Quatro

I am 89% sure I had my 4th celebrity spotting this afternoon.

They go like this:

1. Zack Braff
2. Bill Nye the Science Guy
3. T.R. Knight
4. Liev Shreiber

I was walking to KMart to do some stealth photography (we needed on-shelf photos of the company that we design for) and a man, presumably Liev, turns the corner and continues to walk ahead of me. I wasn't entirely sure it was him so I had to do some research. After observing this guy I took some mental notes, and when I got back to work I scrounged the internet for clues.

• Does Liev Shreiber have two kids? YES.
• Is there photographic proof that Liev Shreiber owns/wears black classic Ray Ban sunglasses? YES.
• Does Liev Shreiber live in New York? YES.

There you have it folks, all signs point to the fact that I am 89% sure it was him. 11% room for error.

(He is wicked tan for living in the city, and has really great calves)

New York Minute

Friday night was my first night out in The City to experience the night life. It was my friend Chelsea's 21st birthday, we met up with that waiter that we met (Lech) from my previous post and he took us to a bar called The Continental. This place had a deal where you buy 5 shots for $10, how coincidental that we happened to have 5 people. Also, the beer "specials" were not too bad according to NY standards. Later, Lech's friend Dorian joined us. He is from Bolivia. From there we bar hopped all over Manhattan. Places included Beer-Only bars, a confusing night-club, a karaoke bar, and some place in Hell's Kitchen.

Laura and I missed our train out of town, which was early -- 1:30ish, so ended up taking a nap in Penn Station, which sounds radical, and disgusting (which it was) but everyone else was doing it too. When I say everyone else, there were other nicely dressed people, and not just bums. We were rudely woken up by the floor cleaner who honked and us and yelled at us to move, however he didn't do that to the people sleeping across from us. Then we kept getting in his way, and were pretty much chased around the large poles and getting honked at even more. We eventually ended up on the stairs, and then back to the floor. Then when we finally did get back home (5am-ish) we had to walk from the station to our apartment, it's daylight at this point, and it's not too far of a walk, but felt like 500 miles.

I only posted all that so I could justify sleeping until 7pm, yesterday.

Today is cleaning/walmart/don't do anything that requires brain-power day.

Picture update

(left) This is the basil plant that i bought at the farmers market for seven dollars, it is gigantic. Look how pitiful it makes my basil that I brought from home look. New York FTW.

(bottom) This is the view from my office in the middle of Union Square. We are on the top floor of the biggest Barnes and Noble in New York.

Down...but not out.

Today was interesting.

Everything started off well, and then exploded by the end of the day. Some confusion with files mixed with my need to not disappoint/ guilt about slowing the process made me pretty stressed out. I keep telling myself that I'm an intern, I'm here to learn, it's not my fault when shit gets screwed up, but it still makes me anxious. Then on my way home I missed my stop because I was too busy thinking about how I don't want the place I work for thinking that they made a mistake hiring me, and then cursing the graphic design program at WMU for not teaching me photoshop. Then on my next train, I read about a doctor who's worst moment was operating on a cervical cancer patient who was pregnant, and suddenly my dilemma didn't seem so bad.

So because of my melodramatic breakdown I missed out on an AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) event which was supposed to be super awesome. I fail.

Also, I really miss EVERYTHING about Kalamazoo. I still feel like I'm on vacation, a really long vacation.

I'm hoping I feel better in the morning.

Officially Official

I got my name badge at work, which also has a sensory key on the back of it, so all i have to do is hold it up to a thing that scans it, makes the door beep, and I can go to work. Also, to clock in I use this freaky space-age machine that scans the palm of my hand. Which would be fine, but there are metal bars that stick up that go in between your fingers and then you have to squeeze your hand inward so the sides of your fingers touch them. My hands are little so I have to assist with my other hand.

I also forgot to mention previously that I literally fell off my chair on my first day of work, two people saw, and showed concern for my well-being. I am SO graceful.

Tuesday night I had gone out after I got out from work to a bar, with a girl from WMU, and from my job to a bar called Black and White, which is supposedly owned by the drummer from the Strokes. Anyway, there was trivia and we failed miserably since it was mostly guessing literary titles from being told the first line in the book. Perhaps I should visit Barnes and Noble (I get a 20% discount since I work in the same building -- SCORE).

We went to a luncheon on Monday with work people to a place called Olives. To a girl who used to get a can of black olives in her Christmas stocking ever year, this is heaven. Also the most expensive meal I've ever had for lunch, that I didn't have to pay for. I choked down a salad that had fruit in it, not by choice, mainly out of politeness and the fact that I couldn't pronounce the name of the 2nd salad option. 2nd course was pasta with cheese and asparagus -- SO good. For desert, we had strawberry short cake and split a chocolate souffle. New York has some of the best food ever, and I'm guessing some of the worst (*cough, hot dogs, cough).

Today, Laura (my roommate, and former classmate), her mom, and myself went kayaking on the hudson river. It was between two ports over the holland tunnel. It was fun, not sure if I'd do it again, but atleast I can say that I went. The place that does this also does 3 hour trips from some beach, I think I will try this sometime, it might be more worth while.

I am

To and Fro

My commute from Jersey to New York consists of three trains there, and back. The one that takes me into The City is similar to an Amtrak train, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, it is. Today, and yesterday on my way back home I got a "free" ride, they never checked my ticket, so if I had not already paid for a monthly, wanted to be a rebel and try for a free ride, I would have gotten TWO!

Super Duper

Okay, so I knew the Superbowl was coming to New York in 2014, but I just found out that it's really coming to Secaucus, New Jersey, that's where I live. Super Duper.

Hustle and Bustle

Yesterday (Saturday) I rode into The City to meet up with a friend, Chelsea, who I used to work at Pizza Hut with, she is here interning for the NHL, how cool is that? We met on the north end of Central Park, and the took the metro to the south end after realizing that the Zoo (our intended destination) was in the south east corner and it was way to long of a walk. So when we got of at our stop we started in that direction. Needless to say we never made to the zoo, instead there was a free concert (part of a series throughout the summer) happening in the middle of the park, and the music was actually really good. I got a schedule so I can go back, they also have shows in Queens and Brooklyn.

After the sets were finished we headed to eat and wound up at this restaurant somewhere on 55th. There weren't any females servers, and all of the employees were foreign. For some reason we had about four servers take care of our table, I assume it's because we were young females, and the majority of the crowd that was in there were middle-aged tourists. Server #1, we learned, was from macedonia and had worked on a cruise ship prior to moving to New York, when he first moved to the US he lived in Chicago, but something happened (involving a girl, of course) and he ended up in NY. Server #2 was creepy. Server #3 told Chelsea she had beautiful eyes each time he passed our table, and when I asked if I could he have a drink menu, he replied with "You can have my heart." Oh Boy. Server #4 was from Poland or Holland, I can't remember, but he is a pianist, and works in the restaurant to get by. We chatted with this one a lot, pretty good looking, blonde hair blue eyes (surprise, surprise) before we left he gave us both his card with his phone number on it inviting us out sometime. He then walked us to the restaurant door, made a little more small talk, and we left. Chelsea went home from there and I met up with my friend Nico in Washington Square park where some dude was playing a baby grand piano. How does a person bring a piano in NY to a park? It's not like you can pull it onto the subway. It was cool though, there was a whole little band playing including that guy, and people were dancing by the fountain.

Today, I rode into The City to do a little shopping at the Kmart in Penn Station, grabbed some groceries (no produce, sad face) and headed back home. It looks like rain today, but nothing yet. I heard that Kalamazoo had some pretty bad storms, I hope they don't come this way.

City Slicker

It's official, I am here. New York City.

I arrived last Tuesday morning around 5am, was able to drive through Manhattan, and Brooklyn with ease as rush hour had not started yet. We stayed at Rhonda's friend's place where I was able to catch a nap before we headed out to lunch at a nice little joint in Brooklyn, then went and watched Sex and the City 2 since we were in The City, and well, you know. That night, plus two more we crashed at Rhonda's ex's apartment, also in Brooklyn since I wasn't able to move into my apartment until that Friday.

Getting to work wasn't any problem, since it's in Union Square, pretty much every subway car stops there. My first day (wednesday) was a little stressful, I was pretty much introduced to currently existing projects and then was told to start working on them, which is normal, and no problem but I was already overwhelmed, and so on.

Thursday night Rhonda and I went to a swing dance club-thing (I only went for moral support, and the booze) where low and behold Bill Nye the Science Guy was there! WHAT?! I need to start my list of celebrity sightings.

I'm at the apartment now, and it's Saturday, I haven't eaten since last night when pretty much the only thing I had eaten all day was a lean pocket and a glass of wine. I should probably make my way into the city and see what kind of trouble I can get into.