craptastic.

This morning, I left Beth and Rob’s place, and as soon as I got on the metro I realized I left my ipod on their coffee table.

Dammit.

Since I left my ipod (and headphones) on their coffee table, I decided to buy a set of headphones from Radio Shack so I could listen to music on my computer. So – I made it to Metro Center, picked up a sandwich from Potbelly’s (my favorite sandwich place in DC) then bought headphones from Radio Shack. When the bus to New York pulled up to the loading area I realized I left my super tasty sandwich at Radio Shack.

F-bomb.

So, now I’m on the bus (I love the wifi on Boltbus) and I’m hungry, thirsy and music-less (when I put my laptop away). I’m actually nervous because I don’t know what to do without my ipod. I don’t know what to think about. The act of “clearing my head” normally involves listening to music for hours on end. Listening to my ipod is one of the reasons why I continue to exist.

I have 3 more hours on this bus, then a ton of errands (requiring a ton of time on the subway) to take care of before Peter arrives at noon tomorrow. How will I survive with out my mobile music device? Oh gosh…

i have no home

9.5 years in NYC + 9 years in Roanoke = I don’t have a hometown.

But what is a “hometown”, exactly? Is it the place where you’re born or the place where you grow up?

Here’s wikipedia’s answer:

Hometown is primarily used as a generic term for the city or town in which someone was born or grew up, or the place of someone’s principal residence.

I guess I’m still kinda homeless. Every time I return to Roanoke after being gone for 5+ years, the city feels more and more foreign. And gosh – NYC still doesn’t feel like home. It’s been a super long time since I’ve lived there…

Can a state be someone’s hometown? If so, I’d probably have to claim Virginia as my “hometown” since I’ve been there the longest.

And don’t even get me started on my accent… that will also lead you to nowhere. When I was still in Charlottesville, someone said I had an Arizona accent. I’ve never been to Arizona. I didn’t know there was such thing as an Arizona accent, but apparently, I have one. I don’t sound like I belong in NYC or Virginia.

Maybe Pennsylvania is the place for me (or not). Or upstate New York.

article.

I mostly agree with Thomas Friedman’s point of view. But I’ll admit, I totally failed in reading The World Is Flat – mostly because he didn’t say anything I didn’t already know. I was bored. That makes me a little hesitant to read his other books.

On the flip side, I totally agree with his most recent Op-Ed: Time to Reboot America.

In typical Deva-fashion, I have nothing noteworthy to add to that statement. Everything Thomas says makes sense and I can only hope that America gets its act together in the upcoming months/years. I’m sick of wasting all of our effort dwelling on the negatives… let’s put some of our energy towards making the country a better place – and not only financially. We must continue to flourish in other ways.

His last paragraph sums it up (naturally):

America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society — in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage. China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites. Censorship restricts your people’s imaginations. That’s really, really dumb. And that’s why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs.

John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

Indeed.

time for a meme

I’m totally not good at these (sorry, Melly) but I’ll throw in my 2 cents of information :)

Directions/Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Alright. Now that I’ve taken care of #1 and #2, let’s get to the fun stuff:

• I love clementines. I’m eating 2 right now. While I lived in Spain, I ate about 5 of these every day. My madre would pack at least 3 clementines (alongside my ham and cheese bocadillo) in my lunch bag. They’re so freaking good and much easier to peel than oranges.
• I don’t like fake plants. Buying a fake plant is kinda like lying to yourself. I’ll never buy a fake plant, nor will I ever lie to myself.
• I enjoyed math growing up. A lot. I was also pretty damn good at it. I would probably still enjoy math if my job required it, but it doesn’t. So I don’t worry about it.
• I download almost all of my music from Amazon.com. Itunes is sorta the devil when it comes to music downloading. Sure, it may take a few days for some songs/albums to end up on Amazon MP3, but it’s totally worth the wait. Also, Amazon has a TON of free music and awesome sales. Itunes just doesn’t compare. Sorry, Steve Jobs.
• I love playing ping pong. I have no idea why.
• I’m a little overly competitive. I think it’s a result of spending 4 years at UVA – although, I’m pretty sure I’ve been competitive for most of my life. Fortunately, I’m good at supressing my competitive side when I’m around non-competitive people who would probably take offense to my insanity. During either my 3rd or 4th year at UVA, a game of Catch Phrase with my roommates nearly turned into a friendship ender because of everyone’s competitive nature. It’s craziness.

Since I’m breaking rules 4 and 5, I guess I’ll just end the post here. I need to find out where Melly has moved her blog so I can complete #1 and #6.

never, ever, ever ride greyhound

What was supposed to be a 12.5 hour trip to SWVA turned into a 22 hour trip – all because my first bus from NYC was an hour late. So, of course, I missed all of my connecting buses. I was pissed. It’s not fun to travel when pissed.

The worst part was their customer service – which is the worst I’ve ever experienced. I’m NEVER taking that stupid bus ever again. Except for when I have to get to Northern VA on Sunday.

After that, I’m done. I hate Greyhound sooooo much.

i’m “relaxed” now

Written on December 22, 2008:

Long story short, I’m FINALLY on my 2 week (paid) holiday break. The past 7 days have been wicked busy and I’ve been a mess.

Well – I’m usually a bit of a mess, but I’ve been even messier than usual. Now I can “relax”.

Anyway, I have so much to say (just a collection of random thoughts), I’m not really sure where to start…

• Christmastime is here. It snowed in NYC over the weekend and now the city looks disgusting. There are mounds of brown “snow/ice” everywhere. I would hate to slip in that nastiness. Well, at least it’s beginning to look something like winter (or a lot like Christmas). I won’t assume that’s the only time it will snow this season, since I’m in a new region of the East coast. I don’t think it has snowed in DC yet…

• I’m going to my 2nd hometown for Christmas this year. It’ll be my second time in SWVA in 12 months – that’s definitely a record since my family moved. I’ll be spending time with Jessica and the fam. It will be a grand time. Oh – why I’m not spending Christmas with my parents: they’re going to Las Vegas on the 27th and decided it wouldn’t be worth it for me to come home for 2 days. Fair enough, I guess. This will be my second Christmas in a row without my Dad :(

• Almost as soon as I get back from the Star City of the South, Peter is coming up to the Big Apple. I clearly don’t believe in rest. So yeah, five days of fun… including Times Square – New Year’s Eve. Are we crazy? Probably, but we believe in experiencing (some) things first-hand. Of course, everyone says New Year’s Eve in Times Square is crazy. It’s all about what you make it.

• So, I’m going to my first bridal shower ever – for my ex-roommie, Beth. Hopefully, she won’t read this before the 28th (it’s a surprise…). I’m definitely clueless about how these things go. Beth is the first of my quasi-close friends to be engaged. I’m totally fail at being female. I wonder what it will be like when I’m engaged. Honestly, my mom will probably run the show – I wouldn’t know where to start. Chances are, my future fiancee will know more about weddings than me.

• I totally plan on writing a “Best of 2008″ type thing in here. Perhaps I’ll write it in my down time before Peter comes.

• My TV finally arrived. It’s pretty much awesome. And I get the only channel that matters (for free) – NBC. Booya.

Okay – time to pack. And wrap gifts. My bus leaves in under 12 hours – and I still need to sleep.

go see “milk” right now.

Last night, I saw one of the best movies ever: Milk. It follows the life (his last few years) of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States.

If you haven’t seen it, go. Right now. Seriously, it’s incredible. So freaking amazing.

complaints

How do you know when you’re fed up with something?

I’m so, so, so, so sick of this apartment. I really want to kick myself for agreeing to live in this place; I totally should’ve passed this one up. My rent is super duper cheap ($600) but I’m getting what I paid for, which is unfortunate. There are so many problems with this place – I’ll list a few:

• The bathroom is slightly bigger than my full sized bed. That’s pretty damn small.
• I already can’t tolerate hair all over the bathroom (most of it belongs to my roommate), but since the effing room is so tiny, it really grosses me out.
• I don’t like small bathrooms. I didn’t realize this until after I moved in.
• The stove is “impossible” to clean (according to my roommate – who I will call “J”). So there are a few roaches.
• The kitchen cabinets are ridiculously unorganized – and since it’s not my stuff, I can’t really move things around. J is not good with change.
• J doesn’t own a bottle Windex – or any other modern cleaning product. Maybe Ajax is kinda modern, but that’s all she’s ever bought. I have my own modern cleaning product stash.
• The living room is insanely boring looking and my roommate is not good at negotiating.
• I’ve been here for over a month, and there are things J has promised to do… and she hasn’t taken care of them yet. I don’t think that’s fair to me. When I try to bring them up in a quick conversation, it turns into a 3 hour discussion – and she’s missed the point.
• There are only 2 closets in this entire apartment. One of them is in my room. There isn’t a lot of storage space.
• The landlord is not at all professional about his job.

Okay, okay. I’m done. Basically, I want OUT of this place. I would prefer to move as soon as possible, but I don’t think that’s a good idea at this point because I’m kinda poor. I have to get my money issues together before going through another move. I absolute can’t imagine living here until next summer if J stays. Adam would have to check me into a mental institution – I would go crazy. Unfortunately, many of my issues are because of J.

I need my own apartment. Or a normal roommate.

If anyone knows of someone (quasi-normal) in the NYC area looking for a roommate, pretty please let me know. I’ll probably try to move around February/March.

***Note to self: When I change jobs, I might have to leave NYC and find a city with a more affordable cost of living. Of course, where I go depends on the salary of my new job.

Ugh. Am I jumping to conclusions too soon? I’ve only been here for 40ish days, but I am not liking this place at all. Should I try to wait it out for a little longer?

digital shorts

If I could, I would post the actual videos here (for some reason they won’t show up)…

So, you get links instead.

——

Deva’s super awesomest favorite SNL Digital Shorts of all time (or since Andy Samberg joined the cast):

4. Lazy Sunday

3. Dick in a Box

2. Iran So Far

…and my new favorite Digital Short (from last Saturday’s show)

1. Jizz in my Pants

I can’t believe how ridiculously funny this is. And I love Justin’s cameo – I wish he would just quit singing and join the cast of SNL. He’s funnier than half the people on that show. Anyway, since yesterday I’ve watched that video at least 25 times. I cannot stop laughing. Jorma Taccone is also my new favorite non-cast person on SNL. Not only is he kinda attractive, he’s super talented and hilarious. I wish he would take the place of Kenan (and Kenan would just leave all of TV).

Of course, we can’t forget my absolute favorite Weekend Update sketch: the Palin Rap. I’ve watched that video approximately 1039 times.

weekend thoughts

This weekend has been weird. It started with fellowship applications, and ended with Daniel Radcliffe’s naked body.

Weird.

What happened between those two “extremes” was pleasant. I cooked for Adam and Ryan on Saturday night (a healthy chicken stir-fry with chocolate pecan pie for dessert) and we all were reasonably drunk by the time they left. On the plus side, my dinner turned out well and I think I’m finally starting to enjoy wine. I think Michael Pollan would be happy with the way my stir-fry was prepared (not so much the chocolate pecan pie…) :)

Earlier that day, I went shopping for cleaning supplies for my apartment and a few other odds and ends (from the Container Store). I kinda hate dealing with Saturday shoppers so my Saturday shopping didn’t last very long.

This afternoon, I saw Equus. Overall, I think I liked the play. It was my first time seeing a non-musical. It was a fairly dark story: “Harry Potter” plays a troubled 17-year-old who worships a horse (Equus), and it consumes his life. Most of the play takes place in a psychiatrist’s office, where the doctor is trying to get to the root of Harry’s problem (background: Harry had just recently blinded 6 horses, forcing his parents to send him to a psychiatrist). At the same time, the doctor is struggling with his own personal life issues. Essentially, both main characters are hot messes.

Then there’s the infamous sex scene between Harry Potter and his “love interest”. I’m not gonna lie – seeing Harry Potter naked was super weird. Obviously, I was unable to get the whole “Harry Potter” image out of my mind throughout the play (his character’s name is actually Alan Strang), so that screwed with me a bit. On the whole, I think Daniel did a really good job in that role. It reminded me of Harry Potter in Book 7 – angry at  everyone and everything.

So – who should see Equus? Anyone who:

a) loves Harry Potter

b) loves Harry Potter/Daniel Radcliffe so much they want to see him naked

c) likes dark, quasi-twisted stories

d) has $31 and a free Sunday afternoon (and lives in the NYC area)

e) is a fan of Richard Griffiths or Peter Shaffer

FYI: I fall under options a and d, and sorta c.