Home again

Can you tell that I didn't want to leave New York?

I love the city, always. The state, definitely. But it's my brother that makes my visits. If I were visiting him in Bumf*ck, NE, it would still be a treat. I miss him like -- well, like the deserts miss the rain.

A little belated, but I am thankful for the following:

my cats, Chloe and Alice
my chosen family (including squid)
my brothers Joshua and Joel, and sister Jessica
my nephew Matthew
my brother-in-law Craig
my folks
warm blankets
my bed
having a place to live
my developing sense of style
being able to write for the semi-masses
text messages
Gmail
JetBlue
my video iPod
black eyeliner
an operable transit system
the History channel
having a savings account
flip-flops
electricity
running water
libraries
this website
this one, too
specialty grocery, spice, & tea shops
200 canal street
Target super stores
higher education
"Yes We Can"
candied ginger
sales sales sales
the five senses

and everything in between

I hope it was a happy Thanksgiving (or day off, or weekend) for everyone.

New York, Day 7

Went to Kalustyan's today - bought an assortment of loose teas (moroccan mint, thai tea, and evening comfort [ginger & peppermint blend]), mint chocolate malted milk balls, medjool with "almonds" coconut & sugar, zaatar bread, and pistachio nougat.

Then I went to the Met, where I heavily perused the Roman and Greek art, and the European Sculpture courtyard. I love watching the artists do sketchwork of the various breathtaking pieces. It's all so incredible, skylights and all.

For the second time this week there was a forced detour on the subways (due to routine maintenance and police investigation), but I was able to maneuver and make it back to the abode - unscathed, but with knowledge on how to function by way of an alternative method, and without having to call a car. I owe it in part to being somewhat transit-savvy back home in Los Angeles. Which reminds me: when I get back to LA, I should probably find time to update this blog - it's been almost four weeks. I owe it to relative stresses piled so far up on each other that they finally collapsed. . . and it took a week(plus)-long vacation to get things settled.

When I come back home on Sunday, I'll have Monday off from work (day job; writing will resume).
I'll be in my cubicle on Tuesday.
Wednesday through Sunday, I will not.

Vacation (unplanned!) part two.

But for now (this evening), my brother and I will be going to the Russian & Turkish baths. . . maybe I'll splurge for a massage, but the regular treatments sound wonderful right about now.

New York: Day 5

(borrowed from my LiveJournal)

Omigosh, it's cold outside. And inside.

We went to Greeenwood Cemetery today, and only made it a few hours - my feet are still frozen. But it was wonderful and serene, until it got unbearingly cold. It's apparently 35 degrees, but according to weather.com it feels like 29 (that would be about right). And unfortunately, the heat won't be coming on tonight, so I'll be in my coat and sneakers throughout the evening.

There's this roof down below that developed a pool of water from saturday's rainfall... that pool has now frozen. We could go ice skating if wanted to.

I've been having a fun time, though. I've already gone to the Museum of Natural History, walked through Central Park, had a good evening with friends, and thought about riding a bike around town (idea quickly scratched). Tomorrow, am planning on going 'round Union Square way to Filene's Basement, The Strand, Virgin Megastore... perhaps it'll be market day and I can pick up some goodies. Friday I'm planning on going to the Met, and Kalutzyan's spice shop for loose teas and such (it's such a friggin' highlight; I'm looking forward to it, okay?), and then Saturday... we shall see. I leave Sunday.

Yeah. If it weren't for four adults and a baby (not mine), I'd consider not coming home.

I always say that.

New

Never sleeps

Been having a great time in New York so far. Weather was inclement yesterday, and this morning began at two o'clock in the afternoon, so things have been a little off, but consistently good. I've already been charmingly drunk twice, and I don't intend on stopping the rest of the time I'm here.

Tomorrow I'll be up at around 10am - it's off to the Museum of Natural History and a walk through Central Park until I hit 86th & Lexington - then it's back to my brother's office for perhaps more Arrested Development (am already on Season 2) and dinner. Tonight, alongside champagne and sidecars at Five Leaves, we had celery and horseradish soup, kale, and beet root salad, and a dish of pomegranate sorbet for dessert. Sometime before I leave I'm going to try the lamb shepherd's pie and perhaps a pomegranate martini. But we'll have to see.

I'm just looking forward to making my legs sore by hitting the pavement excessively tomorrow.

I really wish that I didn't have to go home. But I won't, not after another full 6.5 days, at least.

Family

My sister from Escondido is so -- I don't know. Please give me license to vent on this one, though.

My sister from Escondido is a piece of work. I'm sure she's nice enough, but she's such a contradiction, such a faux pas beast. I don't know if I'll ever allow myself to care for her much. Unfortunately so as she's sitting not twenty feet away from me right now.

We used to be Jehovah's Witnesses (or rather, I used to be one, about six years ago). We believed in things like The Organization, The Society, The New System - that protective bubble of old white men that shows 'us' the way in which we should go in order to be as pure as possible, the best way in which to better ourselves.

My sister is still one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I can't stand her. It's unfortunate because everytime I think "Jehovah's Witness" I think of her, in the same way that if anyone thinks of any other general low level on which to place another, they will because that's been their experience.

I just feel that she's out to get me with her sharp sugar-coated knives. Do you have family like that?

Stupid bitch. That is all.

I leave for New York tomorrow night. I'm so thrilled.

It's about time for this vacation to begin.

Afterglow

It's been an off few days - not in a horrid sense, just that I've been putting things off pseudo-irresponsibly. In getting lost in the days after the election (a wonderful, wonderful event in watching McCain and Palin relatively disappear from my TV screen), enjoying the weekend - pretty much drinking beer and getting together with family and friends - culminating with Bats Day at Disneyland yesterday (with pictures possibly to come), it was bound to happen - but I'm getting my act together, putting together a review for the Luke Mulholland Band (a very kickass young talent).

Steven had the opportunity of meeting the members of my family who mean the most - sister Jessica, brother-in-law Craig, nephew Matthew, father Michael, brother Joey. The whole experience really meant the world to me, and I'm not lying when I say that the most potent aphrodisiac is how well your significant other gets along with your family - especially when it's an event you never thought would take place due to prior attempts gone wrong. As a result, after two years of dating, my boyfriend got a taste of a rather voracious appetite unearthed from months past. Nothing says thank you quite like many concerted moments of [insert joyful noise here].

I'm leaving for New York this Friday from Burbank airport. I love taking off from there, getting a glimpse of Universal City while watching the lights on the hills alongside the 101 get smaller and smaller, and I await the captain's OK to start flipping through the TV channels. I did a load of shopping this evening after work - sweaters, shoes, toiletries, etc. All I have to secure is a sturdy piece of luggage, tote my cats on over to my folks' house, and work like hell on a take-home statistics exam. This is also the weekend that my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew move to Nebraska. I just don't want them to leave, but the potential of buying a house and raising a family out there is a lot more likely than it is in smoggy, congested Southern California. That's why I have to become filthy rich: so I can put a down payment on a house for all those that I love, so they'll never be forced to move - or ... well, there's this ivy-covered building on a street off of Highland, just north of Franklin, and since I was nineteen I've entertained a wonderful pipe dream that'll never come to fruition. Ah, this mind. It makes room to be a good writer.

All the more reason to get back to working on the CD review I hope to finish by 11pm.

You guys? I am so happy. I can't sleep. I have to be up in three hours. Tomorrow's going to suck...

Wait, no it's not. Do you know why?

IT'S FRIGGIN' OBAMA DAY

And in honor of change, morale, and to remedy the vodka drunk tonight, I'll be getting a breakfast burrito to devour in my cubicle. To hell with the diet.

We like to eat

Twelve days left

You read correctly; twelve more days until I'm on a plane heading out to New York for a week and a half - so so excited. I supposed that my very less-than-thrilled mood has been a gift bestowed upon me by the universe, because I tend to look forward to things so much that once in the moment I tend to not find it at all as interesting as I'd imagined or experienced it to be before. Not just that, but the little day-to-day things that used to take the edge off do maybe a quarter of what they used to do, if that. I really feel that the hugest portion of my life has reduced my role to Glorified Distant Relative - except that I don't have money to remedy the situation, and I don't have time to care (in the corporate sense). "Take care of it your own damned self" is what is perched on my lips at all times, but at the penalty of a sans-severance scenario I wear my employee badge with only mild abhorrence. So to be soon allowed a week-and-a-half without time cards and Monday-thru-Friday frivolity is all I could ever want, at least before Christmas (when at that time I'll be wanting a day trip to the snow, and an external hard drive). The one thing I will look forward to while out in New York will be the spending of hours upon hours in museums, and dinner dates with my brother. Everything other than that will just be a bonus.

In other news, I'm pretty certain that my motherboard is shot. Perfect.