I moved to New York in the summer of 2006. In the fall of that year I wrote this:
If you aren’t careful, New York will eat you alive. It will open its gaping jaws and swallow you whole into the steaming subway tunnels below. Lately I’ve just been hoping one day it will spit me out.
The time has come (the walrus said). Tomorrow is my last day of work at the only job I’ve had since college. In fact, I’ve been here almost as long as my college career, 3 years this past month. This week is truly bittersweet.
I have a case of the lasts. The last cupcake, the last Wednesday, the last time I eat here or there or see this view. Worst of all are the last goodbyes. Everyone says they’ll keep in touch and visit etc etc. But realistically, I’ve done this before, and like it or not there are people I won’t ever see again. The only thing I can hope is that I made the most of my time here.
For better or worse, I am getting out of dodge in four days.
I heart Robert Pattinson. I do. Sure, he looks kind of unwashed most of the time, and he does make weird faces sometimes, but despite all that, I find him to be super hot. I just saw that he’s filming in New York, and I am more than a little tempted to go downtown and stalk the set. But I won’t. Because I am more mature than that. Maybe.
ps I also recently set my DVR to record every rerun of Gilmore Girls on TV, and I’m loving it. And remembering how much I like Sam Philips.
Disney is currently showing the “classic” film Aladdin. (Am I really old enough that movies from my lifetime can be considered classics? That’s not to say I don’t agree…)
I’m obviously watching it, and getting the most wonderful sense of nostalgia for (of all things) summer camp. I can remember singing the songs while popsicle juice dripped down my fingers. Especially the part in the One Jump Ahead song, Aladdin sings “I steal only what I can’t afford” and they’d we’d yell out ‘and that’s everything!’
Then sophomore year (of college, don’t judge) the Bee and I used to sing A Whole New World to each other, or just randomly IM each other the phrase ‘every moment red letter.’
Seriously though, this is such a good movie. They keep tigers and tiny monkeys as pets!
That’s the subject line of the email I received from my dad this morning. Here’s the body, it comes from Dear Prudence on Slate (an addiction of mine):
“Nose tw, Ind.: Hi Prudy, I know this is a bit out of left field, but I don’t know who else to ask. Is there a term for when somebody has the exact same nose as you do?
If you have the same parents, you’re siblings. And if you have the same job, you’re coworkers. If you play basketball together: you’re teammates. Same nationality: compatriots. Same house: roommates. But what’s the term when you have the same nose?
I ask because I have the exact same nose as Roger Federer.”
If you’ve never met me or my dad, you wouldn’t get the joke here, but if you have, I hope you appreciate it.
See that nose there? Well I have the same one now, and I’m still waiting to grow into it. I’m not sure if there’s a term for having the same nose as a celebrity, but the term for my situation is family.
Emlocke did it, then Heather from Singing With My Heart (which I just recently started reading and dig), and since I don’t have anything interesting to write about, I figured I’d copycat.
My bag and it’s contents:
I bought this bag last August as a present to myself when I got my driver’s license.
Orbit gum
5 bobby pins
3 pens
Work pass
Coconut body lotion (from a winter survival kit sent from a friend)
LG Chocolate phone (red)
iPod in a case that’s too big for it
Pharmacy in a bag
Tissues
Planner (rarely used)
Powder compact (used only for mirror)
Assorted lip balms/glosses
Citrus hand lotion (also from winter kit)
Assorted cards (library, Starbucks, etc)
Keys (NY apartment, PA home, GW Men’s basketball schedule from ‘05-’06)
Wallet
Sunglasses in case
I should admit that there are usually crumpled receipts in there, but I cleaned up for you.
Summer approaches, and once again I find myself unprepared. I finally bought a bathing suit, and promised myself I’d wake up every morning and do pilates to tone my core. Instead, when my early alarm goes off I wake up, check the weather, decide it’s too cold to be awake, and go back to bed until my real alarm.
I could deal with the squishy middle, if it weren’t bookended by pasty extremities. It’s not my fault I’m so pale, it’s in my genetics. I’m mostly Russian (Motherland!) and I’m pretty sure they don’t even have the sun there. Add some Polish and Irish and you get lovely blonde hair and pasty white skin. Sadface. So lately I’ve been using one of those moisturizers that’s supposed to make you gradually tan, only the brand I used smelled awful, so I switched today. But I just noticed that I’m sparkly all over. White and sparkly. And I can’t help think of Jezebel’s coverage of all things Twilight, wherein they refer to Edward as a sparkly vampire.
If one more person makes a joke about me having swine flue, I think I will hit them. Hard. I could not have gotten sick at a worse time.
In other news, I just finished reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read recently. Reminded me of The Secret History.
“I’m fine..I’m fine! My nose is just overflowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out.”
The above is a gem from How I Met Your Mother (it’s the Christmas episode, which could not be more appropriate for 80 degree weather). Barney just said it a minute ago, and it perfectly captures me right now. I’m not sick, I’m just overflowing with awesome.
Or…my cold has turned into the plague. It’s probably the latter. You know that part at the end of Outbreak when Rene Russo is all chapped and on the brink of death? That’s how I think I look right now. Apart from my hair, which is awesome today.
Being sick in New York always highlights the things that I took for granted when I lived with my parents. See below for recent purchases at Duane Reade that highlights this:
-tissues
-Vicks VapoRub
-cough drops
-chicken soup
-Twizzlers (Ok, my parents wouldn’t just have Twizzlers on hand)
-juice
-more tissues
-Vaseline (for my poor red nose)
My guess is I’ll recover just in time for rainy weather.
When I started this blog, I was on the verge of a lot of things (laughter, tears, a breakdown, a breakthrough, brilliance) and I have to say, not a lot has changed.
