Knowing that my next post will be an essay of an entry, 
I decided to write my list of "thank you's" first.





First of all, thank you JetBlue for having the pass in the first place.

Colorado - Cody, Cliff and Brittany, Anton, Paola and David, Timbojo, Adrian, Vy, Kent Lovers, Ben...thanks for taking the time out to see me. I didn't realize how much I missed you guys!
Cody, you're a hero. For letting me crash with you guys and also for fixing my baby up. Hero, just sayin'...
Anton, you are also a hero, for picking me up and dropping me off at D.I.A. I am so terribly sorry that was the only way we could spend any time together. Next time, we'll organize this better.
Damian. Goddamnit. I missed you and the Hummer. Sorry, sorry, sorry!
Mitch. Yeah, my bad! =/
Evan and Garrett! Damn you for living in Fort Collins! And anybody else that I missed, I am very sorry!
Also, thank you Doctor, for almost biting my thumb off you crazy, testosterone-charged cat! OW!

Florida - Hiro. Thank you for being my chauffeur/body guard during my stay. Thank you "other Jeff" and also, uhhh...I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your cousin's name. Thank you, Tama, for liking me. =D Thank you, Jon and Ali for letting me take you away from your baby for the first time. And for letting me hold her. So CUTE! Thank you Hiro's mom. You are awesome. And Hiro's grandmother. You are sweet.
I'm sorry the taser got broken. Really.

Chicago - Shinji! Thank you for driving me around and introducing me to your people! And for welcoming me into your crew. Does this mean I have to call you "Captain" also?
Soy, Chennette, William IV and the basement boys (uhhh...you guys definitely know who you are) - Don't forget to grab the bitch by the hair! Except for you, Chennette. Of course.

Las Vegas - Tina and Randy! Thank you so much for allowing me to stay in your home. You guys showed me the sides of Vegas that I probably would have missed out on otherwise. Thank you, Mas, for stopping by to have lunch with us and Wayland, for hanging out with me that one day.
Thank you Akasha (sp?), Trouble and Sweetpea for being the most vivacious and outgoing dogs ever. I think Trouble even left scars. Hahaha! And of course the cat, whose name I can't seem to place. I don't think your evil, like Randy says.

SoCal - Andrew...thank you sooo much for being a great host and introducing me to such cool people. Jerrell, thank you for letting me have the couch. Jack...oh, Jack. I can't begin to thank you enough. Daddy! =)
Brian...thank you for being my dress up doll. Seriously. Too much fun!
Faye, it was really nice meeting you. Thanks for having us over for dinner. Vlad and the rest of the "A.I." people...you guys are hysterical.
Sorry Eden and sorry Danny! Argh.

NorCal - Alfie! I'm so glad I got to see you again. Thanks for lunch!
Natalie, you're a total Goddess for letting me stay with you. I am sooo happy we got to hang out, it's been way too long and I had tons of fun. Stephen, thanks again for the traveling companion (I named him BART, but he sort of deflated) and the laughs.
Thomas, you are more of a gentleman than you could ever realize. Thanks for making sure I had a great time! And uh...thanks to John for driving me to the station?

New Orleans - Matt and Chase. Thank you so much for enduring that 5 hour or so drive just to spend a day with me. Next time, we're going to have to organize this a lot better. Promise! And thank you, Hula Girl.
"Sorry, baby"

If I missed anybody, I'm very sorry! I'll even let you smack my arm or something. Sorry, sorry, sorry! Thanks for keeping up with me!

B

Don't worry...
I'm not planning to leave my heart here.
Seriously.


(Golden Gate Bridge)

Yay!

Florida slapped me with humidity.
Vegas slapped me with heat.
All 98 degrees of it...


(The Strip)

Toodles!

Humidity has just punched me in the lungs.
What a sweet welcome...
Not.



(Fort Lauderdale)

Will keep you guys posted!

I will update soon. Promise.

In an effort to keep my butt out of classrooms for another semester, I have come up with an epic plan.

I'm leaving New York. Okay, not for good - but starting next week I'll be trading my very well lit apartment for frustrating U.S. airports. Oh joy. Thanks in advance to the people who will allow me to sleep on their couches and for just generally putting up with me. Oh, you may miss me now, but after this trip...?

I'll actually muster extra, extra effort to update everyone back in New York with the details on my trip.

I know this blog is supposed to be about living in New York, but I do a rubbish job of keeping you guys posted on everything that I do here. I'm still really sorry for that. Not even because you guys won't know what's going on with me! It's mainly due to the fact that I probably won't remember. Argh. Since I've finally mustered up the effort to write, I'll continue with some New York updates.

Autumn is slowly creeping in and I love it. My favorite season, I'm dying to don the scarves and the excuse to wear my new Timberland's.
Wow. I am sorry I just put you through that.

Autumn also signifies the start of school. Yes, I mentioned that I would be keeping my butt out of classrooms for a semester, but that's only physically speaking. *sighs* Online classes. You gotta love technology. School technically started yesterday.

Technically.

I finally got around to crossing off a place on the "tourist" list. I went several weeks ago, actually, but you know how I never update you guys on time. Ever.

The Bronx Zoo.

Sans the exotic animals, it would still be a zoo. I managed to compile a list of things not to do if you plan on going there.

• Do not ignore the little grocery store you pass after getting off the subway. 
• If you did ignore it, don't ignore the people selling water for $1.
• Do not pay the full price on donation day. Sure, it may seem sweet - but nobody does it (well, except for me, obviously) and you're going to end up paying the same amount just so you can get in to certain exhibits.
• Do not use flash when taking pictures of the animals. (I didn't do this, but enough people did to make me put it on the list. NO common sense, wow)
• Do not stick your arms out of the monorail tram. (I swear, I was afraid I was going to have to watch some kids get their arms chopped off)

And just because I saw this done while at the zoo, let me just add...

• Do not feed babies ice cold carbonated drinks. ARGH!

Based on that list you probably surmised that I had a Godawful time. Sort of. I mean, I'm always a little sad to see animals outside of their natural habitat, to begin with. The crowds of people were really what ruined it for me, though. (That may have been my own fault, since it was a Wednesday) It was just ridiculous. The screaming children (uh, hello? Of course the ocelot's not going to come to the window if you're tapping it like a woodchuck) and the morons using flash to take pictures of animals behind glass. No, just...NO. They weren't just isolated incidents. This was EVERYWHERE. Not to mention that it was unnecessarily hot.

The extremely spoiled part of me was also simply missing the Singapore Zoo. If any of you guys ever get the chance to go, it's just...Wow.

I'm going to have to give the zoo a second try, when it's not completely chaotic. On an additional note...Hopefully during my second visit, I'll be able to find the wolf exhibit. Seriously.

Oh...and on a completely separate note.

I got a new cellphone. My inner geek is shedding tears of joy right now.

Whatever.
Eat my shorts, Apple.

...keeping in mind that I have been in (the) New York (area) for almost ten months now, there are tons of things that I have seen and done. I've even developed some(what) regular places to hang out at and definitely to have a decent meal.

Things I Have Done/Places I Have Been

Times Square - 42nd Street which (according to George Carlin), is appropriate due to the fact that you'll only want to be there for "forty seconds" seems to be every tourist's ideal vision of Manhattan. Well, guess what? It's not ideal at all. Maybe it's because I was around Boulder for so long, but the billboards and flashy bright lights scream "tacky" more than "big city life" to me. I can't believe how congested it gets there. I also can't believe how much more they charge for things there. I swear I can't even tell if it's night or day there sometimes. Completely overrated. Next!
MoMa - The Museum of Modern Art. I went there last year one night when I still lived in Jersey City. It was definitely a Friday (because from 4-8PM you can get in there for free!) Totally cursed myself for being so late, because there's so much to see! There was a Kirchner (which I can appreciate, but I'm not too much of a fan) and Van Gogh (which I was unable to see because it was open to members only (though I've been to the Van Gogh Musuem in Amsterdam and you can't really top that - Eat that MoMa!) and displays of modern architecture, artistic developments and prints amongst other things. I didn't even get to cover the first three floors, so I'm going to have to come back.
Ground Zero - This was sort of unavoidable, considering that's where the PATH train would stop when I lived in Jersey. Every weekend, you find the same conspiracy theorists handing out fliers. They've already started building the Freedom Tower and the workers around there are obnoxious. It's amazing how many people they hire to help you cross the street in that area. Seriously. It's completely unnecessary. Not only are there 1279823579 of them, they yell at you if you cross too early. Whatever. Nobody listens to these over zealous ex-hall monitors.
Another thing that's obnoxious about being in this area is the amount of tourists that take picture of the cemetery/church across the street, thinking that it's some sort of memorial for 9/11. No morons, it's completely separate. It happens to be Manhattan's oldest public building (in use) and if you just turn the corner, there's a sign that says so. So, there. Stop it, already.

You may remember from my past posts that I went to concerts almost regularly when I first moved here.
The bands I've seen and where I've seen them):

Shudder to Think- The Fillmore
I mentioned this in a previous entry.
NOFX- The Fillmore
I mentioned this in a previous entry.
Bad Brains - The Fillmore
Long considered one of the founding fathers of hard-core punk, they're also quite a few parts reggae - musically speaking. I had mixed feelings about this concert for several reasons...it would be better demonstrated through the power of youtube.


Ben Kenney - Maxwells
In case you didn't know, Ben Kenney is the bassist for Incubus. He is every single degree of awesome and his recordings don't do his voice any justice at all. He kicked ass "live" and I have no idea why his recordings don't capture the richness of his voice. My favorite concert to date. =)
Tom Morello - The Fillmore
I went to this concert specifically for my brother from another mother, Cliff. Dude. I still have your shirt and a crap-ton of footage.
It was really hard not to run into irritating people, for some reason. Everyone I stood next to was a class A douchebag. And ganja-ganja-ganja everywhere. The music was perfectly fine. I actually like listening to Morello talk.
Boris - The Music Hall of Williamsburg
I really don't understand why they call themselves "Boris". Take into account that they're a Japanese band, it seems even more bizarre. I remember that the band that opened for these guys SUCKED. They were just plain boring. It was a very nice contrast because Boris really made up for it. Their music was such a trip.
Eastern Blok - Drom
Friends of a friend. It was a really pleasant performance to watch, the only one that was at an actual lounge (technically so was Ben Kenney, but they have a special room for events so it totally doesn't count). Here's a video of the guitarist (Goran) rockin' out in Chicago.

</lj-embed>
...to be continued.

...I never really had the time to do cheesy "New York tourist" activities, and while I scoff at all of them when they block my way with their bulky cameras, I'm kind of bummed out. No matter how cheesy it is, I think there are some things you must do if you move to New York. If you're actually from New York, I can understand the lack of appeal. So I've compiled a list of things to do when someone decides to come visit me.

Please, please, please... visit me so I finally have a legitimate excuse to do some of these things/visit these places. (I'm probably going to update this list constantly. Remind me of anything I'm missing)

MoMa
The Guggenheim
Ellis Island
Central Park
The Empire State Building
The Bronx Zoo (or any zoo, for that matter)
The Statue of Liberty
Staten Island Ferry (wtf, it's free and I still haven't gone)
Times Square
Coney Island
Chelsea Piers
Ground Zero
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Helicopter Tour
[[Insert Broadway Show Here]]
A Comedy Show
Rockefeller Center
Madison Square Garden

...more to come, I'm sure.

Walking around Manhattan has become a new hobby of mine. Particularly around the Village area.

A couple of days ago, I had a severe case of nostalgia. I started at the east side of Manhattan and walked to the very west end, cutting through Washington Square Park. On my way out of the park there was a jazz quartet playing and it reminded me of how much I love the sound of the saxophone. So beautiful... It was funny to remember how lost I would have been at the beginning and now I can figure out the streets and where I am with no problem. The air was warm, moist. It wasn't long before it started to rain.

There are so many things that I miss about the way things used to be.

I miss the annoyingly crisp, dry air.
I miss the sun.
I miss going on long, meaningless drives with mountain views. There wasn't a time in Colorado where I ever forgot how beautiful it is.
I miss the Hookah House, Boulder in general.
My friends.
My family.
I miss Guitar Hero. And Rock Band. I passed a bunch of posters advertising The Beatles Edition of Rock Band.

OH GOD I WANT IT SO BADLY!

There are even things I miss in New York, already.

Namely my old apartment.
I don't care that it wasn't really mine.
That it was tiny.
That the bed was really squeaky.
That it was so dusty, you'd develop allergies.
That the state of the kitchen prevented from ever cooking a decent meal.
It had character.
I woke up to Puerto Rican guys and their pretend hustlin'. "Same thing! Muuuccchh, muuuucchhh chheeeaper!" Those same guys made sure that my self confidence never wavered, no matter how shitty I looked or felt on that day.
I miss hearing the drunk drama on weekends.
I miss the Asian families cooking their dinners with their doors open.
...music battles with my neighbor.
And the roof. that awesome roof.
That street.

Nothing on my new apartment, though. It really is a nice place.

I used to welcome change, it was just so normal to me...but now there are so many things that I wish could stay the same.

Namely, myself. I've changed in ways that can only be described as bittersweet. I don't know if I like the person I'm becoming.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

It certainly has been a cruel, cruel summer. Cruel and cold.

Well... If you can call 20°C cold and if you live here, I guess you can. Spring is still in full swing, but people should be grateful. By now the elderly should be plastered onto their front stoops in the sweltering heat. Instead, most people have been complaining about the seemingly permanent shade of gray hovering over the city. It's been raining almost every day and it will continue for the next three weeks.

Secretly, I'm enjoying every single moment, though I guess it's not quite a secret anymore. This is how I had always pictured New York to be and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, I'm taking summer classes and spending time indoors while the sun is shining would be a serious injustice. Never mind the fact that I'd be sweating bullets as I'm being fried onto the concrete. Mmm...salty.

Yes, yes. A couple of you were concerned and:

•  wondering if I was going to school
•  wondering when I was going to school
•  wondering where I was going to school
•  thinking that I should get my !@#$ing ass in school right now

Well, I am. Right now. Joy, oh joy. I am on course to getting my degree once again, but not by choice.

It's kind of my job.

I've sort of explained to a couple of people, but I decided I was just going to write it out so I don't have to repeat myself. (I know, I'm a lazy mofo) For those of you that forgot, or never asked but would like to pretend that they care, I'm an International Studies major with a minor in Business Administration. I know, I dropped Russian, it just didn't seem practical anymore. My interest in that has not wavered, however.

I'm taking my summer classes for general credit here.
I'll be going to school full-time here starting next semester.

Some fun facts...
It's a Jesuit school (fun, I know).
Denzel Washington went to school here (why, I don't know).

A bunch of you are probably wondering why I'm not in NYU... I just decided not to take that route in the end. I probably should have. The campus is closer to my apartment. Ah well.

See what I mean? You shed the pounds whether you want to or not when you live in Manhattan.

♥ B

So...people have been asking me over and over why I haven't written an update on here.

Sorry.

The whole communication thing, I'm kind of bad at it. I am going to try now, though. Probably not daily...possibly weekly updates so the people who keep up with this know that I am somewhat alive. Lots and lots of things have happened since the last time I've written, sorry I'm too lazy to tell you everything, but I'll attempt to jam pack it into this one entry along with other things I promised to talk about.

First of all. Brokers.

I hate them all. Save one, and that's only because he was a newb. For those of you out there who don't understand how getting an apartment in New York works, let me attempt to explain how events fall into place after a while.

You spend hours and hours looking through craigslist for a decent apartment with a somewhat affordable price. Remember that in Manhattan "reasonable" doesn't really exist, especially after you've lived in Colorado.

Most of the places you find and wish to view are not going to be rented through the actual owners (because they are too lazy to deal with this type of B.S.) instead, an agency will have it in their database along with a list of other available apartments. It's funny because different agencies will have the same listings. There were units that I saw up to three separate occasions. If only I remembered the addresses at that time. It doesn't sound so bad, does it? A smart person would stick to one good agency to find the apartment, right?

Sure...
...but only if you have the money. Unless the apartment you desire has "no fee" attached, in addition to paying first+last (possibly)+ security deposit (which can be up to 1.5 months rent), you have to pay the additional "broker fee" which is equal to 5% of the entire year's rent. You're paying for some moron to "find" you an apartment.

Of course, it doesn't stop there. To be eligible to rent an apartment through one of these agencies, you have to make forty times the rent annually. No shit. By now you're thinking, "...but how do I do that? I'm a college student." Then they tell you that you're allowed to have a guarantor, but the guarantor has to make eighty times the rent annually.  Ridiculous. Oh, and they're gonna check your credit too. That may also add to your fees.

The alternative would be to give them all money down for a full year and they won't ask any questions. I wasn't willing to do that, it just didn't make sense. So after that, when you look through craigslist, you start looking for apartments that have "no fee" and "owners only" but of course, brokers list under those too. It's never ending. I spent many sleepless nights over it.

The only way anyone has hope for getting an apartment in New York is through subletting one.This may or may not be completely legal. Nobody really cares. The crappy thing is, sublets are normally not long-term, so you constantly have to find a new place. Sucks balls, I know.

So the people who know my living situation are probably wondering how I got my apartment. I have a long-term/on-going sublet in a two bedroom apartment (shared with a roommate) for the same price I was paying for my old sublet (which was junior one bed-room) in the Lower East Side. The answer? Luck. Sure there are cons, but the pros are outweighing them by a metric shitton at the moment, so I'm not going to complain.

Finding an apartment here was the biggest challenge ever, so after I accomplished that...I knew I could pretty much do anything.

Okay, so now that I have that out of the way... Three things I learned about living in New York.
1) With the kind of "accessibilty" that Manhattan has, you have absolutely no reason to be obese if you live here. Seriously. Not even if you live in an elevator building with a doorman. It's just impossible.
2) You will have a tough time if you are unnattractive/untalented. I can't believe how underpaid some people are here. There are geniuses making shit for pay, maestros driving taxi cabs and every other bartender you meet is a struggling model/actor. Sheesh, no wonder my life sucks so much here.
3) The people who "own" Manhattan are all gay. No, I am not using as a synonym for "lame" or "stupid" like some people do, and I don't mean "happy" either.

In short, I am doomed for mediocrity. I'm not gay. I don't really know any gay people here. I'm not really talented and while I'm not completely unnattractive, I'm hardly anything to fuss over. Oh well. At least I'll be able to maintain my weight.

Oh, on a separate note: things are really bloody expensive over here. I'm sure I've mentioned that before.

I just paid $45 to get my haircut, only to pass a salon in St Mark's Pl. that would have done it for $12.
I have to admit, though, they did a great job, I met cool people and they showered me with compliments. It's not every day that you get told that you look "so beautiful it's almost breath-taking". (did you catch the "almost" in there?) It seemed even more meaningful that it was said by a woman. I don't even care that she was saying it to get a nice tip.
It's amazing what you are willing to pay when you have a fragile self-esteem.
In my case, an extra $33+15.

Getting rickroll'd during the experience? Priceless.

Okay, I actually wanted to write more, but I didn't want the first entry I wrote in months to turn into a novella.

...baby steps.

I promise I'll write again soon.

♥

So... I'm going to have to delay the real estate shenanigans ONE more time. Sorry.

First of all, let me fully admit how much of a space cadet I am. I left out certain food experiences (how the hell that happened, I don't know, considering it was the first "foreign" experience I had) and Boris was kind enough to smack me up the head for it. 

So back again to 'mad eats' section
Ukraine - Okay... So this place was supposed to have some of the best borscht ever. SEVERE disappointment. Anton, you make better borscht than this... Hell, I make better borscht than this! It wasn't even red, it was this... Purple color. Ugh... I don't know. I don't even want to talk about it. It just didn't do the dish justice at all. Never again. I need to find a better restaurant that serves borscht.
Serbian - So this is the one that Boris smacked me for forgetting (rightfully so, he is Serbian, in case any of you were wondering). Boris took me to Kafana down in Alphabet City. It's pretty much the only Serbian restaurant around. I'm pretty much sold on Serbian appetizers, by the way. There was this cheese puff pastry thing that I wish I ordered more of and just your standard bread with this really amazing cream spread. I had the hardest time ordering anything, though. There was pork. Everywhere. *sighs* I settled with some lamb/spinach stew which was pretty good, nothing out of the ordinary. Desert was a Serbian pancake, pretty much what everybody else would call a crepe and what I personally call pannekoek! They put nutella in mine. I love nutella. Hahaha! If you guys are planning to go anytime soon, it's cash only. Being the Serbian that he is, Boris was unimpressed.

Not that this has anything to do with food, but one of these babies right here, actually parallel parked right outside the restaurant. Priceless. Coolest moment.

Boris, I'm not writing about the Asian Fusion restaurant in Plainsboro. I'm too lazy. Guys, it wasn't anything special.

But... I have new place to add to my list of Japanese places I've been to here. It's an Udon restaurant in St Mark's Place. I still don't get why they play jazz music in Japanese restaurants, this place was one of them. The vibe was pretty cool, I didn't actually have Udon while I was there (I had beef bowl instead. You know how I feel about beef bowls! Their's wasn't that great, though. It's got nothing on Ichi Ban or Yoshinoya, but it's not their specialty so I should stop complaining). Boris enjoyed his Bukkake (Hahaha! I'm mature) Udon. Yes, yes. We both had quite the laugh out of that.

So, before I went to this Udon restaurant, I was actually corner-moshing (and I say that because I was right at the corner) at a NOFX concert. We only managed to get these tickets out of pure chance. We (by now you guys should realize that I do everything with Boris so it should just be assumed that everytime I say I or We, Boris is probably the one who dragged me to whatever place unless of course, I state that I was completely alone) headed down to the Fillmore (Irving Plaza) to buy some tickets to the Bad Brains concert in November. We got stopped by this guy on the street selling NOFX tickets. Upon talking to the guy, Frank, we learned that the NOFX concert was tonight (as in last night) and tomorrow night (as in tonight) but they were both sold out and he was selling 2 tickets for an outrageous price.

We had been thinking of hanging out in Brooklyn, but this opened a whole new possibility. NOFX is !@#$%^&* awesome. The guy was being really pushy, he was constantly lowering the price, he really wanted to get rid of those tickets. Boris decided he wanted to check out if they really were sold out, double check on prices and order our tickets for Bad Brains. Well, it turned out they were sold out so I had been pretty sure Boris was going to go back to that guy and buy those tickets, but of course... That didn't happen. Because... we were given free tickets by the ticket office. No joke. Someone had just left them there!

Ha! There's a good 50-some odd dollars not spent at all! The concert was great. I enjoyed myself immensely trying not to get crushed, dancing like an idiot, screaming and trying to figure out where the pot was.

I didn't have any.

Highlights: When this guy almost elbowed me in the face. Meeting a chick that went to school at CU. Some guy randomly taking a picture of me and Boris as we climbed upstairs. Funny Mexican references.

Cons: Where was my share of pot, huh?!

I know, I know... I still haven't posted up pictures and the real estate stories are really gaining some major suspense.

Stay tuned, guys!

So it’s four o’clock in the morning (Eastern Time) and I’m having a bout of insomnia. I’m not really surprised, though. I think my mind and body is still stuck in Mountain Time (it’s two back at home). It’s the first night I’ve been here that I’ve had trouble sleeping, though. The apartment hunting is really taking a toll on me. I guess there are certain things that I’m starting to miss and now all I want is to go to a home of my own or to run to something… familiar.

I can’t even seem to find solace in things that I used to enjoy, though. I mentioned I went salsa dancing in the last entry? Well, as fun as it was, I was completely lost. They dance salsa on 2 over here (many of you won’t understand what this means, so let me take the time out to explain. The type of salsa I danced back in Colorado was salsa on 1/salsa 1. The major difference is, when you dance on salsa 1 you’re dancing to the music. In salsa 2, you’re dancing in the music. Basically, it’s a difference in timing. I was off-time almost the entire time and I couldn’t understand why). It was a bit depressing to find out how different things really are over here.

The McDonald’s here isn’t even the same. (So Anton, I lied. I guess you can have a Double Cheeseburger Meal here, just not at the McDonald’s in Grove Street Station in Jersey. Lol). I don’t even have any of my own furniture to sleep on. To make it a little better, I used my sheets from the old house, but even that hasn’t really helped.

And I miss my goddamn snake. =(

There are things that I didn’t even mention in the last entry… So here goes.
Brooklyn just might become my new sanctuary. I went there during the night and I swear, you don’t even feel like you’re in the city. There were so many cool places to see and interesting architecture. There are tons of hidden spots that would make amazing photo shoot venues. I got some of the most amazing views of Manhattan, the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty while I was there. I climbed over fences to get the view, but it was all worth it. It was so beautiful and serene.

It makes me a little sad, though. That area is virtually unknown right now, but in a couple of years, crazy capitalists are going to take advantage of those beautiful views and build high-rise apartment complexes, making some ridiculous profit in the process. It’s amazing how much you can lose for the sake of “progression”.

Second thing I didn’t mention… My cousin’s band Snowman will be in New York performing at the Lower East Side Area. I was so looking forward to watching him perform, but you know what I realized. He’s performing at bars. 21+. I’m royally pissed off about it still. So Boris is kind of right, it’s hard to find anything to do at 18 in this town, but there’s got to be a way! I did not come here all the way from Colorado to not be able to enjoy clubbing and strip clubs at least once in a while, but I want to do all of that NOW. Damn it all to Hell.

Third thing... I went to the Rutgers campus in Newark. I even managed to get into a set of dorms. (Don't ask me how, they check I.D's to get in there. The lady in charge was a NAZI about it, yet I still managed to get in). It was pretty nice. An alright place overall and okay vibe, I guess. Apparently, it's the most diverse University around. I have to admit I saw a great variety of races over there, but somehow it didn't phase me that much. There was an adorable (but slightly irritating) little girl I met in the dorm area. She's gonna be a hassle to raise in her teens considering she already has a smart mouth/an attitude. Lol.

Ooh.. Apparently, certain parts of Newark can get pretty dangerous. Boris actually drove in those certain areas just to show me. Lol. He even locked the doors while we were driving... *raises eyebrows* Okay, so I'm teasing a little bit. He's not the only one that says it's dangerous. I made acquaintances with this guy named Jason while I was on campus and he said the same thing. If you're reading this, Jason... Hi!

Jason is actually looking for a computer, so if any of you kind people would be willing to give away your laptop (for free), let me know so I can inform him!

So, I know I promised I would share my real estate/rent experience with you guys, but this is already a page’s worth of writing so I promise I’ll share next time. Besides, I want that to have its very own entry, because I know it could definitely fill the spaces.

Don’t forget me, guys. I’m thinking about all of you whenever I can spare a second.

Keep in touch!

P.S. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I can!

Hey all of you back in Colorado and everywhere else - Air Force, Army, Marine Corps., Navy, Maryland, Nebraska, Florida, California, Texas, Spain, etc.!

I started this blog to keep you guys updated on my shenanigans.

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. So many things have happened... And so many things need to happen, but haven't yet. I'm finally taking a breather (well, no, not really... I'm still multitasking right now. Even as I write this)

First and foremost, I have to thank my friend, Boris, for being such a great help to me. He's the one that's been putting up with me sharing his space, lugging up my huge luggage full of clothes up at least three flights of stairs, driving me around and just generally making sure I don't get laid out in this new state (well, I'm actually in Jersey City right now, so maybe the blog title isn't quite appropriate yet). In any case, I've been in New York pretty much everyday looking for an apartment to live in and let me tell you... I could write a separate blog on some of those experiences. More on that later...

Here's a shoutout to Phil who made it into Iraq recently... Stay safe, you crazy mother!@#%$& and don't die! I still owe you that care-package.

Mitch. I'm sorry I haven't taken those pictures of Ground Zero yet, I haven't been in that area at a good enough time. I'm normally passing by there at night. What gives. =(

Oh, I think I'm still kind of jet-lagged and I haven't been eating properly at all. There goes my circadian rhythm. Okay! Now that I have all that out of the way...

So things I have been doing and places I have been. Wow, where do I even start?

Let's start with Jersey...
I finally got to see the town where my girl, Sadie, grew up in! It's quite the interesting place. Reminiscent of Niwot only on a bigger scale and replace the mountains with trees. (Boris actually teaches soccer in the area and I thought it'd be cool to come with). I met soccer moms left and right over there.

One mom I remember in particular (she was way awesome) actually lived in Singapore for a while and we had a great time walking down "Memory Lane" together. She took me to the Asian market in Plainsboro (and I proceeded to freak out, as usual) and recommended me to this Malay/Thai restaurant which I have yet to try out.

It was kind of sweet, but also kind of eerie. In a... 50's-check-me-out-and-my-white-picket-fence-stepford sort of way. Kind of.

And then... Princeton. They have a beautiful campus and a nice Cathedral. I went there to eat and have stroll around. It was actually how I imagine C.U. would be if it expanded and its buildings were slightly older. It just shares the same college-town vibe Boulder's got going for it (only minus the hippies and add more frat boys?).

We ate some really good food at this restaurant/pub called The Alchemist and Barrister. The calamari wasn't bad at all, and the risotto I had was to die for! I'd go there again in a heart beat, if only it wasn't such a long drive out. :(

Last, but most certainly not the least... Jersey City (Journal Square), Newark, Newport, Exchange Place and Hoboken. I know I probably shouldn't clump these places together but I spend equal amounts of time in each place (and mainly in the PATH stations more than anywhere else.

There are lots of parts around the highway that remind me of Jakarta (with less garbage and poverty, of course, God Bless America *rolls eyes*). Aside from Jersey City and Newark, it's filled with yuppies. Progress in this area has been kind of ridiculous. Hoboken's one of the new, hip places to live and its prices are almost as high as Manhattan (I would know, I searched around there too.) It just doesn't seem worth it, if I'm going to pay NY prices, then I might as well be in NY and *not* in Jersey. Mind you, there are awesome views from Manhattan in all of those yuppie places. Lucky bastards. The apartments/condominiums there are ballin'.

And now, onto New York.

A summary of events... Paid massages, salsa dancing NY-style, went to a concert, chaperoning at a photo shoot, mad eats everywhere, getting hit on in the strangest ways and places, walking from West St./Christopher St all the way to Battery City Park (I did this last night and my feet effing HURT... Subways, yellow cabs and realtors (I hate them all). And I'm sure I didn't list everything.

Let's start with mad eats...So I've been spoiled all to hell in terms of food (because according to Boris, that's all an 18 year old can do in NY aside from walk, shop and ice skate. Thanks).
Malaysian/Indonesian - Meh, it was good, I guess. It could've been better but I was just so excited to find a place with my food it hardly mattered at the time. I plan to try as many of these restaurants as I can find.
Ethiopian - Now, this was different, but it was awesome. If you haven't tried it, have no qualms about eating with your hands and want to try something different, then Ethiopian is the way to go. DO IT.
Korean - There was a cute a place in the Korean quarter of town. Definitely no complaints and ridiculous servings. My stomach gets bloated just thinking about it.
Japanese - I have yet to find anything epic in terms of Japanese food. I'm really starting to miss Ichi Ban and Sushi Hana back in Longmont. WTF?! Where's that place where they serve sushi on people's bodies? I want to go there.
Italian - Man... Italians here are PUSHY. Walk down Little Italy and try not to get dragged into a restaurant. Two different experiences. One place was... Meh. The next time we went to a place that was pretty much across the street that was better.
Random Stall - I was super hungry last night and nothing was open but this little stall near the WTC: PATH station. I was pleasantly surprised. I'm glad they didn't have any hot dogs left because the lamb over rice was really good and the Egyptian guy running it was a riot. I have no idea how someone with that kind of job and still be humming and happy at 2AM. Ran into a really cheesy couple over there too. It was a funny experience to have so early in the morning.
Chipotle/Qdoba - Frankly, I'm disappointed. The Chipotle burritos here are SO MUCH SMALLER. Sad panda.

The paid massage... It was pretty good. We had this done at a place near the Malaysian/Indonesian place in the Chinatown area. The people are really sweet, the prices were low and I think Boris enjoyed himself more than I did. He thought I tipped them too much. I think my masseuse did too, considering his eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw it. Haha. He shat bricks. Lol. I didn't like it much, though. Maybe it's because I spend so much time giving massages... Maybe it's because I don't think anyone here would be able to fix the tension I have (cuz I know I'm still hurting). I don't know. I'm glad Boris had a good time and I'd still recommend it to others.

The photo shoot I chaperoned at was fun. It was in this building in Soho and when you go on the roof you can see this other building that has graffiti on it. I swear that other building has been haunting me. Hahaha! I seem to see it when I least expect it. The people running the space were awesome. I met some cool people, one guy who actually lived in Indonesia and could speak some Bahasa. Now that was a trip. There was this other guy who recently bought some terrapins. He was hilarious. I got to educate him on the little guys he bought, apparently they had salmonella. Hmmm... Anything you touch can give you that, though... That's why you have to make sure you wash your hands after handling animals! They were promoters and designers. Really chill vibe. The person who was technically running the shoot was Shi-Nuh. She was super sweet. Neiko Roman was taking the photos. I had a really good time, but it made us late for the concert...

I was so bummed that we missed a good chunk of the Shudder to Think concert because of the shoot. =( The  guys were great. I can't say I'm as into them as most of the people over there were (or Boris) since I only just started listening to them, but it was great. They actually played one of my favorite songs so I feel like I got something out of it. It's been a long time since I've actually been to a concert. I miss seeing live music. I need to do it more often!

On my journey to searching for the best (no fee/credit check) apartment, a few weird things have happened.
Let me just point out that New Yorkers really hit on women differently over here. Wow.
I've been "stalked" at least twice. Lol. Once on foot and another time by a guy in a car. Lost count of how many people told me to "Have a blessed day." Well, that's definitely nicer than some other things I've heard. Hmmm... *insert Spanish here*, although this happened to me in CO every once in a while. And... I guess it's popular for guys to ask for your autograph when they think a girl is attractive. I thought that was cute. At one point a whole group of guys were yelling at me, saying I could have free drinks at the bar all night. I politely declined and as I walked away, they applauded me. Now, that one I didn't quite understand. The owner of a salon said I could get my hair done for free right then and there. It was a trendy place and everyone who worked there was awesome. I made a few friends. Stuart Hirsch. If any of you girls wanted to come visit me and get your hair done, this is the place to go. My hair still feels soft and I had this done DAYS ago.
Oh. And a taxi driver offered to provide me with a place to live. For free. Lol.

New Yorkers... *sighs*

WALKING. Oh gosh, I've been doing so much of that. And taxis, I've wasted tons of money on cabs, save this one time. If you guys want to to know more about it, you'll have to ask me in private. Hahaha. And it's worth asking. Ah, the Metro. I am so happy to be in NY just for the public transportation. Despite the fact that it's not lacking at all, I still walked from the intersection of West St/Christopher St (yes, yes. The Christopher St. Gay rights Christopher St.) ALL the way to Battery City Park. Don't ask me why (cuz I'll tell you now, it's all Boris' fault). I have to admit, it was a really beauitful night, I got to see LOTS of cool things along the way, but I was wearing a new pair of shoes that are technically half a size too small so my feet were DYING. They still really hurt now. =(

And the realtors... Ah crap, I don't have enough time to write about them now. Stay tuned.

Lessons learned: No heels, no more carrying a laptop around, no more effing realtors. ARGH.

Keep in touch, okay?

♥ Bianca

P.S. Ask me about the roommate!