a history of me

I'm very sad to hear that the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympic games. Not to jump to conspiracy conclusions but by dropping two sports and not replacing them with other events, I believe this is a purposeful smack to the face of United States athletes and that's a real shame. Baseball is often thought of as an American game because it was developed here ("invented" is not at all accurate) but at this point the game is played in many different countries around the world. Softball is kind of a sillier version of baseball but it too has a growing following. Of course, there is no professional major-league softball for the women to turn to, so they've been dealt a much harsher blow.

Some may point fingers at Major League Baseball for not sending a "Dream Team" to the Olympics or for not taking a harder stance against steroids but that's bullshit. The IOC rejected baseball; it's their fault, period. Nothing to do now but look forward to the World Cup, er, World Baseball Classic.

つづく... (Click here to read more)

...I feel like crap. Not the sentiment you expected, right?

It seems I am definitely coming down with some kind of sniffling and I wonder if all that partying I've been doing lately has come back to bite me in the ass (or nose). No fever or headaches, just coughing/sniffling/sneezing so I feel like shit. Or maybe that's the Benadryl® talking.

I spent the bulk of the afternoon downtown getting treated at clinic run by St. Vincent's. The doctor who saw me was surprisingly pleasant although I don't know if he has any ideas that others haven't tried already. We'll see how things turn out. Worst case scenario: I got more medicine which means at least temporary relief.

I forgot to you folks the good news from yesterday: I went to the Consulate General of Japan to apply for my Visa. The process went very smoothly and they said I can pick it up on Tuesday. The usual fee was apparently waived as well. Lucky me!

In the random news department, I saw Jodie Foster this afternoon entering the 14th St. A/C/E/L station as I was exiting. A few weeks ago, I'm 95% sure I saw Steve Nash walking towards Park Ave. Both were shorter than I expected.

つづく... (Click here to read more)

I think I'm encountering the same problems in my search for employment and a date. I've long held the opinion that finding a job and a girlfriend are very similar processes. Both require going to a lot of interviews and references help a lot. It's also a hell of a lot easier to get work or a girl when you already have one. My problem right now is that I am leaving this country in forty-six days and it seems like nobody wants to start a relationship (business or pleasure) with me knowing that I will be gone before Labor Day. I believe that otherwise great opportunities are passing me by because of this.

What can I do? Not much. I won't stop "interviewing" in either case but as far as dating goes I will significantly cut back on my searching. It's just too much for me to deal with right now. I'm so tired of replying to ads and trying to establish a dialogue but then hearing nothing back once the facts of my life come up in our conversation. I mean, I'm an overweight, unemployed undergraduate student who lives with his father. Short of having an STD I don't see how I could be any lamer.

On the health front, all of my conditions are returning to the poor state they were in when I finished school. I have no choice but to pursue new doctors because I have little confidence in the ones I have been seeing and, more importantly, I can no longer afford them anyway. Tomorrow I'm going downtown to some kind of clinic to hopefully find some answers or at least inexpensive disappointment.

Given my present state of affairs I'm not in the best of moods. Neither is my Dad, but I can't really talk about him here. Let's just say that we're both stressed out right now and that makes it even harder to be around each other. I think the best thing we can do is spend as much time as possible apart.

So, does anyone want to meet anywhere and do anything? Please?

つづく... (Click here to read more)

Yesterday was another empty day. No progress in finding a job or solving my problems. The only significant event was the purchase of my airline tickets. My trip now has a beginning and an end date. I'd make one of those counters appear on the site but I can't do that with my new web host. I'll see what can be done about that.

Yesterday evening is a different story. For the first time in my entire life I managed to consume an entire serving of "Broccoli Rabe." Not only is it not actually broccoli, it's pretty tasty when you add enough lemon and garlic. I know that sounds like no big deal but to those who know me, that's some real progress in my diet.

After dinner we went shopping and bought a lot more stuff that I can enjoy, especially low-fat/fat-free cheeses. Then I boiled a bunch of eggs so I could eat those whenever (I had one today in fact). Later I decided that it was time for me to post my own personal ad on Craigslist instead of continually responding to others; the process is just too emotionally taxing. You can read what I posted right here although it should cycle off the site pretty quickly. I got a few replies, much to my surprise. We'll see if I can connect with any of them.

Minutes before I was going to turn off the lights and go to sleep, Hyde called me to invite me down to the Manchester. It was raining and I was kind of tired but so long as I have no job I have no excuse not to go and meet friends for drinks, whatever the hour. I walked down there and joined into a pretty intense conversation between Hyde and Oc that covered Middle East tensions and racial identity. After a few shots of some kind of Vanilla-liquor, there was a lot more singing than talking. When the jukebox hit Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" Hyde belted out the whole tune in an impressive display of vocal power and range. Obviously she takes her singing more seriously than I do.

We drank at the Manchester until closing and then returned to Hyde's pad. One girl we were hanging out with in the bar, Tia, said she wanted to come back with us but then her friend dragged her someplace else. It's probably for the best because once we got back to Hyde's the conversation turned real personal. I talked about some pretty private things but I don't think I did or said anything embarrassing, although I'm not happy about smoking as much as I did. It's not that I fear addiction (I can resist that), I just don't like the habit. Surely I can get through one "party" without lighting up.

When we finally broke it was early morning and regular people were going to work and shit. I felt very odd stumbling past joggers on the move. I certainly had a ton of things to think about from our long conversation, but here is the dilemma: How personal should I get on this very public account of my mind? Can I safely explore my own feelings of inadequacy, my worries of being perceived as selfish, and the dread I feel from loneliness on a website for the world to (potentially) read? I don't think I can do that. Maybe after thinking about it some more.

In any case, I'm so glad Hyde and I seem to be getting right into sharing things that friends share. Not to sound selfish, but I really need someone to open up to around here. I just hope I can somehow return the favor and help her with her problems.

つづく... (Click here to read more)

Last night I went down to Chelsea to attend a rooftop party where my friend Mike works. He was DJing the party (for a sweet hourly rate) and I always enjoy his work. The party was kinda odd, though. First of all, the building has both business and residential tenants, so the crowd was a mix of working adults and families with young children. That meant Mike wasn't going to play anything with risqué language and that sucks. These also happened to be very rascally children who ran wild, stuck their hands into the available food and threw plates like frisbees. Thankfully there was an ample supply of wine so I was able to wash away my irritation.

Before the sun even set I had a decent champagne (I think) buzz going. I made two audioposts from the party: one with actual content and a second with just music. I guess I had more to drink than I thought but I went to great lengths to eat only fruits and vegetables. It was extremely difficult because there was an entire table of glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

The weather yesterday was perfect and the rooftop was very spacious so I never felt the least bit uncomfortable. When the fireworks finally started around 9:30, we could see them although our view was partially obstructed. Fireworks are always cool but I find they get old pretty fast. After twenty minutes or so Mike and I had the same feeling: when will they stop already? The party ran for another hour before we packed everything up and moved on to the "afterparty." A few more friends of ours turned up in the waning minutes and we invited them to come along.

Unfortunately, by the time we reached the Lower East Side location the "afterparty" was completed destroyed. The few remaining guests looked positively exhausted. You'd think they had spent the entire evening lifting weights or something. Mike and I along with Allan, Lana and Renee hung out there a little bit but soon decided to hit the streets before we fell asleep ourselves.

Our first stop was a nearby pizzeria: Rocket Joe's on Delancey near Allen St. I immediately caved and ate two slices. I'm ashamed that I couldn't resist but I am proud to say the pizza was delicious and reasonably priced to boot. We hung out there for a while, talking and eating.

A very pretty restaurant across Allen St. beckoned us to investigate. We crossed over and entered Congee Village, an impressive looking Chinese joint. We opted to chill near the bar and, feeling tipsy already, shared two pots of Red and Green Tea. I never had Red Tea before. It was quite dark and had a "heavy" taste to it. Green Tea was lighter in comparison (both in taste and in hue) but it was very bitter, more so than the cold Green Tea I've been buying lately from Japanese markets.

While sipping my tea and admiring the decor, I noticed the bar had the full line-up of Johnnie Walker scotches: Red Label, Black Label, Green Label and Gold Label. Renee then pointed out that on the next shelf they had the fabled Blue Label. That's the oldest (and most expensive) of the five. We all wanted a taste but we acknowledged that we could ill afford to buy around. Instead, Mike ordered one shot ($15!) in a glass and we all sampled it. I thought it was very strong but some of the others said it was "smooth." I guess I'm not a very good judge when it comes to hard liquor. It all tastes like death to me.

Once Congee Village began to lower their metal screens we got the hint and moved on. Everyone else returned to Brooklyn and I walked up Allen to 1st Ave to catch a bus. The buses don't run very often after 2 so it was a bit of a wait. I ended up walking all the way up to 14th St. rather than stand and wait at the relatively dark corner of 1st & 1st.

Big step this week: I must buy my plane tickets and formalize my arrival plans in Japan. Still no progress to report on finding work though.

つづく... (Click here to read more)

つづく... (Click here to read more)

つづく... (Click here to read more)

Before getting into today's events I should mention that last night, after I finished yesterday's massive post, Dad and I went out to dinner at a most unusual eatery. Somehow we both decided that we wanted some barbecue so Dad broke out an old Zagat's guide to find a spot. We found a few different listings and we picked the one with the most outrageous sounding name: The Hog Pit.

It's way down in the Meatpacking District (which just happens to be "southwest" Manhattan). It's a trip to walk in there because they have gone to great lengths to simulate a "southern" experience. I highly recommend this restaurant/bar. The food is delicious and very affordable (the entreés include your choice of two side dishes), the beers are inexpensive and the atmosphere is lively. The jukebox is Country & Western heavy which irritated me a little but there was also plenty of kick-ass rock tunes as well. Dad had two cans of PBR and I think he got a little tipsy; he may have been flirting with our waitress. I really wanted to have one but I've already drank way too much beer this weekend.

On to today: I forced myself to wake up early so I could have some fun. Living in this city is offering me new insight on people's behavior. When it comes to crowds, Manhattan is the opposite of the suburbs. Where I grew up, I'd expect to see lots of people out and about on a sunny Fourth of July afternoon, but Manhattan was oddly quiet. I guess lots of people take the opportunity to leave town. I thought it would cool to take a trip out to Coney Island; I hadn't been out there in at least ten or fifteen years. Apparently a lot of people who wanted to leave town had the same idea; getting off the subway felt like I was going to a Yankee game.

I arrived just as the famous hot dog eating contest had begun. I had wanted to witness this event so my timing was pretty good. Unfortunately I had underestimated the crowd; I couldn't see a thing! The streets were packed with fans; boyfriends had girlfriends hoisted on their shoulders. The audio play-by-play was all I could enjoy. The winner this year was reigning champ Takeru Kobayashi who ate a mere forty-nine hot dogs in twelve minutes, four+ dogs short of his world record. This made me want to eat a hot dog very badly but the gigantic lines at Nathan's helped bolster my resolve and I took a stroll to the boardwalk instead.

The weather was beautiful and I felt particularly alone all of a sudden. I don't think I had anticipated the "together" atmosphere as it seemed like everyone there was with someone else, be it friends, family, or significant others. I felt incredibly out of place. Perhaps fueled by despair, possibly boredom or maybe just curiosity, I decided it was time to ride The Cyclone. I've never ridden it before because I was terrified of roller coasters as a child. In case you missed them, you can hear my audioposts before and after the ride.

After scaring myself half to death I slowly made my way back to the Coney Island subway terminal. The hot dog crowd was nearly gone but the media and contestants were still talking things over. I really, really wanted a hot dog but instead I got on the train and went home to Manhattan.

Tonight should be fun: my friend Mike is DJing a rooftop party at the building where he works and I hear there's an afterparty downtown. I don't know if I'll be able to see the fireworks but I hope to enjoy myself thoroughly. And I'll probably drink all the carbs/calories I passed up earlier. Happy 4th to all of you.

つづく... (Click here to read more)

つづく... (Click here to read more)

つづく... (Click here to read more)

Another submission I made has been posted over at OverheardinNewYork.com. The incident in question was quite a few weeks ago. I guess they're backed up over there. Enjoy!

つづく... (Click here to read more)

...and it's a big one! I apologize for not updating for a few days but I've been quite busy ever since my last post (except for Thursday, nothing happened at all on Thursday so I didn't write anything). I'll separate the events into distinct time frames:

Friday night - When Bloggers Collide

Astute readers of my blog have noticed that Hyde (not her real name) has been a regular contributor to my blog via the comments feature. She blogs a little differently that I do: she refers to people (and certain places) using codenames and most of her friends and family are unaware that she has a blog at all. This affords her a certain level of anonymity and an opportunity to be very frank about some aspects of her life that I would shy away from since everyone I know reads my blog (or at least has the ability to do so). We began giving each other advice on our respective life-dilemmas remotely and we eventually struck up a kind of friendship even though we never met, spoke, or even e-mailed each other directly. How did we come across each other's blogs in the first place? I'm sorry, the answer would compromise her secret identity.

Hyde is a fellow New Yorker and happens to live in relative proximity to my dad's apartment so once I came "home" from school it was suggested that we try to meet up in real life for a change. However, I still didn't know her name, what she looked like (besides her race and hair color) or even where she lived so I could do little beyond walk around the neighborhood and try to piece together her identity from the few clues I had. I couldn't even try to be forward and e-mail her because her blog doesn't have an e-mail address. Thankfully, she recently e-mailed me to lift the veil and we exchanged phone numbers with the notion that we really should meet sometime.

On Friday I finally worked up the nerve to text message her and suggest that we have dinner. I proposed Ariyoshi, the local Japanese izakaya which is fast becoming my favorite spot. She agreed much to my delight. With my recent dating experience fresh in my mind I had to carefully prepare myself mentally for our meeting. This was, first and foremost, not a date. I tend to get all giddy when I do anything socially with any woman between the ages of 16-61, frequently resulting in physical manifestation of my sexual anxieties. I considered Hyde to be my friend despite having never met before and I didn't want to start off our "real" friendship on the wrong foot. Now, more than ever, I would have to be relaxed and just "be myself," as I am often told to do.

We met at Ariyoshi and hit it off immediately. We just started talking and the conversation came very easily. I told her the gigantic story of my "breakdown" in high school which segues directly into the story of my first girlfriend whom I met my (first) freshman year at UR. It's a great story but it's very personal and I don't normally tell it to people I've just met, but Hyde and I clicked so easily that it felt like the perfect story to tell (for the record, she brought up the subject of my high school years). By the time the check came I felt like I had known her for years.

Bonus story: Our waitress happened to be one of the regular servers down at the Otafuku. This meant some casual Japanese practice in between sharing stories with Hyde. It turns out she is from Osaka which is the metropolitan area I'm going to for school this year.

Dinner, by the way, was delicious. We split a bottle of sake and an edamame appetizer. I had another yakitori combo (it's delicious and there's no rice) and Hyde enjoyed an unadon (eel over rice). She had never eaten eel before and ordered it purely on my recommendation.

After dinner we walked down 2nd Ave to the Manchester Pub. We had a couple drinks (including some delicious White Russians) and kept talking about likes and dislikes. She's apparently a great singer so I told her about my musical aspirations. It turns out we both got into singing through childhood productions of Gilbert & Sullivan. For her, it was The Mikado, for me it was The Pirates of Penzance. During our conversation she got a call from her neighbors and she invited me to come back to her place and hang out with everybody. I was happy to since I had no other plans that evening or the next day (or so I thought).

We went to her building which had a nicer lobby than my building (although we have nicer elevators). I got to see her apartment which has an awesome view of midtown and then I met the neighbors. Going by her codenames, they are "NDN" and "Oc." Oc is moving to another part of town soon so the evening had a "going away" feel. They were all really cool and we stayed up very late talking about all kinds of personal and metaphysical issues. I was thrilled to be hanging out so late and having fun for a change; typically I fall asleep at home while watching [adult swim] or Conan. We parted ways sometime after 3 and that was entirely due to activities they had planned on Saturday morning, otherwise we might have chilled until sunrise.

Saturday afternoon- March of the Humans

I slept in on Saturday until my Dad told me that his friend Bill (father to a close friend of mine in high school) was coming down and we were all going to the MoMA. Bill was accompanied by his longtime "girlfriend" (I always feel awkward using that word when describing the relationships of adults) Marlene. We hit the MoMA for a short while, just long enough to explore their special exhibition of Cézanne and Pissarro. I couldn't get over the resemblancence between Cézanne and Stanley Kubrick. The exhibit was pretty crowded and everyone seemed to be walking in different directions. It wasn't noisy so much as I felt rushed to move along, even though I tend to tear through museum exhibits very quickly. Once you've seen one French impressionist landscape, you've seen 'em all.

From the MoMA we went over to the West side near Lincoln Center where everyone was suddenly hungry except for me. Dad and Bill had some pizza while I stood outside and made yesterday's audiopost. Normally I would gorge myself on pizza whether I was hungry or not but I'm really trying to hold back here. I didn't even get any popcorn at the movies!

What movie, you ask? We all went to see March of the Penguins, a very nice documentary about exactly what you think it is about. The French title (follow the link) has a better sense of mystery, non? My only objection was the tendency of the narration (along with the music and editing) to attempt to anthropomorphise these beautiful birds. Penguins don't "love," no matter what Morgan Freeman says. The forced romantic notions made me feel extremely lonely which is probably the single most pathetic thing I've ever written in this blog. When you envy mating penguins you truly have hit rock bottom.

After the film we strolled around that neighborhood and had some slamming Turkish food at Pasha. Everyone's food was delicious and the forks were oddly huge. That's not particularly relevant but I had to say it; they were ginormous. My dish had a little pita bread in it but otherwise I restrained myself from eating any of the bread they gave to us to start the meal. Likewise, everyone else got ice cream afterwards while I stood outside and waited.

Saturday night - Drugs and Rock n' Roll (no sex)

I went downtown to the Knitting Factory to see The Minibosses as planned. They're from Arizona so they don't play in New York very often (they came to Brooklyn last April, remember?) so I was really looking forward to the show. However, it turns out they were playing with four other bands and they were last, so they didn't start playing until sometime after 2:30! By that point I had squandered far too much money on beers (so much for my diet) and cigarettes. Cigarettes! I never smoke alone but last night I was a tobacco fiend. When they finally rocked out I was loving every second of it. They played for about an hour, covering all of my favorites and even throwing in a new tune. I expected to be home earlier than Friday night but instead I didn't get back until after 4.

Which brings me to right now, Sunday evening. I did nothing today besides type this post and call my mom. I've got a ton of things on my mind right now and I'm not sure how to express them all. All the problems I brought home with me from college are still active and here in New York I've managed to develop a few new ones. I remain optimistic for a few reasons:

1. I am going to Japan. This is a certainty.
2. I love living in New York. Love it.
3. I now have a close friend living in Manhattan.

つづく... (Click here to read more)