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.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
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...
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...
Sunday, September 17, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, September 15, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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...
Monday, September 11, 2006
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...
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...
Saturday, September 09, 2006
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 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.
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