From somewhere else

My alma matar is really beautiful:

Taken from: here

Thanksgiving Thanks

Sad that I have a few less things to be thankful for this year, but then again, shouldn’t I always be looking on the brighter side of things? Instead of focusing on the things I’ve lost, what have I gained this year?

Full-time job. Clearer path in my career. Got the opportunity to travel again in the US.

Too bad things have been super shitty in the world of friends. On the bright side, all this does is compel me to look forward and move on from places that hold me back. I think I’ve outgrown Seattle, and this realization itself is something to be thankful for.

Financial Independence

I found an early New Year’s resolution:

New credit card. Haha

Back, back

So New York blogging turned out to be a fail…but an awesome trip nonetheless. Very eye-opening. Yet the strain of its workload is still being felt to this very day! Urgh.

Any way. Just felt the need to blog about rediscovering a style icon from the past. Sometimes simple does it best.

New York: Day Four

Today is the first day that I can honestly say that I hated my job. Perhaps this is the reality of the working world, but to push so much responsibility and someone else’s mess on me is inexcusable. It cost me so much time and worry in order to get something “done” that I wasn’t even trained for. I really, truly hate it. I believe I am not cut out for media planning. Although the experiences I have taken from it are going to help me a lot down the road.

On to more positive things, yesterday evening went pretty well. I finally ended up going to Ninja New York and it totally reminded me of restaurants in Japan. The whole place looked like a ninja village and we even had to walk though a ninja path — which I had to say was the only disappointing portion of the place. Aside from that, paid $60 for a meal and it was pretty good. Definitely the place isn’t cheap. You also don’t get signal in there so that is somewhat annoying. Afterward, we went on our bar hop tour. First to Verlaine where I realized a lot of places look just like Seattle, but in New York, things are ten times busier. It was an alright place. We then went off to Gallery Bar where apparently everyone young knows. It looked like any other Seattle place but the bartender made our drinks strong, and I under-tipped him per a friend’s suggestion. Oops. Next, we ended up at Lucky Jack’s bar across the street where we ended up mingling with random strangers. Lovely. Our last stop of the night was some noodle house we ran into. Cheapest food by far that I have had in New York, but the quality was only aiiight. At the very end, I took my first New York taxi and the bill only came out to be $20ish to drive us from one side of Manhattan Island to the other — super cheap!

Twas fun. But now I’m ready for more walking around in this place. I don’t feel like a local yet just because there is just so much to see. However, once I just sit at home and do absolutely nothing (which would be a waste of my time here) that feeling will come into effect.

New York: Day Three

It rained like a beast today…

New York: Day Two

Feeling a bit more local. I got the keys to the apartment today, which makes me feel like a live here more – a bit more freedom and independence to go to and fro as I please. So far, I am not as in love with the city as I was with Los Angeles. It feels like I’m an eternal tourist; whereas, in LA I felt like I fit in like a glove. Actually, someone called me out yesterday about this too. I wonder what it takes to actually ‘fit in’ in peoples’ mindsets around here. That is a turn off for me.

Still, my adventures yesterday included a lot of traversing through crowds. In a sense, that felt like Vegas. The restaurants I went to were average but overpriced. The subway system became slightly easier to navigate. As I become more acclimated and less need to visit the touristy things, I want to see how that will feel like. I hope that feeling stirs in the coming days.

Oh, and it is raining today. To survive in this is to feel even MORE local!….time to ruin my Ben Sherman shoes though…I feel too self-conscious to wear my dingy white Steve Madden shoes. New York has already transformed me!

New York: Day One

I never could have imagined how culture-shocked I would be from this place. Even stepping off the plane, you can tell the people here are different. I notice the standard of appearance rises significantly, not surprising since I’m now in one of the fashion capitols of the world, but it makes my look feel almost…average and run-of-the-mill. Is that a good thing or bad thing? I find it comfortable to fit in, but I also lose myself in that I do not stand out.

I am also taken aback by how busy everywhere seems to be. This city is huge. A bit too huge. So many people are running about their daily lives, and you can feel the intensity of their auras as they dart back and forth from every possible direction. I have not been to a 24 hour city since Las Vegas, but I appreciate that convenience here.

My last observation is of the people here. Accents pop out first and foremost. Considering the deep history of the city and all other things that make New York the epitome of a melting pot, I had to think to myself, “Is this the true American accent?” It was kind of silly how many people actually talked like what we stereotypically see on television. Cool though. Though I am also surprised by how many Asians there are here. You never hear of Asians leading the way here. The movement comes from California, but damn, there are a lot here too. I am interested to see more of this when I visit Flushing later today.

In summary, I felt as if I conquered Los Angeles. But now I feel like New York will only swallow me up and spit me out. Now I know what that cliched remark is all about. Perhaps on first impression, this city is too intimidating for me to migrate. Looks fun — but not to live. I will see if this notion is revised before my last day.

Vocab word of the day

Just discovered a new word: gentrification.

More places ought to be gentrified (ie. Seattle’s International District). IMO

Expensive October

Omg I’ve wasted so much money on splurging myself this month:

– Clothes $300ish
– New Phone? $350
– New York trip $300 + 500 on miscellaneous living expenses
+ $1,500ish ?!

Oh lord. I guess the cash outflow had to go somewhere since I stopped buying alcohol.