north carolina

leaving for north carolina tomorrow. i'm relieved to leave the city, as i was always relieved to leave la when i lived there. i love the urban setting, but i find myself more relaxed when i got back to north carolina. maybe it's just leaving 'home' that relaxes me. maybe it's an escapist complex (i just made up that term - i have no clue what it officially should be called). i think i'm most unsettled when i start to feel settled. i knew that i wasn't going to stay in la forever, and after 4 years of living there, i left, maybe because i got anxious that i'd end up there forever. i'm not sure if i want to stay in ny forever either. i love not having to drive, but i don't think i'd stay here forever either. i'm not sure where i'd stay forever. maybe i won't ever find a place to stay forever. i can be a nomad forever, but i'm not sure if i'll like that. maybe age will make me settle at some point.

by the way, my sister is now engaged. they already think of themselves as life partners, just not officially married. i'm just glad that i can now call address her guy as her fiance. boyfriend has been too insubstantial of a term for him.

safe travels to everyone and happy holidays.

food

i finished the master cleanse/lemonade diet a couple of days ago. the diet involves deprivation of solid foods and substaining merely on a mixture of water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. the goal is mainly to flush out your digestive system and rid your body of toxins (my main goal) although some people use it as a weightloss diet (not my goal). the diet lasted for the minimum of 10 days. before embarking on the diet, i researched blogs and other postings of people who shared their experience. almost all of them said that you wouldn't even care for food after the 4th or 5th day. i became very curious that your body actually wouldn't yearn for food because i'm always up for food. i love food, but i wanted to see if this diet really would make me look at food differently and feel refreshed and clean afterwards. by my 4th or 5th day, i started to dream about food. in the dreams, i'd eat and then feel guilty that i've cheated and ruined the diet. i obsessed more and more about food. maybe making breakfast for my sister and preparing dinner for my dad wasn't really helping the process. also, since i'm not a big fan of sweets, it was hard to limit myself to the sweet lemonade. i couldn't wait to eat real food again.

now that i'm back to eating the usual fare, i feel a little bogged down. i'm not sure if i can do the diet again, but it's made me realize that the way i eat is an indulgence. but then, i really don't indulge in anything else. it's one luxury that i think i'll keep.

ignorance

at the post office today, an old woman (she was no lady) walked in and got in the line behind me. i'm not sure if i ticked her off, but as soon as she took her spot, she began talking nonstop: "i was born and raised in this country and you people come here and take all our things. you here in america so act american. a bunch of cockroaches speaking your ack-ack-ack. you here in america and need to speak english." that's politely paraphrasing what she was saying. i noticed a trace of alcoholic stench on her, but she was dressed nicely. if she hadn't opened her mouth, you would've mistook her for a lady. so i didn't expect something so vile to come out of her. the funny thing is that she mention god, that she was right with god and god knows. my guess is that she's christian which means she believes in hell. and the irony is that she's pretty much bought herself a one-way ticket there. would the christian god accept anyone with so much hate in heaven? also, the things she said actually made me think of the kkk and their attitude towards any non-wasps. but this woman was black! and because she's so old, she must've grown up before the civil rights and desegregation. she should know how wrong it is to be so hateful to people merely based on the color of their skin. the old is supposed to endowed us with their wisdom. this is one old woman who doesn't need to pass on anything. i just hope her family knows how she embarrasses herself in public and tries to help her.

high fidelity

this past sunday night, b and i saw high fidelity, broadway musical based on the movie which was based on the nick hornby book of the same title. not that i walked out singing the songs but it was highly entertaining. the lyrics were incredibly well written, and the cast was so energetic. it made me feel old. the musical makes the characters a bit younger than they are in the book so instead of the early/mid-30s as in the book, the characters were more in their mid/late-20s in the musical. maybe the dancing and singing made them seem younger. and i think the actors were younger than their characters too. but regardless, it made me feel old, mainly because i started to think, "i used to have energy and drive like them. now i don't." what sucks is that i still haven't figured out my life.

as for my new schedule, not that i've been following it meticulously but consciously making the effort to not turn to the internet for every little thing that pops in my head has made a difference today. i'm not going to list what i've done, but i feel quite productive.

also, i'm on day 2 of the master cleanse/lemonade diet. it's so hard smelling food and not being able to eat it. i'm still cooking, mainly for b, because i can't imagine not having food as a part of my life. i love it too much. at least someone should enjoy it. i'm already making a mental list of foods i want the day this ends. i miss food.

time

okay. there is a list of projects that i've been meaning to start or continue when i have time off, but i haven't touched any of it now that i actually have time off. i think i've found the problem - i'm spending WAY too much time on the internet. i've been at my computer ALL DAY today. it's excessive. so i've worked up a new plan, a kind of schedule, that will force me to limit the number of hours i get to go online each day. i've already reacquainted myself with the "off-power" function on the television when i find myself channel-surfing because there's nothing watchable. and now that YOU know i'm on this new plan, whether you care or not, self-restraint will be better enforced. isn't it funny how it works? if people know about something you've set for yourself, you stick to it better. it makes the thing more real than if it's only in your head, i guess.

coast of utopia

a couple of nights ago, b and i saw the first part of coast of utopia, the new tom stoppard trilogy. since it was opening night, we dressed up for it. just a little. it's something fun to do but only once in a while. as we were walking into the theatre, we passed by martha stewart! we saw other people who looked familiar, but we weren't sure who they were exactly. the play was brilliant - the philosophical jargon might've been over my head but i felt the same as when i would read something brilliant - there's a certain gravity and grace to it. the opening sequence of a piece of fabric billowing on the stage floor to imitate ocean waves and then sucked through a hole, leading to the first act, was breathtaking. the actors were all phenomenal. on our way to the after-party, tom stoppard actually walked with us, or rather with sarah ruhl, the writer of the play b is working on, the clean house. i saw the run of it, which had some problems in terms of performance since it was still in the working stages, but it was still fantastic. basically, we were walking in the presence of two geniuses. it was quite exhilarating and definitely humbling. it's nice to feel humble.

thanksgiving

whew. the cooking and feasting has ended. almost. leftovers. but yummy leftovers because the meal turned out quite beautifully. among the 4 of us, we had an 8-lb chicken (which my sister named the sumo-chicken), ham, apple-sausage stuffing, zucchini soup, focaccia, cornbread, collards, mac & cheese, butternut squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, and, of course, pumpkin pie. i miss cooking so much since i've been in new york - my dad likes to cook as well and has been cooking dinner EVERY NIGHT since i've been here. but he couldn't come to thanksgiving, and we demanded to cook the meal anyway. i loved it. i want to cook more despite the overflow of food in our fridge. most of the foods we had last night had been my first attempt, and we were relieved that everything turned out so well. okay, so the stuffing was a little burned on the bottom, but things could been a lot worse. one person was worried about the gravy because it's an essential addition to mashed potatoes, his favorite. i was determined to make it from the pan drippings as opposed to a box, which he has never done before. at the end, there were no mishaps, and we gorged in good company. thanksgiving couldn't have been better. hope you had a wonderful holiday as well.

hunger

with thanksgiving coming up where the average american is going to nearly gorge his/herself to death (i admit i'll be one of those people because i cook delicious food), there are still a lot of people who go hungry everyday in this country, including children. as if this very situation isn't inhumane enough for one of the wealthiest countries in the world, the u.s. agricultural department has decided to rid the term 'hunger' in its recent report on americans struggling to feed themselves and their families.

the terms 'low food security' and 'very low food security' have replaced 'food insecurity without hunger' and 'food insecurity with hunger' to describe the 35 million americans who have a difficult time getting enough to eat. uh, so should we now refer to poverty as 'low financial security' and 'very low financial security'? what better way to resolve the issue of hunger than to simply throw out the word? let's also throw out 'peace' so we won't have to pursue it anymore. (but then, what else would beauty queens want more than anything else in the world? hm...)

redefining a situation doesn't get rid of it. hunger, no matter how you want to word it, exists. not that you should feed everyone this holiday but be thankful that you're not struggling with hunger.

if you want to help, contact your local charity center to locate your nearest community soup kitchen. for new yorkers, contact new york city coalition against hunger - http://www.nyccah.org/index.html.

coffee stain 1

evidence of my addiction to coffee. i love tea, don't care for sodas, but am addicted to coffee.

politics

i'm not very good at discussing politics - i don't know enough to hold a truly intelligent conversation on the subject, and i get too emotional over certain issues. but still, i feel that we're experiencing a seachange. when bush was re-elected, i felt doom, no goodness at all. a seachange holds a glimmer of hope, that goodness can happen. but i'm skeptical considering how conservative with social issues the democratics had been moving. i can only hope that they were merely doing it to win back the ignorant populace, and now that they have regained some sort of power, they will distinguish themselves once again from the republicans.

it's been a season of irony with the sex scandals revealed among the republicans. i love that they will now all go to hell, as they all claim to believe to happen to homosexuals. i do feel bad for the humiliation their families are facing for their mistakes. the importance of being earnest.

baltimore/dc

i'm spending the week in baltimore. the city has such character - there are tons of decrepit buildings and awesome murals that i'm dying to take pictures of. i want to walk around the area where i'm staying with friends and try to get these pictures before leaving. visiting new places is always such a source of inspiration.

well, except dc. we walked from georgetown into the mall today, and there was only one building i kind of wanted to take a picture of but then didn't. dc is always so grey when i'm there, and the buidlings kind of blend in with the weather. when i do see cool stuff, like boldly colored row houses, we're in the car, and i'm not yet skilled enough to get my camera set up to take pictures quickly. i was also disappointed that the national gallery didn't have a photography section. maybe that's why i was so uninspired by dc. how can the national gallery not have a photography section? i hope we just missed it, not that the gallery didn't have one. it would be too sad if the latter was the case.

but we did see this one piece composed of mussel shells glued to a square canvas. for some reason, my friend and i were both drawn to it. i loved the green paint that blotted some of the insides of the shells to give them a sense of freshness, almost invoking the smell of the ocean. also, the dark, black/grey shells in 3-dimension made me think of an industrious city - metal/steel structures that evolve into skyscrapers, dirt and grime covering surface, smoke creating a layer of grey blanket that covers the city - and the fishing industry that is threatening ocean life. the splashes of green represents to me the few trees/greenery that manage to survive in this environment, as many cities have planted trees along streets and have created small parks, and also the beautiful spots in the ocean are still untouched by the spoils of human demands. the juxtaposition of the colors and textures characterizes the struggle between nature and human creations. the irony is that human beings are nature's creations, and sometimes i think that our supposed destruction of the planet is part of nature's plan.

or it's getting late and i'm just babbling because i really need to get some sleep after a long day...

opera

b and i saw madame butterfly at the met opera last night. it was my first opera, and i loved the experience. b was only able to get standing tickets which put us about as far from the stage as possible. our standing spaces were really tight so everyone had to crowd up to their little monitors with the translations. then, about halfway through the 1st act, i almost passed out. i'm not sure if it was the crowding or if i had been a little dehydrated. i had to sit down for a while before standing back up to watch the rest of the 1st act.

during the intermission, b and i were just standing in our spots, waiting for the show to come back on. a couple came up to us and offered us their tickets. they had seats, not very far from where we were standing but seats nonetheless. i couldn't believe our luck. i wasn't sure if i would've been able to stand through the rest of the performance. they were from out of town, and one of them weren't feeling well. they were so kind in the way they approached us that i knew immediately that they weren't new yorkers. they were too chatty to be new yorkers. no offense because new yorkers can be extremely kind as well. a man standing just one person away from me on the train fainted this morning. thankfully, he came around quickly. everyone offered suggestions to let him rest and get air. a woman offered him her (unopened) bottle of water. but new yorkers won't stay around to chat. they're all in a hurry to get somewhere. these visitors took the time to ask us where we were from and talked. a new yorker would've kindly offered us the tickets and said good night.

the opera itself was stunning. the story is about as messed up as it can possibly get, loaded with social/cultural/gender complexities. the singing was incredible. the costumes were so beautiful, even from where we sat. the set was minimalist but very creative in the way the space was used. the direction was very clever. it was overall genius. i definitely want to take advantage of the cheap tickets that the new general manager has started to entice more patrons.

sur la table

i used to frequent the one in pasadena which was only a 15-minute walk from where i lived. the very first time i stepped foot in the store, i was almost ran out - there's so much stuff there that it was a little overwhelming. but i grew to love it and would walk in whenever i was going anywhere in that vicinity, even if i had no intention of buying anything. they have all sorts of kitchen gadgets and the best classic kitchenware. they also have a large selection of cookbooks - not that i ever bought any at the store, but it's a sign that they're a good place for serious cooks or those who are learning to cook. and even though they have very pricey cookware, you can find something really inventive and cheap if you look hard enough.

new york only has one sur la table, and i finally made a special trip down to soho for it. i walked in and felt intoxicated and then comforted that this was a store that i have known and loved for the past 2 years. with thanksgiving coming up, i'm going to have another excuse to visit it again.

also, my sister pulled out a cookbook tonight that's put together by her stage manager for broadway cares, an organization that helps to support the fight against aids and other chronic diseases. then, i remembered he complimented the food that i made for betty which she brings into work. what an honor. sur la table, here i come.

work

life had been consumed with work for the past few weeks. even though film production in new york is basically the same as in los angeles, there are enough differences that has made my first ny production job difficult. i've never had to deal with parking in the city before, and there were new vendors to familiarize myself with. also, working with people you've never worked with previously always makes the job tough - you have to figure out each other's strengths and weaknesses and deal with them - a matter of trust in each other's abilities. it also didn't help that we were so rushed for time while i needed to figure out how to do a lot of things. but fortunately, everyone is nice and great at their job so it's been a valuable learning experience. and even though it was difficult, it'll be short job - my last day is tuesday.

now that things have calmed, let me catch up on this blog. i visited f in brooklyn for the panamanian parade. it was really long, and we didn't stay to see all of it. but the traditional dresses were gorgeous, and the food was amazing, as f had promised. and it was really nice to meet f's mom and some of her relatives that she had grown up knowing. f and i have been friends for 10 years now (amazing to think that i'm old enough to have been friends with people for a decade!), and getting to see this side of her life for the first time was precious.

this weekend, p and d, whom i've also known for 10 years now (yikes!), were in town. it was so good to see patty who has grown up so much. she's using make-up, has a sophisticated wardrobe, and wears a chic haircut - so different from the days when she was always in jeans and sweatshirts with her ponytail. i, on the other hand, am still wearing clothes from my college days. d has grown up too, but he's still a goof-ball. we hung out with a group of d's friends, his brother, and p's cousin. almost everyone is a suit. i had been so used to hanging out with hipsters in la. when i mentioned to one of d's friends that my sister is working on her mfa, he asked, "oh, what is that? master of financial arts or something?" ironically, he recently moved here from la as well. the people i know in la pretty much all work in film or the arts in one way or another. but that's the thing about new york - everyone does something different. an la friend who had lived in nyc for a while once told me that it's very special to work in film in nyc whereas it's almost the norm in la. well, i definitely felt special, loved but special.

parallel synchronized randomness

saw the science of sleep yesterday with my friend a and my sister. i loved it - the stop-motion animation made me feel like a 6-yr-old again, looking at the world with wonder, and gael garcia bernal made me feel like a 16-yr-old with a high school crush on a boy. the blurring of dreams and reality was a little exhausting, trying to figure out whether things were really happening or just in stephane's mind. but i think the appeal was this very obscure division between reality and dreams - my life seems to resemble this dubious state. i'm not quite sure what i'm doing. everything feels kind of surreal. maybe my days would feel more solid if i gave myself more structure - a schedule of things to do everyday. but right now, being unemployed, i daydream a lot. i'm alone for most days. sometimes, the tv is on - it's been a long time since i've watched this much tv. even when i'm doing chores, they're pretty mindless work that i would imagine all sorts of things. i took the curtains to the laundromat today. as i was standing on the windowsill, taking off the curtains, i wondered if i lost my balance, threw my weight on the window, and the window popped out of the rectangles in the walls, would the glass panes and frame hold together and simply fall over the narrow space between our apartment building and the next, with the ends catching the outer walls of both buildings and keep me suspended in that narrow corridor like a bridge? or i'll fall the other way and would my reflexes be quick enough as i tip over the ledge to let me leap onto the futon for a softer landing? or would i miss and hit my head on the edge of the frame? my imagination runs a little too wild sometimes - it's probably just a sign that i'm bored. need new project.

last box

yay! unpacked my last box yesterday. i'm quite proud of myself that it's the box with my work stuff. here's the order i unpacked everything - kitchen, living room (books, cds, dvds, etc.), bedroom, and work - the order i consciously and subsconsciously prioritize my life. i have a problem of letting work take over my life. it's much easier to keep it under control right now, being unemployed, and it feels really nice to focus on taking care of myself for my wellbeing instead of other people for money. for the past couple of weeks of settling in nyc, i've been spending my days working on straightening up the apartment and doing all the chores. my sister is currently the employed member of the household so i see it as a fair deal. i think i've pretty much settled in.

last week, b and i saw the history boys. it's my first broadway play. i've seen musicals but not plays in the city. really enjoyed it even though we only got standing tickets - we stood at numbered spots at the back of the theatre for the entire show. but the play was worth it - thought-provoking story, and a cast full of cute british guys didn't hurt. looking forward to seeing more good plays - motivation to get a job soon.

new yorkers

everyone says that new yorkers are mean and rude. i never thought that was true - people are just more protective of themselves from others in big cities than in small towns. they're colder but not mean and rude. there are just more strangers you're dealing with on a day-to-day basis so it makes sense.

i was shopping in whole foods on my way home from errands. i had no intentions of going there, but it was there, in front of me - i can't say 'no' to grocery stores that i know or suspect have good yummy stuff. i strolled along the produce section (my favorite) and then the poultry section. i got a chicken and wanted to put it in a plastic bag before taking it to the register - the idea of my canvas bag soaking up raw chicken juice was a little gross. as i was starting to put the chicken into the bag, i noticed that it wasn't as good as i thought it was - the coloring wasn't as fresh as i had thought it was although it was still good. my mother just raised us to be super picky when it comes to paying for food - a bruised apple will cost as much as an unbruised apple so why pay for the bruised apple? so when i returned to the poultry aisle, there was an elderly lady, standing over the packages of chicken. i poked around the section to find a better chicken, and when i pulled out one that i liked, she commented that i had chosen a good one - it was lean and had good color. so we struck up a little conversation - she used to manage a big kitchen. i wanted to ask her where but then figured it must've been a very nice restaurant that i would have no recognition of and couldn't afford. it felt nice to connect with someone having just moved here though, even on a superficial level. it was a moment of feeling at home. not sure when i'd make it to this whole foods again since there's another one closer to where we live, but i'm definitely going to keep this one in mind.

trader joe's and adam sandler

i can't believe what a big deal it is to go to trader joe's in nyc. the check-out line snaked through the store with a girl holding a sign designating where the end is. the store is not very different from the ones in la - the biggest exception is that there's no alcohol isle - there was beer, but there's a separate trader joe's wine storefront, next to the grocery store. and i didn't see any liquor.

on our way back to our apartment, we walked in the middle of a adam sandler movie filming two buildings over from us - video village is actually just outside our building. one of the background saw our trader joe's grocery bags and asked us where it was. i'm so befuddled with the insanity that surrounds trader joe's. don't get me wrong - i love the store. but i guess it's so prevalent in la that i didn't really think of it as something to obsess over. and i had suspicion that the building the production is using today was being prepped for a show. b had mentioned that they were doing some construction in it earlier in the month, but i saw a couple of trucks the other day, one of which had grip equipment. it's almost sad that i could recognize it. maybe i should stay in film production for now - i can't seem to escape it...

stuff

how did i amass all this stuff? the down side to have had a large kitchen in la is that i have A LOT of kitchenware. the kitchen in the ny apartment is about half the size and a quarter of the cabinet space. i guess i'll have to leave some of my stuff that b already has in boxes...

with d's help and genius, my lofted bed is up. i can finally sleep in my own room tonight. went to ikea today - the closest one is not that far away - paramus, nj. about 20 minutes outside the city. the tolls make leaving and re-entering the island such a hassle though. luckily, we found the things we needed within our budget. so now, not only are there boxes to unpack but also furniture to build.

unpacking

the container with all my stuff arrived yesterday. thankfully, everything arrived in the shape that they were sent. the movers were pretty good, careful with everything. now i have to unpack. ugh. the joy of moving. didn't make much progress today...

i finally ventured out on my own. i ran some simple errands and met betty at whole foods at columbus circle yesterday - i didn't realize i had become so dependent on the grocery store until i felt myself going through withdraw, shopping at the store near our neighborhood and couldn't find a lot of items that whole foods carry. now that i have my chocolove (77% bar is the best dark chocolate i've had yet) and ciao bella sorbets, i think i can face the new environment better.

anxiety

i forgot that nyc can be a little intimidating. i feel like such a wimp that i have yet to venture the city by myself. it's kind of atypical of me. on my previous visits to nyc, i had always felt so bold, hopping on the subway to get from one place to another, enjoying being surrounded by people, absorbing the energy of a metropolis. i guess it really is different to visit a place versus living there. or maybe i'm just anxious at this point, trying to get settled in and worrying about getting a job. i feel like b is now the big sister, taking me by the hand to get things set up. at this point, i feel like i'm crashing at b's as opposed to actually living in OUR apartment. how weird. but it should get better next week. even today, i feel kind of productive making sure the cable and phone technicians got our services up and running. and my stuff arrives tomorrow so i can at least begin to feel more settled in having things to set up in the apartment. oh great...unpacking...

final destination...for now

DAYS 18-19, BALTIMORE/NYC

i left jacksonville yesterday and headed for baltimore to visit a couple of friends. it was so nice to see them - they always make me feel so loved. i don't think their cats cosimo and bia care for me anymore, but i hadn't met squeaks until this visit. i think squeaks is now my favorite cat of theirs. she LOVES me :) she keeps coming up to me to request petting her, and apparently, her eyes follow me when i get up and walk out of the room. she's so sweet and has really large beautiful eyes. i almost stole her.

the couple live in a really awesome neighborhood - the surrounding buildings are a little rundown, but they have so much history to them - the difference between east coast and west coast cities. the room in which i spent the night has moldings that resemble what my friend deemed to be neoclassical. there are also small skylights that remind me of a time when electricity was more of a luxury than a necessity as we think of it today. trees line the streets, and when i had arrived, families were sitting on their porches with the kids running around on the sidewalks. it'll be nice to be able to visit my friends again soon :)

today, i finally arrived in nyc! it's a little weird arriving on the 5th year anniversary of 9/11. the george washington bridge had a huge american flag flying over it - not sure if it was something especially done today or if it's always there. betty and i noticed 2 giant beams of light shooting up to the sky from downtown. betty thought it was kind of eery because the beams looked like they were shining from the clouds, like alien spaceships in movies when they're about to attack our planet. i thought it was weird because it reminded me of batman. i had planned on arriving in the city tomorrow, but b was off work only today. well, maybe arriving today will end up meaning something.

the apartment is not too bad - i hadn't had a chance to see it until now. it's a decent 2-bedroom. b generously gave me the bigger bedroom. the water pressure is a little weak - i wonder if it's a cheap landlord tactic. there are so many people here - it's just weird to see people out and about, whereas in la, i guess people are in their cars. my dad took us to dinner in chinatown - it'll be nice to be able to practice my cantonese more often. i wasn't getting enough practice while in la. there's a supermarket and a laundromat closeby, and the train station is only a block away.

not sure if i'll stay here forever, but i think i'll get used to it pretty quickly. since moving out of my mom's house, i haven't lived in any city for more than 4 years. we'll see how long nyc will last...

catch up

okay, so i’ve come to the conclusion that i’m not a very good blogger. i’ve made it to my mom’s house in north carolina and am leaving for baltimore tomorrow. here's a summary of the rest of the road trip since my last posting:

DAYS 6-7, DENVER

the rest of my stay in denver did not involve much excitement. i watched the u.s. open and was inspired to subject l to play tennis with me when she came home from work. one night, i made dinner for l, her cousin, and her cousin’s boyfriend – a jamie oliver recipe of tomatoes and chicken. afterwards, we went to a local bar and hung out. the next day, l took me to boulder to have dinner with a friend of hers. the visit would’ve been complete if we had been able to go to the denver art museum – most of the building was closed due to renovations. the art museum was something that we always said we would see when i visited. bummer. regardless, it was nice to see l.

DAY 8, KANSAS/ST LOUIS

drove through kansas and arrived in st louis. kansas is kind of scary – three anti-abortion billboards appeared along the highway within 5 miles of crossing the colorado-kansas state line. i had to stop once for gas within the state, and i felt stared at, like they can just tell that i was a liberal and am going to hell.

thankfully, i had cd’s of ‘this american life’ to keep me sane. at this point, i’ve also listened to ‘skinny dip’ by carl hiaasen, ‘a woman of independent means’ by elizabeth forsythe hailey and ‘good grief’ by lolly winston, books on tape courtesy of my la stitch-n-bitchin' ladies :) ‘skinny dip’ was great – carl hiaasen is now on my list of authors to keep an eye out for – great sense of humor and wit. ‘independent means’ wasn’t as engrossing. i was actually glad when it ended. not sure if i didn’t like the reading of it or the material itself. ‘good grief’ was good timing – it’s about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her husband passes away. her life changes in ways that she could never imagine – it gives me hope about what’s in store for me with my move.

i made it to st louis late that night and then stayed up even later, glued to the television with the agassi-baghdatis match. it was the last time that i would see agassi play.

DAYS 9-11, NORTH CAROLINA

arrived in hendersonville, nc for b’s wedding. she was crediting the event to me – during a visit to la a couple of years ago, she and her now husband had arrived at a cross-roads of sorts, having been on and off since high school. i pointed out to her how obviously in love she was with g and that she needed to give him a second chance for herself. g had been the standard to which she compared every other guy she had dated or even interested in. i hadn’t met g at that point. in fact, i only met g the day i arrived in hendersonville. what was i thinking, encouraging her to concede to him? but having seen them interact now, i truly believe that they will share a beautiful life together, maybe dramatic but wonderful.

the wedding went smoothly. it had been rainy in north carolina because of hurricane ernesto, but the wedding day was beautiful. even mother nature believed it was meant to be. the bride was gorgeous in her stunning dress. the groom seemed nervous but was very handsome in his army formal. a couple of people at the wedding were from my high school so it was actually really nice to catch up with them. kind of funny that i never talked to them when we were in high school together, but they’re fantastic people. come to think of it, i didn’t become friends with briana until college and then got to know her best friend, a, through her. all that lost time, but better late than never.

i left on sunday to proceed to cross the rest of the state for jacksonville, nc. i finished ‘gods in alabama’ by joshilyn jackson, another book on tape, and really loved it. i started it as i was entering the south (around kentucky). it's the kind of story that makes southern literature so enticing.

when i arrived at my mom’s, she had an amazing dinner waiting for me. ah, i was home.

DAYS 12-17, JACKSONVILLE, NC

for the past week, i haven’t been doing much. i know i should be ashamed, but my mom has made dinner every night. and to make it worse, she’s been doing the dishes. to my defense, though, she doesn’t pass on to me what she has in mind for dinner, and i don’t want to mess up her plans, which i've done before, to my regret. and i do try to wash the dishes, but she would jump in front of the kitchen sink and would at most let me rinse.

i’ve been trying to set up the phone line and dsl service for the new york apartment while betty is working, and it’s been the worst experience ever. i’ve placed the order with verizon since august 29 so it’s been 2 weeks. nothing is set up yet. there was some error with our line that took them over a week to discover. earlier this week, i was on the phone with verizon for almost an hour, getting passed to 8 different people - i think i was passed back to the same department twice. i used to think that people exaggerate when i hear stories like this. seriously, 2 weeks, about 10 calls, almost an hour and 8 different people on one of the calls. nada. grr.

all the logistics for me leaving the new car with my mom and taking the old car up north to hand off to my sister’s boyfriend/almost-brother-in-law should be in place. auto insurance in north carolina is immensely cheaper than in la! and i washed and waxed the car yesterday for her to start driving it today (she has some getting-used-to to make) and will give the same pamper treatment to the other car this afternoon. see, i try. (i also patched the chip in the bathtub!)

hope this will do for now. i’ll work on being a better blogger.

days 2-5 in denver

i've made it to denver! the roads were cleared the following morning of the storm in gallup, nm. i was able to stop in las vegas, nm to see a friend and have lunch with her. coincidentally, it was her birthday so the visit was a happy occasion. she and her family moved to the town recently, and everyone seems to be adjusting to the new place well. she seems happy with her new job even though she's exhausted from the long hours.

the rest of the drive to denver was pretty uneventful...except for the brief hail storm in colorado springs. i managed to find my friend l's place quite easily, and we went to a concert that evening - melissa ethridge. neither of us were familiar with her music except for a couple of songs. l got the tickets from someone who had to leave town over the weekend. we enjoyed the show though - melissa ethridge has such amazing energy on the stage.

over the weekend, we took it easy. we saw 'little miss sunshine' and loved it! dysfunctional families rule - otherwise, how boring life would be. on sunday, we went on a hike just outside of the city. the scenery was incredible. giant slabs of red rocks jut out of the ground at an angle, like frozen waves of the red earth, contrasting with the green hills in the back drop and the bold blue sky above. the city created an outdoors concert hall, taking advantage of the accoustics the rocks offer and the fresh air in the openness.

and today, it's been a while since i've had a decent monday. getting to stay home (well, l's home) and watch the u.s. open is not too bad. people in denver seem extremely nice and sweet - it's like being in the south without the drawl. we're going to boulder tonight to have dinner with one of l's friends. the woman is apparently really nutty but an absolute sweetheart. it'll be an interesting evening.

day 1

despite the complications that surfaced in preparing for my move from los angeles to new york, everything worked out well. my sister, who's going to be my roommate in nyc, was a little overwhelmed apartment hunting earlier this month. it's her first time looking for an apartment, ever, and if your first time is in nyc, it's quite daunting, if not horrifying. but she pulled through and found what sounds to be a great 2 bedroom apt for us in the upper west side/west harlem.

then, three of my amazing guys helped me load all the furniture and boxes into a moving container/pod last weekend. the truck arrived to pick up the container before we finished loading. thankfully, the driver was super nice and made another run to give us another hour. but the guys not only doubted that we would finish but also fitting everything into just one container. but it all worked out - everything fit and we finished with over half an hour to spare.

but today...mmm...not so well. i am driving cross-country to north carolina to do a car swap with my mom before heading up to nyc and have planned to stop in:

1. las vegas, nm
2. denver
3. st louis
4. hendersonville, nc
5. mom's

i'm seeing people along the way so each leg of the trip gives me something to look forward to (the exception being st louis). but this morning, i started the drive an hour later than i had hoped, having to call new york to find out about setting up a phone line and internet service and loading up more stuff than i thought i had. while driving through arizona, a huge storm decending upon the section of the highway i was on. it lasted for about half an hour. at one point, my car was beside an 18-wheeler, and the rain suddenly fell so heavily that i couldn't see anything out of my windshield for three entire seconds. quite a frightening experience i never want to encounter again. and now, i'm stuck in gallop, nm because the monsoon has flooded the highway, and there are 2 major accidents on each side of i40 (not to mention the train derailing), trapping everyone in this town.

so nevermind about making it to my first stop on my first day as i had hoped. but at least i'm safe and not part of the crazy accidents. and thankfully, the hotels in the area had rooms available so i can rest well tonight before continuing the rest of the drive. so i should take advantage of it and hit the hay now. more tomorrow...hopefully, no more drama!