New York, Part 1

I took that picture myself. Don't recognize it? Well, you're dumb. It's Fifth Avenue. Still clueless? Just look it up already!

I'm writing this post via my cell phone which is busy charging in grand central station. Five hours in the city that never sleeps, and it's dead already.

The train was nice. Except for the hundred degree temperature in the cabin, compounded to 110F due to the larger person sitting on me. I got off the train and hit the shops in herald square. I'm in love with my new dance shoes.

One of my best friends had to sadly spend the day in the library, but she managed to make time to meet me. We grabbed some Max Brenners and sat in Bryant park with her doom (the library) towering over us.

Then I spent a lovely few hours on fifth avenue, gawking as all the chrisrmas decorations went up. I resisted doing extensive Christmas shopping, and instead I decided to change my shoes on a street corner. It was quite exciting. I remember telling my friend once that the test of a true New Yorker is someone who can get their coat on and off while holding a purse and not stopping. I think I am like a VIP New Yorker now or something for my shoe trick.

This afternoon, I'm on my way to grab a bite with old roommates and will hopefully get to see my aunt and uncle who visit the city every year at thanksgiving. Don't worry. More adventures will come soon.

It's wonderful to be back in the city. It's been six months but it quite literally feels like I've never left. I hope that it continues to hit me properly so I don't waste my trip. I won't be back for a while again. Better make it count :)

The Autumn Weeks...

.... have flown by. Even Thanksgiving has come and gone without a fuss. My only excuse for not writing more often is that I've thought the events of the last few weeks too routine to write about. However, considering I always seem to find a million random things to discuss, this is clearly not a good excuse.

Work is pretty good. Things are moving, for the most part, and that's all we can ask for. The semester ends December 21st though, which is incredibly soon. It's hard to believe it's almost been four months already!

One of my dancers brought me a treat last week, too, which pretty much about made my day. I'll have to think of a return gift...

I got a little socializing in the schedule when I met a couple of friends out for dinner/drinks and when I had a couple of friends over for the same. However, I am completely pictureless, so you'll just have to trust me. The only proof I have that I had anyone over is this picture...

Remember that time the plastic knife broke in the brownie...?









Thanksgiving was nice, with the grandparents, though we missed out on the Macy's parade watching and the turkey dinner eating. We had a nice morning brunch instead, and I slept most of the day.

 After the big meal though, my grandfather decided blood pressures ought to be checked. And we had a laugh fest when trying to take photographs.

And my sister got lost in chocolate. It was pretty disgusting.

So the last days of autumn passed in as much blur as this post is. And now I am writing at 5 o'clock in the morning because I have a train to catch.... More soon ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Plan!!!!

I have a plan! I have a plan! Announcement, announcement, let's all celebrate! I've been mentally wandering around for months trying to decide on a plan of action for the next few years. And thanks to several factors, including the forcible extraction of a plan from my brain by my friend at dinner last night, I have a plan. However, I'm not ready to share it with you yet. Give me a couple days to fine tune and tell some more people, and I promise I will share.

But Happy FRIDAY! I have a plan! :D

Campaign trail

I live in a battleground state. Poor me. The past few weeks, I have been badgered and berated with campaign posts, campaign ads, campaign mailers, and all things campaign related. Candidates slandering other candidates with photoshop and ridiculous accusations. Regardless of who's voting for whom or who's supporting whom, it's been pretty miserable and pretty tasteless. My favorite (or rather least favorite) campaign mailer featured a picture of President Obama, looking very contemplative, as a train conductor. I forget what it said, but it was something along the lines of a train wreck waiting to happen.... Yup. It was awesome.

Well, everyone, in case you live in a cave and weren't made aware, today is Election Day. Woohoo. I am glad to go out and vote, but let me just say that it is absolutely no one's business who I vote for. So far this post makes me sound like a cynic, and I suppose I'm feeling a bit cynical today. But I'm also feeling pretty positive. I do not for a moment believe that any of the candidates, presidential or congressional, will be superheroes and will fix all or even any of our problems right now. But I am very glad to see so many people exercising their voting rights, even if we seem to be doing it like crusaders for dueling sports teams.

Regardless of your vote,  I hope you made one today. And I pray that we will all work a little bit harder to make this country a wonderful place to live and work. Whoever he is, the president can't do it alone. 

NaNoWriMo time!

Happy November first! It's time for National Novel Writing Month. Who's down?

For almost fifteen years, NaNoWriMo has been an opportunity for budding and fake novelists all over the world. Teachers, bankers, firefighters, hobos, and others gather at their laptops every November 1st for virtual socialization and the beginnings of their long journey to a 50,000 word novel. The novel doesn't have to be good, it just has to be long and have characters. NaNoWriMo, as you can probably guess, is about the journey and the discovery that one can accomplish such great and strange things.

The goal for each participant is a 50,000 words (very) rough novel by midnight on November 30. But having started a new job recently and still adjusting to my (very) hectic schedule, I've set the bar for myself quite low: 5,000 words (a good-lengthed short story). If I start making it to 5,000 quite quickly, I will up the bar; but for right now, this is where it's going to stay.

Anyone else thinking of doing NaNoWriMo? Let me know! I'd love to hear your plans and inspirations. I've got some virtual socialization set-up via Facebook for my friendly NaNoWriMo friends from years gone by who are all over the world at this point. It's the perfect time to catch up. Ironic, perhaps, that I'm planning on wasting time on socialization while frantically typing toward a word count, but around word 4,000, I know I'm going to be dying for person-interaction, virtual, imaginary, or otherwise.