kept repeating perhaps this was decided because Mandie is incredibly sick. It made me go along with the idea. So I slip into the bed and swing myself as close to the edge as possible. Everything was going alright and I began to feel the weight of sleep until...Graham started sifting around. See when I first went to their room-Mandie and he were spooning which was perfect! That meant his back would be towards me and I'd place my back towards him. However, that changed. He was moving so much that it was preventing me from relaxing. Then he rolled over facing me! And I am pretty sure he thought I was Mandie once...we wont go into that but I yelled "Graham" loudly, of course the drunk doofus didn't awake at all. Mandie did and was super concerned, but I played it off legit. Then one time he swung his arm and it smacked right into me. Then Gilah, I think it was Gilah-correction, I HOPE it was Gilah, kept running around under the covers and it was bothersome. Overall, I couldn't sleep at all and by 2:15ish I sat straight up in bed and exclaimed "That's it!" Mandie turned towards me and was right there with me. Apparently she couldn't sleep either. I felt bad and laid back down to give it another go. When I reflected, I was freezing, the blankets had been ripped off of me on numerous occasions and I had to stay alert for random appendages coming my way. However, all of that still seemed better than the floor. I decided to yank the blankets one last time to stay warm and not even 60 seconds later, Graham did some sort of Flipper kick and the blankets went aflying from our feet into the air and toward our heads. That's when I had to burst out laughing and Mandie joined in. This woke Graham up who drunkenly asked what was so funny. All I could do was laugh, so he retorted that I was a butthole, which made me laugh even harder. He was out light a light bulb within seconds...but I couldn't sleep. Finally Mandie, being the sweetheart that she is, moved to the ground. I couldn't allow my poor sister to sleep on the ground when she was sick and it was her own bed!!! So I walked over and made her get onto the bed. I grabbed the recently purchased dog bed (no joke) grabbed a pillow and made that my makeshift bed. Mandie gave me a towel and a robe as a blanket and literally slept, head half in half out of the doggy cage, on their doggy bed.



I think I finally was able to pass out around 4am...geez!

Day 4 Hustlin' n' bustlin'

Oooook, so I went to bed rather late because I was hardcore fumbling to semi-organize what cannot be organized. It is so difficult to collaborate anything here because people here go on the whim! I had arranged to pick up a free computer desk that was super sweet and two free dressers. I was frantically trying to schedule a bed so that I can hit them all up in one evening with the van I just rented. However, the desk lady never responded to me again (that biotch) and every bed I was scheduling kept backing out! Grrr...

SO I decided to just ride it out. I went to Target to relieve some stress and to do much needed shopping around the house, you know basic necessities. By the way, my sister has become quite the Jew, which is just crazy. She watches the amount of beverages and food consumed and comments how it is too much and the toilet paper should just be used for paper mache because it is garbage! The girl who's credit card was her best friend has now become a penny pincher. Don't get me wrong, I am somewhat proud. I pride myself on being rather frugal...and if you talk to Michael he'd say 'frugal' was being gentle. However, there are some things I'd be willing to spend on. For example when we were at Trader Joe's I couldn't buy the ripe bananas versus the unripe bananas because they were .4c more expensive. She's so silly, but she's got it right. I must watch my money especially in NYC ESPECIALLY since I don't have a job...yet.

Upon my return the hour is nearing when I must pick up the van and the adventure of furniture receiving begins.

Mandie is in a TERRIBLE mood. She is utterly output, sick and tired, not to mention stressed because she has two finals at the end of the week. Needless to say, I feel like a jackass because I am requesting for her assistance. There is NO way I was going to drive in NY on my fourth day...heeeelllllll no! After much sweet talk, hugging and bribing to buy her coffee she consented to drive. We arrive at the Uhaul and the woman behind the counter was some sort of JamaicanMexiNY who mumbled "mmhmm" after every pause. Now I used to work for Uhaul and I know how shady this company is and how they would LOVE to just make more money off of you, so I kept repeating things she said and was incredibly precise with my questions and documented everything. Unbeknown'st there was a man behind me listening to everything and when I was given the key started laughing when I turned around. He kept repeating how he thought it was hilarious how thorough I was...and he used 'thorough' as if it were the only word he knew. His name was Michael and he was an actor/writer from LA that only came to visit NY but 8 months later he was still there.

He followed us outside and I sized him up. Actually, I didn't really need to do that, he was so willing to tell us everything about himself. He was part white part black and part indian (feather). He was a transient: he lived in random places in the US and in Europe. He had that earth child tone to his voice, fro like hair that he held back with a bandana, khaki shorts and a tank top.

We finally break away from bohemian boy to get on with the task at hand. Mandie mumbling the entire ride to the upper west side while I was laughing the entire time finally arrived to our first destination; picking up the computer desk. The girl I was purchasing it from wasn't there, but her roommate Michael was (too many Michael's in the world, geez). He was a scrawny hipster type, but he was genuine and very kind. He helped load the clunky desk into our spacious awaiting van. Their place was pretty cool. It was the type that was rather long but narrow and it was two levels. Artsy things hung on the walls and it had a party funk in the air.

Our next stop was for the free dressers. Mr. Swanson was the name of the generous fellow in Chelsea and when we arrived he had the priss,y aristocrat, gay demeanor. He suppressed how output he was by us arriving circa 8 and the fact that he had to help lug the dressers to the street, but he was never rude and in fact gave me two lovely lamps in addition-all for free! I offered to pay for his assistance but he politely refused.

I reward my sister for her efforts with a venti caramel macchiato hot and head home. Now I am thoroughly excited that I have furniture to put in my room and just want to unload the van right then and there. However, Mandie being all the adjectives previously mentioned was not in the mood. I convinced her to bring up one lamp and I'd bring up one of the small dressers. That was a bad choice on my end. The dresser was not too heavy but it had weight and it was cumbersome to carry, but I didn't care. I figured I didn't have much of a walk. Well, I ended up having a journey of a walk because somehow I got turned around and ended up at the other end of the complex when it was only supposed to be a ten step difference. I called my sister on numerous occasions trying to figure out where I was only ending up more frustrated than before.

To have a happy ending, I made it home! Graham arrived home from work, helped me unload MY new belongings and I spent the rest of the evening THOROUGHLY cleaning each and every nook and cranny. Staying up past 2am was well worth it.
before

and after!

YAY!

Day 3 The Wheels are a'turnin'

Alright, so it's day three now.

My room is bare and I am tired of looking at blank walls so Mandie and I decided to go to Bed Bath and Beyond. Again, we are at 23rd and 1st Ave and BBB is on 18th and 6th Ave. We had quite the trek! Hot, sweaty and mildly tired we arrive to the epic building. It's an entire block of pure home goodies!

As I am in the aisle attaining my much needed hamper and laundry basket I see Kristen Shaal, Mel, from Flight Of The Conchords!!!!!!!!! No joke! We bumped shoulders and my first reaction was to feel output, but once I saw it was Mel, all I could do was raise my eyebrows and smile a surprised smile. I kept it cool and walked away when really I wanted to exchange phone numbers and tell her to hook me up. Twas a good experience.

So Mandie starts getting all pissy during the shopping experience and begins to rant about how Graham got her sick. We depart early and flag a taxi down. I unload my load and decide to trek out again in search for beds. Two destinations in mind: Sleepy's and The Furniture Store. Sleepy's was right down the road so I walked over. As I am approaching Sleepy's I need to cross the intersection and this middle aged man leans over and blatantly belches in my face. I was in motion so all I could do as I experienced that disgusting display of 'manners' was turn around and give him a horrified/dirty look. He looked unphased, but I felt better. Then not a block later another man passing the opposite of me leans in and whispers 'your zipper is down'. It took me a few seconds to process what he said before I reacted and he totally lied! My zipper was NOT down! Ass.

HOLY HELL! When did beds become SO expensive?! Nothing for a full size was under $450, which doesn't include shipping and delivery! So I decide to trek over to the Furniture Store because they were offering a full size bed + mattress for $379 and it had free delivery. Too good to be true right? Yeah...you were right. The 'mattress' was a sack semi filled with wispy cotton balls and random metal strips. As for the bed? It wasn't even in stock. Needless to say, it was a total bust. However, before I got there I was yet again interrupted. This time by an incredibly peppy, adderall popping gay guy named Eugene. He was super sweet, don't get me wrong. However, I rrreeeaaallllyyyyy despise the campaigners on the street that bombard you with why you need to donate and participate in their cause. I kept using all the excuses in the book to deviate from this task of simply and purely saying 'NO', when he pulled out his secret weapon. He began singing Persian songs...Arash and Black Cats?! Where'd this kid come from?! How does he know Arash?! After that it was TKO and I consented to a one time donation. Damn him, damn you Eugene! I still like you though, in case you ever read this.



So after that encounter I pass Union Square to get to the next furniture store and in the center of the square there is this massive event going on. The only way I can explain it is that it shared the same vibe, energy and appearance as the epic hippy dance off in Jungle 2 Jungle. No joke. There were bongo players, little tents up of locals selling their works of art, music wavering and massive amounts of swaying bodies. I also saw a bum accost a pedestrian. He was a persistent bum! He was a stalker bum! I was glad John wasn't that pedestrian...that bum probably wouldn't have walked away the way he did.

Another thing that was terrible, as I entered that swampy furniture store a large stream of water splashed randomly and without direction onto my face! Good freaking God! I could feel the bacteria multiplying across my face.

Along my walk back I saw a place that was serving nice cold beer and I was incredibly tempted to stop, drink a brewsky and chat it with the locals...oh wait, I am a local now. Ahh, you get what I mean. I opted not to because I forgot I had a time schedule with Mandie.

As I begin to walk home I feel that familiar, slippery pain within the soles of my sweaty shoes. Blisters. The feeling exponentially was increasing with every step, every inch forward and every block closer. The irritating feeling turned to pain which eventually turned to nausea and I started getting crazy thoughts such as just taking my shoes off and walking barefoot home. CRAZY! I shook that horrendous thought from my head and told myself I'd rather drink my blister's pus before I'd walk barefoot home.

(Not my foot, but I feel bad for this person!)

I entered the place I now call home to only get hustled back onto the streets. Neither of us remember at this moment what we exactly did...which is pretty sad, but oh well.

I cooked dinner that night! Spaghetti and meat balls and might I add it was a hit. Or so they say...

Day 2 NYC enlightenment

So the following day I awake on the hard, uneven futon smothered in the smallest of the smallest love turds Nigel and Gilah. My 'bed' is currently the futon mattress in the living room right in front of the tele. So we all chilled, watched the news/stocks and lounged around. OH I forgot that the day before Graham and I went to get our photograph taken for the ID cards for our complex, but they were closed-which really sucked because I got dressed up so that I would look good in the picture! Gah!

So the next day, mother nature decided to pay me a visit (SORRY I KNOW TMI, RIGHT?) and I felt like wholly crap. So getting ready for the picture was completely out of the question. We walked over and got the photos taken and walked back. Graham went to work and Mandie and I went off to Union Square to meet the printer guy. So we live on 23rd and 1st ave. We walked to 17th and 4th ave. The guy, Michael, was pretty chill. We exchanged goods and he told me about where I could look around for NEW mattresses. Rule of thumb: NEVER BUY USED MATTRESSES. You don't know where they have been and what's been done on them. Bed Bugs are also rather prominent so I hear. I, being the OCD freak that I am, itch and twitch at the mere thought of it.

Then Mandie gets the desire to go grocery shopping so we walk over to Trader Joe's on 14th and 4th Ave. We buy some goodies and took a taxi home. We vegged out, I researched more online and took a vicodin to ease the tearing pain. I started to feel well and became restless so I checked out nearby dollar stores to walk to. Found one on 14th st and B street and walked over. It was in the Alphabet District!

Might I say, it utterly sucked! Now don't get me wrong. It didn't suck because it was a .99c store because I have shopped in many of those places. This place just had nothing and everything at the same time! AND most of their items were NOT .99c! B/S!

So I decided to take a different route home from Alphabet City and that's when good ol' Jack called and gave me this brilliant idea about starting a blog. There's a deli and a grocery store/market just outside and Mandie was craving a cola. We decide to walk over with the little ones and we meet the most typical stereotype Yankee Jew imaginable. Plug your nose and just let the wind come out and occasionally form your lips to the necessary consonants and throw in a little yonkee accent and that's how she sounded. She was awesome, don't get me wrong and I am not demeaning her at all! She was a dog walker/watcher, her name was Joan, she told us about her Peki-poo, a pekingese poodle mix and she told us where she lived-all in about three minutes! Who said New Yorkers were impersonable? Piissshhhh. However, it did suck because the market had a $10 minimum for card and I had to spend more than I originally wanted, but it worked out because I got coffee and gum.

We walked home, drank our pops and watched Graham's television shows all night: West Wing, NCIS, Law & Order, etc.

Oh and I had a mini-convo with John on the phone, but it wasn't long enough! Grr!


P.S. Squirrels are abundant here. I was encircled by a mass and nearly devoured. Okay..so my life wasn't actually threatened whatsoever, but according to my sister they are rabied. Sure they look soft and fuzzy on the outside...until they start foaming at the mouth and slashing you with their pointy fangs and claws! (Mandie calls the black ones the deviled ones)

Ahh....New York

So, I was speaking with my homie Jack the other day (day two to be precise) and he told me that I should start a blog. Now, normally I would have written it off because a) blogging is for losers and b) I, being a loser, did start a blog for Japan and being an even bigger loser never had the patience to continue it.

However, I thought a lot about it and thought 'why not?' Even if it's for myself, it can be almost like a digi-diary.

Today is August 5th, but I arrived on August 2nd. We'll start from there. Well, we'll backtrack a wee bit to the night before. The last night I spent in Phoenix; the night I said bon voyage to friends, family, my lover puss and the soil that my roots have grown and spread in.

That day was a Saturday and all day I feverishly trying to pack and finish up loose ends i.e. PACK ALL OF MY SHIT, clean room, clean car, detail car, hang out with John, hang out with Baba, sneak in a drink or two, etc. etc. Honestly, if it wasn't for John I wouldn't have been able to accomplish it all. Thanks Johnny poo!

So skipping the boring crap and straight to the goodbyes. I ate a disgusting display of a Caesar salad in the airport-but it was worth it to delay the inevitable. We hugged, kissed and said our goodbyes.

Let's just say, saying goodbye to Johnny poo was a very difficult thing, but the last image he had of me as I tried to walk out of sight very cool was: me dropping my luggage, picking it up, looking to see if he saw which of course he did, blushing and trying to maintain my coolness I walked away. Sigh.



As I boarded the plane I was stuck right in the middle...naturally. To my right I had a man who was unfortunately struck by a foul, slow creeping body odor. To my left I had a young mother who held a rather well behaved baby girl, however the two of them spilled over into my personal space and I had to curl my arms up like a T-Rex to evade from rubbing elbows. As the plane took off I merely stared out the window wondering a wide array of things: what's NYC like? Can I make it? Would I even make it? What if the plane crashed? Where's John? Will Baba be alright alone? How badly am I going to miss Phoenix, the only home I truly know? Blah blah blah-those thoughts were drowned out by the powerful sound of the engines blaring at full speed and the blocked nostrils of the man with the b/o. I tried to sleep to rest and to just not think anymore, but it was incredibly uncomfortable the entire time. Mama kept shifting due to the baby and the B/O would have violent REM body flinches that just would freak me out.

However, 4.5 hours + shifting and flinching + necessary hot tea later I landed in NYC! OH! I forgot to mention that my darling bf gave me his beloved childhood toy doll. As honoured as I am to have been given Buddy as a fellow companion on my journey...Buddy kind of looks like Chucky and almost a real disheveled baby. Needless to say, I was given dirty and bewildered looks in the Phoenix airport, the airplane and the NYC airport because, yes, I carried him on my hip. Scrupulous people approached me brusquely thinking it was a real child and that it wasn't being taken care of. After they concluded it was a doll they would continue to invade my space by asking why I had it and if it was perhaps my baby. When I would simply reply 'No', well-that really sent their brains into a tizzy. Suckers.



So I am in the NYC airport and the first thing I do is call John because I promised I would even though it was circa 3am! Then I called baba, but he didn't answer-so I texted him to let him know I landed. Then I called Mandie to inquire how the hell do I get to my new place! I wandered outside to this bus that cost $15 to take me to the Grand Central Station and I had my first taste of NYC attitude. Oh-no-not involving me. It involved our bus driver versus another bus driver. Who knew that bus drivers have territory? Then he spit my luggages onto the dirty city streets of 22nd and I sat reading Atlas Shrugged waiting for Mandie and Graham (the husband/bro-in-law) to pick my Bambie ass up.

They arrive, we waddle like penguins to our hotel caught in a light drizzle. Excitedly scrounge the lot out and then realize we are in the mood for coffee and breakfast. So where do we go? Some chic NY shack? Some local joint? No. We end up at Mickey D's. Blech. I did get a coupon for a free egg muffin though and in NYC a free coupon is just like money!

We come home, hang out and then I nap. Then I pounce onto finding furniture via every avenue. Overstock, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Furniture For Less, even Walmart and random miscellaneous furniture online stores. NOTHING was cheap. Especially when one has to order it in because the stores here don't carry the products in house. So I pay for the product + shipping + delivery because for the blue collars cars are non-existent here. So I turned to Craigslist. It was addicting. Correction-it IS addicting. For the last few days I have literally spent 8 hours a day searching on Craigslist for furniture deals. Will get to those details later.

I found a guy who has a printer that I need/want. You know...for printing resumes and whatnot. Made arrangements to meet up the next day and spent the rest of the evening lounging indoors searching on Craigslist and hanging with Mandie, Graham, Nigel and Gilah.

I apologize if I oscillate between past and present tense. I am too lazy to edit what I write and it isn't like you truly mind anyway, right?