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Experiment 2: Strengths Finder 2.0
My Block
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Welcome to the upper west side near Harlem - care to take a tour?
I figured *everyone* would be DYING to see where i live. ;) So i’ve posted a couple pics of my surroundings. So far, it’s pretty nice. I’ve got an interesting cultural mix going - lots of black and hispanic (aaah, reminds me of home), a bit white, a bit asian, and a couple of other as yet unidentified peoples. There are just so many ethnicities that i have no idea about here! I’m so fascinated! I hear all different languages around me, and i can’t even begin to guess what they’re speaking! doh! I really like the mix here, though. It makes me feel more at home.
In the afternoon, there’s a lot of people out. People sit on the stairs in front of their houses, teens playing baseball in the street, kids biking and running around, everyone playing basketball at the nearby school courtyard. Apparently there are a lot of construction workers around here too - she calls the way to the subway station “The Walk of Shame” because they always yell lewd and suggestive things at her. I’m beginning to realize that that’s just normal NYC fare.
So i’m trying to make a habit of running in Central Park everyday. This is difficult because 1) it’s running - that’s *hard*, 2) the park is soooo big i get lost every time! and 3) it’s bloody humid out here! Oh yeah, then there’s the problem of getting abducted or mugged, but whatever. It’s a beautiful park. I just went to a concert there tonight. It was actually a pay-for concert, but we just camped out behind the last row of the stadium on the woodchip covered terrain and got a free ride! Woot! We heard Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. I’ve never heard of any of these guys before, but they’re great. I really enjoyed the folk music.
Ok, enough gabbing for now. Here are the pictures I promised of my neighborhood and of my apartment in its various stages.
The entrance to my apartment
My street
People ballin’ in the school courtyard
The first day in my bedroom
The kitchen/livingroom/hallway table - it’s so versatile!
The living room
The SURPRISE waiting for me in the living room...
The development of my room - part 1
The development of my room - part 2
The shelf that exploded in the corner of my room...
I’d like to mention that if anyone ever wanted to lose weight, they should move to NYC. There are SO MANY FREAKIN’ STAIR EVERYWHERE! I’ve felt my quads cramp up and my calves turn rock hard from the four flights of narrow stairs that i travel up and down to my apartment w/ no elevator. As you can imagine, the moving of boxes and suitcases up all of that was not fun. Yeah, work out and lose weight! Move to NYC!
Anyway, i’m still trying to get a beat on this place. I’ll write more about it when i figure it all out...which should be any minute now. ;)
Bondage
Monday, August 16, 2004
My last memorable day in Cali was memorable for a very unforeseen reason…
Weeping, tearing of hair, gnashing of teeth…is that what you expected me to say about my last day? Ah, if only it were that.
Let me start from the beginning. Taylor and Carrie from across the street made me a little box in which they stuffed various articles of randomness including pens, flowers, and a glass star. Pasted on the outside were letters from them both. Carrie had glued a 2nd grade picture of herself onto it as an accent. Touched but unable to take the whole box with me, I looted it for its contents and peeled Carrie’s picture off of the side, intending to keep it in my wallet. The problem: the back was all sticky from the glue. What to do, what to do.
So after a teary goodbye at the curbside, I went to my parents’ house, photograph in hand, to finalize the departure to the airport. I thought, “If I can just stick some paper on the back of this, it’ll take care of the whole thing.” Problem again: the glue had dried out just the precise amount to be annoyingly not sticky enough to append to paper.
Determined, I hunted the house for some kind of glue. In the darkness of the downstairs kitchen I found a tube which I thought was a glue stick. Wrong. Very very wrong. I opened it and a smaller tube dropped out. I couldn’t really make it out since the lights weren’t on so I touched the top of it. Bad decision number one. Then I realized it was glue. Krazy glue. And the cap of the tube was not coming off my finger. Then my fourth digit touched the third digit and promptly stuck.
I ran to the bathroom and tried to wash it off. I mean, I had my doubts about how strong Krazy Glue actually was. Make no mistake - it’s really really strong. I this point I had to talk myself out of a panic. Nothing like leaving home with your fingers glued together with a push-pin like cap stuck to one of them!
My dad had this glue solvent that we tried first. It did nothing. Then I read the outside of the Krazy Glue container. It said, “In case of skin bonding, use Acetone based nail polish remover.” Hallelujah! For some reason I had nail polish remover! I don’t think I even *own* nail polish! I was saved!
Although I gottta say, this would have been a lot MORE memorable (and this post a lot harder to write) if I had to go to NY with a gimpy left hand that was stuck in that position forever…
Wireless...aaaaaaah
Friday, August 13, 2004
I love places that have wireless networks available - ripe for pillaging!
I’m at the airport right now. It’s 1:11am on the Friday the 13th. This is the day i move to New York. That being said, i’m sitting in ONT airport right now cuz my flight was delayed a good 3 hours. I’m not complaining because without that delay, i would never have made it on the plane (i was very late getting to the airport) and might have also been charged an extra $50 for my box going 6.5 pounds over the weight limit (Merv, they were *way* uber picky about that weight thing!). They gave me the baggage thing because they made us wait for the flight. phew!
Security also seemed to find something very interesting in my bag. They pulled it to shreds which took a good 30 minutes for the whole process.
Whatever the case may be, i’m gonna get on a plane at 3 am! Yay Jesus! I think he was lookin’ out for me when it came to this situation.
AND now while i’m waiting, i find that there’s a wireless network available for FREE! woot! So i’ve been catching up with email/IMing and such for the past hour. I’ve been away from the internet so long - a whole TWO DAYS! I had to cancel our DSL at our house in order to transfer the charges into someone else’s name. I was almost having withdrawals.
So here i am, passing time at the airport, listening to the wretched screaming of the worm babies echo through the accoustically superb waiting lounge. Thanks to my laptop, a nice set of headphones, and Norah Jones, i’m immune. Weeee!
Aaah, so much to be thankful for. 
Feral Children...like pink?
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Did you know that children, despite the fact that they have been raised by wolves, still enjoy pastels?
It came as quite a shock. The oldest girl out of 7 cousins DEMANDED that I placate her pastel fetish by giving her my pink belts. The exchange went something like this:
feral child: “Hey, you, gimme your pink belts. I love pink.”
me: “Um, no, I’m actually gonna take those with me...”
feral child: “You’re mean! I’m gonna look through all of your stuff and take what i want!”
me: “Isn’t it time for you to go home?”
Needless to say, this scares me spitless when it comes to having children of my own. I’ve never been too keen on the whole idea of kids to begin with. The one glimmer of hope is the youngest of the brood from across the street. Carrie is the sweetest kid ever - i don’t mean that she doesn’t act up. She’s still a kid, but she is just the right amount of adventurous, bold, shy, polite, and childish all at once.
Isn’t she cute?
What grade are you in? Grades 4life
Sunday, August 08, 2004
After experiencing years in the education system, once we’re out of it, we have no idea how to mark the passing of time - until now. Introducing Grades 4Life!
Instead of asking, “How old are you?” you can ask someone “What grade are you in?” to which one can reply, “27th grade. You?” The grade would include a list of “to dos” before you can pass on to the next grade. In order to get out of 19th grade, for example, you need to know how to take care of your own taxes and have experience renting/owning property. That way, you can easily get a feeling for the person’s background more than you would be able to just from an age.
Maybe that way, we would have more rounded people, more balanced or at least know when they’re not all there…
Maybe certain communities could benenfit from the dating requirement. “You must have a t least gone on at least one date.” That’s to pass 18th grade. Perhaps asian parents would then encourage their kids to date instead of keeping them socially stunted by telling them that they can’t date until their done with medical school. I can just imagine them saying to their sons, “Must get ahead! Go date a girl now!” “But Mom! I’m only in 8th grade!” hehehe that’ll be the day…
Any suggestions for requirements per grade?
The food dilemma
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Leaving Cali means that i get to catch up with everyone before i leave, BUT that also means a lot of “lets go out to eat...”
No usually this is the best kind of news, but for some reason or another, (I actually think it’s due to anxiety and stress), my stomach has just been unhappy. It always feels like i’m ravenously hungry or seriously over-gorged. Either way, it feels the same - painful. Bleah.
So what do i do?
I’ve thought of several solutions -
1) There’s what David calls the “G-tube” which is basically a tube that is directly linked to the stomach and can be used to suction out unwanted masses of food. His vision is that it will be installed into bodies of the rich and famous, making the cap for it jewel-encrusted in order to keep it a status symbol. Basically it’s bulimia without the side effects of acid corroded teeth and nails.
2) I could take a product that my company used to sell called Diet Lean which i’m sure is positively the WORST thing you could possibly take. It allows food to pass through your system undigested. I dunno, it just sounds like a shoddy deal to me. Warnings like, “You may experience explosive diarrea or severe gas or anal leakage” make me a little wary.
or
3) Simply don’t eat. Boooooo.
So many choices, so little sense. What’s a girl to do? I’m thinking the G-tube is the most favorable option…
And now i will post a completely unrelated picture just for fun!
Weeeeeee! I’m freeeeeeeee!