She still lives in Brooklyn.

The Alligator Lounge on Metropolitan gives you a free pizza with every beer.  If you order a Bud Light, this comes out to 4 dollars, plus tip.

I spent 20 minutes at 3am Wednesday night looking for someone's tooth on Leonard Street.  We found the tooth, he put it back in his mouth after we picked it up from the sidewalk.

The sushi chef at Wasabi on Bedford Ave is awesome.  He makes me custom plates and doesn't charge me for them.

The Korean laundromat on Metropolitan has shitty dryers.  They are open 24 hours.  The people there suck.

Settepani on Lorimer has the best butter cookies.  They will cost you 16 dollars a pound.

The Bagel Store on Bedford Ave and N 3rd has cannoli cream cheese with white chocolate chips.

I took a train to Long Island and found myself in the east coast version of San Jose.  I think dreams have died there, too.  

Dreams have died here.

In the words of a wise man, Coney Island is where dreams go to die.  

The hot dog line was 2 hours long, I saw a man eat leftover ice cream out of the trash, the Freak Show was closed, the beach had a fake plastic palm tree, the broken sink had a sign that read "Don't work".  

The City Sparkles

As April rolls around, I am heading into my fourth full month in New York. I'm starting to get into the flow of things.  I have a weekly routine that consist mostly of writing papers and going to work.  Frequent visitors gets me out to do touristy things that I would otherwise miss.  

I finally made it out to get the view of the skyline that I have been dying to shoot since I moved here.  My lack of a tripod has prevented me from doing this at night and it really hasn't been clear enough to get.  Fellow Pad Squad and Aztec, Jeff, was also dying to get this view, so we headed out there our first night.  Of course, it was cold and rainy and all our pictures came out fuzzy and gray.  After the unfortunate outcome of the NIT semifinals game at Madison Square Garden where the Aztecs lost to Baylor, we went back to Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park along with a friend Jeff made on the subway.  (Who is Baylor anyway?  Has anyone heard of them before last night?)  With Jeff's gorillapod that looks like some sort of sex toy, we managed to get some decent shots of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.  It was much clearer the second night, I even saw a star or two, but it might have been airplanes.  I can't even distinguish between them at this point.  

Jeff and his gorillapod will also be in Australia this summer.  Sparkling photos of the Sydney skyline to come.  

23

On the eve of my 24th birthday, I have decided to set some new goals for myself.  There were a lot of things I was hoping to have accomplished for myself by now, but I've gotten a little off track.  All for the best, but I still have a few things I would like to see happen by the time I'm.... let's give myself 3 years from today.  At the age of 27, I would like to have done the following:

1.  Finish school.  

2.  Find a real job.

2b.  Get out of debt, excluding students loans, which I will not be able to pay off until I'm 50.

3.  Maintain a healthy relationship.

3b.  Be able to say the word relationship without cringing. 

4.  Have my own apartment.

5.  Find a place to call home.

Let the Sun Shine In

I just had my first official New York visitor last weekend. Seriously, I'll have more visitors in one semester here than I had the entire 5 years I was in San Diego.  As an early birthday present, Jill braved the cold and packed her rain boots... and everything else in her closet.  Lucky for us, Friday was the warmest day it has been in months.  The weekend consisted of a lot of sushi eating, a failed attempt to go to Connecticut, Sex and the City sites, Bedford Ave., West Village, Marc Jacobs, Washington Square, the bathroom at the Westin, Times Square, an off-Broadway murder mystery, Hair the musical, and devouring apple cobbler at the Hard Rock.  

First of all, I would like to say that I am not the best New York hostess.  I will get you lost, I will make you walk a lot, and if you don't like sushi or Thai food, you're screwed.  Broadway musicals are awesome.  I heart my bạn gái.  

新年快乐

Today is Chinese New Year, and it's 4707, the year of the Ox.  Happy New Year, everyone!  Don't forget to pray to Buddha.

2008

In the past year, I have: totaled my car, bought a new car, went to Hawaii, jumped in some water, made some new friends, lost some old ones, rode in an ambulance, went to Texas, saw some cowboys, turned 23, paid off all my debt, got back into debt, graduated from college, broke some rules, climbed some mountains, became a nomad, left the country, found Nemo, climbed some more mountains, overcame some fears, jumped in more water, lied and cheated, learned my lesson, took many road trips, learned to let go, left the country again, learned to hold hands, loved, hated, laughed, cried, and said my goodbyes.  

Many bumps and bruises later... here I am, right where I started.