This week was a mishmash of adrenaline,
blistering heat and no air conditioning,
unintentionally getting drunk on a Monday night,
sitting on the fire escape,
iced tea lemonade,
rain,
Harry Potter,
stress at work,
Bastille Day parties,
ice cream (in both cups and cones),
good beer,
AVOCADOS,
everything smelling like fabric softener,
butterflies (the internal kind),
more phone conversations than usual,
TV I will never admit to watching,
and coffee and catching up.

In other words, summer.

I get really offended when people make a conscious decision not to sit next to me on the subway. And believe me, you KNOW it's conscious. It makes me wonder if there's something so painfully obviously wrong with me that I just absolutely failed to notice on my way out the door.

Yeah, I'm seriously scared to leave my office this evening.

I know I have been MIA lately, a bad commenter, a bad LiveJournal friend and a bad updater.
And it's all because I have had to endure the nightmare of hunting for an apartment in New York, which, if you can believe it, made me even more emotionally volatile than searching for a job. It's been three weeks of pushy brokers, shitty apartments that were described on Craig's List as "cozy," and multiple emotional meltdowns on the phone with my parents that caused my cell phone bill to skyrocket to almost five times what I normally pay.

But it's all worth it, because after this weekend,
I WILL BE LIVING HERE:



(My paint skills suck.)

Yes, friends, I will be living on E. 10th Street and 1st Avenue, smack in the heart of the East Village, in an adorable studio apartment. The paperwork is going through this week and by Friday at the very latest, I will be on the top floor of this building, with access to a fire escape and with views of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building on clear days.

I couldn't stop grinning at work today (which, by the way, has been going amazingly. I absolutely love everyone I work with and am finding what I've done so far to be really interesting) because I was SO EXCITED about renting my first real apartment in this city. I can't wait to start shopping for furniture and decorating and making the apartment my own.

And I'm even more excited about not having to move out at the end of the academic year.
HEY 2-YEAR LEASE, WHAT'S UP?!

The view of the Blizzard of '06 from my apartment (I only left for Grey's Anatomy, which, by the way, was INTENSE tonight!):







26.9 inches since yesterday afternoon. A record in New York City.
I wonder how they're going to move all those cars that are covered in snow.

Last night and today totally made up for the hours between 5 and 9 yesterday!

Last Night:
As I was brooding about not having anyone to hang out with on my birthday, I got a call from my sister-in-law Priya, who was heading into the city from Providence (where she had spent the day meeting a client). She and I decided to meet up in the village for dinner and my first legal alcoholic beverage. We went to this cute little Italian restaurant on Macdougal. The ONLY bad part about the whole deal was when I ordered the drink, the waiter didn't card me. Dammit.

When I got back, I met up with the ever-lovely J.Chan who took me to 1020 and bought me a beer. I didn't get carded there, either. Dammit.

The Columbia scene was dead, but in a way it was good because we had the whole back area of 1020 to ourselves and we spent a long time just chatting. Our conversations are always so awesome. We went to Roti Roll afterwards and the door dividing the restaurant and the gay bar next door was open. It was karaoke night. We listened to a couple of people perform really bad renditions of "Dancin' in the Streets" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." We decided that next time, we're going to get obliterated and go and perform and pretend to be lovers. Yes. Hehehe.

Today:
Met up with Payal and Paulash in the city for lunch and then a trip to the Museum of Natural History. It was sooo much fun. I had never been before and pretty much dragged both of them there with me. What can I say, I <3 MUSEUMS. Yes, I'm a dork. There are a ton of ridiculous pictures that absolutely need to be posted soon. (Hint, hint, Bandy.)

Today was actually my first time meeting Payal; she's really cool and absolutely hilarious. And Paulash definitely asked the waiter at the restaurant to card me -- even though I didn't order any alcohol -- since I didn't get carded at all last night. Aww.

The past 30 hours have been fantastic. Things were looking down for a while but I think my 21st was celebrated in a fabulous manner. I didn't get drunk, but whatever. I have plenty more weekends this summer to do so.

I CANNOT stop listening to The Colour and the Shape by the Foo Fighters. I also have a lot of stuff to write on concerning music that I've been listening to recently, but I'll save it for next time, when I'm not sniffling (from spending a day in weather BELOW 90 degrees! I know!) and I don't have a ridiculously messy room.

Central Park looks absolutely AMAZING.



( A lot more of the surreal orange gates. )

I'm getting sick of everything right about now.

Countdown: T minus 1.5 weeks (approximately) until I head home to NYC. And I cannot WAIT.

I'm gonna miss my mom like crazy though. My dad too, but my mom in particular. We've gotten so close this summer, closer than ever before. And I'm worried about her when she has to be all by herself once I've gone to school (when my dad is teaching at night or preoccupied with work). I want her to come visit me a lot, just take weekend holidays and fly up to New York and spend a couple of days with me. We would have so much fun on the town together. We have plans to go up to Jackson Heights once we get back into town and to get our hair mehendi-ed and just have a blast.

Possible trip to India in December, to visit my grandparents. I'm gonna do enough shopping to make up for the horrible food poisoning experience this year. :)

Why am I so terrified of business phone calls? That, and I always manage to sound idiotic on the line. I stutter, forget important details, talk really fast...ugh. I desperately want an internship fall semester, but do I want it badly enough for me to pick up a phone and call the company?

I don't have a crush right now. Weird, yeah? It feels like there's this void in my life, which makes me think about how sad it is that crushes are so important to me. Sometimes I just want an arranged marriage so I can be done with it. Hopefully things will change once I hit CU again...

( BUT! This TOTALLY MADE MY DAY!! Sloan's coming to visit me before heading off to Russia!!! )

Mwahahahahaha. I have him for 3 days. So freaking excited, I get to see my best friend again before he leaves me for 3 months...I thought I wasn't going to be able to :D

Here's to New York City. SOON.

pulp fiction is my new favorite movie. i'd seen it before, but seeing it again really solidified that idea in my head.

thank god for the long weekend, i don't know what i would have done without it. halloween i spent all day traipsing up and down broadway with lianna looking for red and white striped socks. we didn't succeed, but it was a nice walk, and it was good to spend some time with a friend. that night, sloan and i went to see alien in times square, and although i really don't like times square at all, it was an awesome movie, if a little slow at the beginning.

saturday i spent in the basement of ruggles, where my boyfriend taught me about football for the majority of the day. i now can actually follow along with the game instead of sitting there being confused. it's quite a nice feeling. :)

that night i came back at 1 am and tried to go to bed, but before i'd actually fallen asleep, jess and lianna came into the room and notified me that a mouse had run into the room earlier that day while i was gone. not only that, but it ran behind my bed/fridge/stuff. i freaked out and we pulled out my sonic rodent/insect repellent thing, but we didn't see any scurrying or attempts by the mouse to run away, so we assume it left at some earlier point. it's better for me to believe that. if not, i would still be freaking out right now.

last night, went to mama's with sloan, lianna and jess. they put way too much tequila in their margaritas. that's about all i have to say about that. ;)

i got a coat today from screaming mimi's!! very excited. first vintage purchase in new york.

been sick. and was too cheap to buy both dayquil and nyquil. so i was taking dayquil at night (stupid, stupid me) until wednesday, when sloan finally bought nyquil for me because i'd only gotten 4 hours of sleep over two days. the nyquil doesn't taste half bad. and it's 20 proof. always helpful.

it is so fucking cold in here. and i'm feeling ever so alone. figuratively speaking, of course.

how is it winter already? we never had a fall...

so my throat is killing me and i should be working on my papers for silent and CC due early next week, but i'm so incredibly happy because yesterday was the best day ever.

spent the whole day on the town with my sex god, finally got holiday (and it's fucking amazing), saw lost in translation (awesome movie...i highly recommend), had a wonderful dinner at symposium with plenty of sangria split between the two of us, and finally came back and had some quality time. i missed him so damn much during his rehearsal period and i'm so happy to be able to spend time with him again. and i must say, he looks damn hot in his imitation designer sunglasses from the street fair on 49th street. :D

other than that, today i've been doing everything in my power to keep my scratchy throat from progressing to something worse. i've spent today ingesting everything from hot soup to english breakfast tea (oh how i love thee) to orange juice, hoping it will make things better. i bought some dayquil too, so hopefully i can nip this virus in the bud before it progresses to a full-fledged illness.

::sigh:: must get to work before this semester eats me alive...

too many books, too much reading, too much emotional stress for me to handle. and all of the latter is self-inflicted.

i spent $120 on books today. never mind the $168 i spent yetserday or the $90 i have to spend tomorrow and next week. i've bought more books this year than both semesters last year combined. ridiculous. the up side is i don't have to buy books for spanish. if i can get into spanish in the first place things would be so much better. but then again, i'm not even sure whether or not we're supposed to write an essay for the next class.

this morning i missed my tour, but it's ok because i didn't even know i was supposed to be touring today.

but, last week ended fabulously. i got my navel pierced, took sloan to my tibetan place, and fell even more deeply in love with the lower east side. deep was fun...i wore a tight shirt even though i wasn't supposed to...then we went to a hogan party where all they had to drink was bud shite and tang screwdrivers. tang. who makes screwdrivers out of fucking tang??

been feeling a little shitty lately, but it's been fleeting, and for the most part i'm extraordinarily happy when i realize what wonderful people i have around me. times like yesterday, when jess and i sat around playing "part of your world (reprise)" from the little mermaid over and over, or sloan running over here with a "homemade" dinner for me even though he didn't have to, have made my life this far. it really is the little things that make you appreciate what you have.

new MF album postponed to early 2004. grrr. yesterday i also discovered that the magnetic fields did some music for the show the adventures of pete and pete. that had to be my favorite post-childhood-pre-adolescent tv show. i would watch it religiously. it's a sign, i tell you.

funny how so many people read this and yet no one comments. where's the love, i ask you...where's the love?!?!

anyway. one more class...and then the weekend. i am ever so excited. :)

twice in one fucking day. sloan and i went to 25th Hour in lerner on thursday night and they were about 20 minutes into the movie when...guess what...the fire alarm went off! $3 wasted. we really didn't feel like sticking around until they let us back in and then having to fight over seats so we just went back to his room and watched super troopers, which is one of those movies that's so idiotic it's hilarious.

i either go to bed incredibly early or mind-blowingly late; i'm asleep at midnight or i'm awake until 6 am. this week has been one of the 6 am weeks. i haven't been getting much sleep. last saturday i didn't fall asleep until 645 and even then it was only for 1.5 hours, wednesday i didn't get back to my room until 5 am, and this morning i got back to my room at 6 and went to bed, but some assholes decided that 630 in the morning would be a wonderful time to start jackhammering the street outside my window. even after i got up to close it i could still hear it drilling into my brain. and when i had fallen asleep, i was awoken at 1030 by reggae music blasting from the street fair that appeared under my window magically during the early morning hours. i kind of want to go check it out, but i have 178 pages of crime and punishment to read and a music hum paper to start before i can do anything else. fortunately the paper is about the magnetic fields, so i'm SO excited. i'm writing about ferdinand and fireflies, which i think are 2 songs on opposite ends of the spectrum. good times.

yesterday i saw bend it like beckham. fantastic movie. it's my family, except that my mother never ::indian accent:: taught me how to make full indian dinner. also, my father's the religious one in the family, not my mother. him and his baghvad gita chanting. i wonder if he still does it while he's washing the dishes in the morning. he's woken me up countless times at 8 am on a saturday with his off-key singing. but everything else fit my family to a tee, almost scarily so. it also made me really excited for suchinth's wedding. :)

i'm also getting kind of worried about housing. jess and i got #1545, which is definitely not horrible but it's still not great. our top choices basically went out the window the minute we got the number. there are 5 studios left in watt, which i would absolutely die for, but it's never going to happen. i would like to live in the nussbaum building but we both agreed that after a year in furnald, we need to start being more social. so at this point it looks like we're going to be living in broadway, which definitely isn't bad housing, but the elevators make me sick. plus it smells like a hospital, which i can't deal with for more than an hour at a time. postering there for erratica was an experience...i was glad to finally get out into the fresh air after going up and down the floors for an hour.

and 2001: a space odyssey is one of the most fucked up movies ever. it's going to be giving me nightmares for weeks. brilliant.

i am allover sore from the damn fall in lerner yesterday.

and the bus ride to lga was probably the scariest experience of my life. there were a lot of drunk people sitting right by me, which wouldn't have bothered me ordinarily, but then the bus stalled once right when we got into queens and then died completely on the freeway to the airport. i seriously thought i was stranded, or going to die, or something like that...haha, and that i'd never see art hum boy again. :)

but yeah, steph and i made it back fine and we're going to fao today. how old are we??

and i was up to 3 am finishing my paper. i'm exhausted, but at least it's done.