Kettle Corn & Frozen Grapes

Relocating

2010-05-16T19:09:00.003-04:00

Blogger, I have abandoned thee, and I am moving on to bigger and better things.

Trips & More Free Wi-Fi

2010-05-16T14:50:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, I wonder if I really like New York as much as I think I do.

I went to Pittsburgh and back yesterday on a megabus. I paid almost no money at all to sit on a bus and on a bench for about 20 hours. I'm not really sure why I did it. I suppose I knew that I wasn't going to be doing anything productive anyways, and I figured I'd be able to get a lot of reading done. Well, joke's on me, because those buses have Wi-Fi and of course I probably spent 4 of those 20 hours on Facebook.

The bus made a stop at Penn State. At first, I was like, "Woah, a real college! I wish I could go here! This is so cute!" Then, after about 2 minutes, I realized that I was already bored. The charm of college towns never lasts very long.

Pennsylvania is really pretty. I caught myself thinking, "I want to quit school and just go be Amish," a couple of times. We don't get a lot of full, green trees and rolling hills in Manhattan. The Pennsylvania countryside is probably the most beautiful place I've seen in real life. If Pennsylvania is the Caribbean, Texas is the East River.

But when I got back and stepped off that bus at 7th Avenue and 28th Street, I felt relieved. Other places are nice, but they're nothing like Manhattan. I'm comforted by the endless sidewalk and the shouting halal cart workers at 2 in the morning. I embrace the cry of police sirens. I don't like being away for too long. I think 20 hours was cutting it close.

Note: I bring this blog post to you readers via free Wi-Fi in Union Square. Score.

The First Week of Summer

2010-05-14T17:49:00.003-04:00

So far, I have been out of school for one week. So far, I have not accomplished anything important. Perhaps it was a well-needed week of laziness in order to set off my summer of productivity? We'll see.

I volunteered at the Museum of American Finance yesterday for the first time in a few weeks. I forget how much I enjoy spending time there. Over the past four or so months I've developed a new interest in colonial and early American history (I used to just be all about that medieval European stuff). Alexander Hamilton is kind of fascinating. There is a cute little room dedicated to him at the museum. I'll have to look into doing some more reading on him and some of the other Founding Fathers.

After work I walked all the way home, taking a few detours on the way. City Hall Park is one of my new favorite parks in the city. It has a lovely fountain in the middle, with some pretty sizable trees all around if you're looking for shade. It's quieter and less stimulating than Washington Square Park, but not eerily silent like Fort Tryon Park. If you want to read a book without being distracted by half-naked people on unicycles, City Hall Park is your place. There's free wi-fi, which I wasn't able to test out because I didn't have my computer on me, but I trust it. When has a New York City Parks Commissioner ever done anything wrong?

I read in the park for a while, and then I wandered through the Lower East Side. I've never really walked around down there for an extended period, and I ended up really diggin' the vibe. That's good, because I'll possibly be spending a bit of time down there since the King's men are moving down to live in SVA's Ludlow Residence. Okay, so maybe it's a little bit of an eyesore, but everything else around it is pleasant. And as long as there's a Duane Reade and a McDonald's within a block, I'm good to go. If it's not convenient, it's not Manhattan.

From there, I made my way northward. I ended up stopping in at the Buffalo Exchange on 11th between 1st and 2nd Avenue. I scored some awesome clothes for not a lot of money, which is totally fine by me. Now, by this point, I had a blister on my right pinkie toe from walking so much in my black flats, but I didn't want to pay to ride the subway only twenty blocks. So, I sucked it up and walked the rest of the way home, running into some movie shoot in the Flatiron District. I already forgot the name of the project. Call me spoiled.

Summer Readin'

2010-05-09T21:07:00.005-04:00

Okay, all of you dedicated followers of my blog, here is my summer reading list. Feel free to nag me on occasion to make sure I'm getting it done.

Mere Christianity
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy
The Canterbury Tales (that should be fun)
The Jungle
The Grapes of Wrath
Brave New World
1984
A Little Princess
Oliver Twist
The Oxford Book of Oxford (I just need to finish this darn book already.)
The Power Broker
The Epic of New York City
A Moveable Feast
The Federalist Papers

We'll see how long my momentum lasts.

99¢ Pizza and Old Refrigerators

2010-04-06T22:18:00.003-04:00

This evening was quite grand. Travis was kind enough to treat me and Josh Wright to the 99¢ pizza on 43rd between Lexington and 3rd. If you haven't been yet, I highly recommend it. It's probably the best of all of the assorted super-discount pizza places in the city.

Travis got a whole pizza for us ($8). There was an old refrigerator sitting conveniently out on the street, so we made use of it as our dinner table. Time went by, and we ate, drank seltzer water, conversed, and people-watched. One man came up to us at one point when there was one slice of pizza laying out on the fridge and he said, "Hey, your pizza's getting cold!" We told him we knew, and then we asked if he wanted it. He replied , "No, I meant because it was sitting on the fridge." Funny man. I laughed.

I won't disclose the specifics of our conversation. It was pretty top-secret. We're like a gang now. Or blood brothers. Minus the blood exchange. You can't be too careful about HIV when it comes to NYC. Maybe in Idaho, but not here.

Revival

2010-04-02T03:54:00.002-04:00

Okay, I might as well breathe some life into this old blog again. I made a tumblr, thinking it would be an alternative output for all of the writing I was planning to do here. Alas, it was not that simple. Tumblr functions more like an extended Twitter for me. It consists of mostly quotes and conversations with my friends that I find amusing - so, not too amusing for anyone else. Also, I tend to only want to write when it's 3 o' clock in the morning. I've been a good student lately, and I've been going to bed fairly early and waking up before the crack of dawn. These are my excuses for not maintaining this blog. However, I'm not too sure if anyone missed me.

The reason I'm reviving this is not self-motivated, I'm afraid. There's been a lot of pressure from the 5C crowd. Josh, Tim, and Travis have all started up new blogs recently. Check them out. Unfortunately, these fine lads are all a little more witty than I am. What can I say? They are in the House of Lewis.

I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this post was.

Caffeine

2010-01-15T07:56:00.003-05:00

I suppose that I'm somewhat worried about my newfound dependence on caffeine. I'm completely unproductive with my day unless I've got a constant flow of caffeine in my system. I find that it's best if I drink about 1.5 liters of Diet Coke a day. That's not good. I would drink coffee, but I don't like the taste. Tea isn't really strong enough. So, I'm left with the aspartame and various other chemicals of the scorned diet soda. I don't like the idea that I have to put something in my body just to be able to concentrate more in my classes or have the spunk to initiate conversations with people. I'm not sure if caffeine gives me the ability to feel like myself, or if it just changes me altogether. Perhaps I'm making too big of a deal out of it. Who knows. As I've written this, I've drunk two tall glasses of Diet Dr. Pepper in preparation for my two classes from 9 to noon. I'll surely have some more before my class at 3. There's still a liter left of poison for me to finish my day. Huzzah.

Koreatown

2010-01-05T14:17:00.007-05:00

There are always Koreans everywhere. If you're not a student of The King's College living in my apartment building, you're Korean. Often, the hallways will smell a little fishy or tangy, but I've managed to either get used to the smell or just go somewhere else (i.e. outside). At first, it was kind of cool to live around such "exotic" people, but the excitement wore off shortly after the novelty of it all.

Over the past few months, the Koreans have become more and more invisible. Their petite frames are hidden behind the many over-bundled tourists that saunter up and down Broadway. Their language meshes with the dozens of others I can hear every day in front of the Macy's. I'd nearly almost forgotten about the Koreans until today, when I decided to make a trip to the Korean market on 32nd street in lieu of walking 20 blocks in 28° weather to my normal grocer, Trader Joe's. I step out my building's back door, walk a block downtown, and turn left onto the greatest strip of Korean-ness in Manhattan.

The buildings from Broadway to 5th Avenue are lined top to bottom with Korean signs, which, at night, are lit up to resemble a sort of toned-down version of Times Square. I love how strikingly different this street is than the two on either side of it. 33rd is home to a couple of dinky bars and the delivery (a.k.a. unsightly) entrance of the Empire State Building, and 31st hosts a speckling of small, questionable shops. 32nd is much more lively, and I have to dodge dozens on my only half-a-block's walk to the market.

Now, I'd been on 32nd before -- this was not all new to me. I'd passed the throngs of Koreans many times before; I'd peered through the many restaurant windows; I knew that there was a market there, but I'd never gone inside it with any intention to actually purchase something. Upon examining the food inside, I am entertained. So much of the groceries are in bright, shiny packaging. It reminds me of giant versions of little Asian candies I once got in my elementary school Japanese class. The names, ingredients, and nutrition facts of the foods are all listed in both Korean and English.

I ended up purchasing a package of ramen-type noodles and another package of frozen leek dumplings. I had to restrain myself from picking out every colorful product that hit my eye. Those Asians sure know how to market groceries.

To sum it all up -- I'm going to start shopping here more often.

Walking

2009-11-15T12:51:00.010-05:00

I like walking here a lot. I go on walks by myself on occasion, just to get fresh air and people watch and think. So, sparking from a crazy idea that I got yesterday, I plan to walk every street and avenue in Manhattan within the next 10 or so months. I might make it into a photo project...maybe getting a shot on every block or at least one from every street, but we'll see. I found a few people's stories on the interwebs, and it's been done before, therefore it is doable. Winter break will give me a lot of free time, since I'm staying in the city, and I think I can get a good amount of walking under my belt.

...

Also, I'm going to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral this evening at 5:30. I've been meaning to go for a while. Until then, maybe I will be productive academically or something. Read Econ. Who knows.

Morning Jogs in the City

2009-10-26T09:02:00.005-04:00

...are awesome. I'm all in a funk lately because I haven't been going before classes in a few days, but it's awesome. The city is so quiet except for the few early people up and about before sunrise. It's an entirely different place.

Central Park is beautiful in the fall.

I don't even know where to begin.

I love it.

So much.

Empty Mornings

2009-10-21T08:01:00.001-04:00

I really enjoy early mornings, and I enjoy them even more when they are in Manhattan. I love the contrast between the busy afternoons and the empty hours before sunrise. 4 AM is when this city looks its best, I think.

I fell asleep after I got home from class yesterday afternoon at 5, and then I managed to sleep for six hours. Don't ask me how. So, since I usually get about 6 hours of sleep a night, I saw no reason to sleep after I woke up at 11 PM. I went over to Caz's room with Abby since the Lewis boys were in a house meeting, and we shared stories about major injuries in our past. Ryan was also there, and he told us about how he broke his femur when he was 2. It was great times.

Then, Abby and I went up to the roof because the boys went to Wendy's and weren't back yet, and all of my stuff was in 5B. There were people up there, and it was nice.

Then we went to 5B and listened to the boys plan a man trip up to Vermont some time in November. I am jealous, but this means that we will have a nice home-cooked meal waiting for them when they come home. Then we studied for Logic. I left their place after they all went to bed and headed over to the Herald Square Market to buy a drink and sit upstairs to read some more. Unfortunately, there's a 5-dollar minimum to use a credit card, so I had to buy 3 drinks. Then I sat upstairs, drank a V8, and read Logic for about 30 minutes until I decided to head home. Now I'm sitting here and feeling pretty confident about the Logic material. There are 4 hours until class starts. I'm going to go to the gym in about 30 minutes, most likely. I love going to the gym in the morning. Let's make that a habit.

Baking and Falafel

2009-10-14T18:23:00.001-04:00

First of all, I failed at my Facebook abstinence. The withdrawal lasted about 73 hours. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Not really, but it put some perspective on my Internet habits.

On Monday I made a pie, and not just any pie, but a vegan apple pie! To test out my domestic skills, I had the boys over to tell me how it tasted. They were quite pleased. Now, let me tell you, baking apple pie is one of the greatest smells in the world. Because of this, I made another pie on Tuesday just so I could smell that smell again. Here's a sampling of how awesome the experience was:

Today, I had to write a paper on Ruth. If you don't know who Ruth is, she's got her own book in the Old Testament. Check it out. Anyways, I had to write a paper like a diary from her perspective. (Actually, I still have to write it, because I never finished.) Back to the story. As I was sitting in my apartment, I came to the conclusion that I was hungry for falafel, and that walking down to the village to get falafel would be good use of my time. It was. Then I sat in Washington Square Park with my falafel to write my Ruth paper. I got almost a page, then I was too cold, so I left to walk back home. Now I'm sitting in my apartment, and my apartment is warm. I like it. Too bad I still have that paper to write. Gahhhh.

Facebook No More

2009-09-23T01:46:00.001-04:00

So guess what. I am not getting on Facebook for a while. Well, to be precise, I am not getting on Facebook until Sunday. On that Sunday, I will return to Facebook for a short time in order to gather any contact information. I expect people to call and send me texties, aight?

Dave and Jake will make me have bad dreams.

2009-09-14T03:24:00.001-04:00

I'm not quite sure where to begin, but I'm convinced that I may have nightmares tonight. To sum it all up: Dave has a serious sleep disorder (according to me), and Jake is just creepy.

Extended version:

So we get back from Fall Retreat for King's, and then Abby and I go to church with Zack and Reid at Gallery. I really enjoyed it, but Abby had to shoot out of there quickly at the end because she was feeling really nauseated and had vertigo-like symptoms. When I got back to the apartment, she's feeling better and we decide to go visit the Lewis boys at 5C to study for our Economics quiz tomorrow. We read over the practice quiz we got from the student portal and managed to only get distracted a few times. After all of that, we go into the living room to finish Fight Club, which we had started the night before on retreat. At the end of the movie, we end up in this cuddle pile on the couch with Dave soundly asleep in the middle. Now, Dave is really soundly asleep until he wakes up and acts extremely confused, asking us if we think his face looks fat. Then, he starts crying. Yes. This happened about two more times, and each time was freakier than the one before. Finally, Jake manages to coax Dave back to 5B, and upon return proceeds to make creepy face gestures. There's really so much more to that, but I'm so worked up right now that I can't even articulate the chain of events of the night.

Also, the retreat was amazing. The end.

Fall Retreat

2009-09-11T13:08:00.001-04:00

We do not want to go. End of story.

I can't find my shiny leggings that I so desperately want to have for the drama competition. I want to go to the gym, but there is no time. I also want to take a shower, but it keeps spewing out dirty water. Yes. I don't want to think about that. Ughhh. Fall retreat is the bane of my existence right now. I wish I could stay and be sick with Abby.

Update: Shiny leggings have been found.

I love QE1.

2009-09-10T22:48:00.002-04:00

As much as I love QE1, I now have a huge tummy ache. It may be from all of the guacamole I ate at our QE1 movie night, but who knows. Ow ow ow ow ow. Who says vegans have to be healthy, huh?

Tim Wainwright

2009-09-10T19:29:00.002-04:00

Tim Wainwright.

Abby told me to name this entire blog "Tim Wainwright", but I didn't feel like that was appropriate. You're okay and all, Tim, but you're just not blog title material. So instead, I gave you the honor of being the title of the first post. Also, I gave you big, bold letters. Be pleased.

So, I keep having this craving for frozen grapes, but I already ate/stole all of Abby's, so there are no more grapes to eat. We went to Union Square with Dave last night for groceries, but I didn't want to buy the expensive Trader Joe's grapes. I keep being lazy. Abby and I just went to Duane Reade to stock up on junk. I had kettle corn, Oreos, and Diet Dr. Pepper for dinner. I will possibly have another bag of kettle corn soon. Kettle corn is just too good for words. 100 calories for a giant bag of microwave popcorn? Yes, please.

I miss math.

There.