BUSY AS A BEE

This week has been ridiculously busy but great!

I went to Philly for the weekend where I got to spend time with my dearests. On Friday, Christine and I biked all over Philly in the blistering heat to run various errands and see the free at noon Gogol Bordello show at World Cafe Live. It was my second time seeing them and they are really great, though Eugene definitely toned his performance down for the radio broadcast. While in Philly I also went to see Toy Story 3 (in 3D) for the 2nd time, turned 21 *cough, cough*, and went to The Barbary for the first time.

I also nabbed a paying job as a graphic designer of sorts for my mom's old business partner/the mom of an old middle school peer. It's pretty fun work, especially since I get to use photoshop and a tablet. Plus I get to work from home which means while I draw I watch movies in my PJs. My first project was really easy and my employers were really happy with the results. But my newest project is proving to be very difficult for no real reason other than the customer isn't entirely satisfied with my designs...and the customer is always right. Basically I have to make a caraciture of my boss but make it look hand drawn while simultaneously making her look sexy. I've made about 50 different versions of the drawing but they're never quite right.

So the image on the left is the original and the image on the right is the one I am currently editing to fit her specifications. She wants to look "less manly" and sexier, the glasses should be filled black but more square but about 1/3rd the size in the drawing on the left. If you guys have any suggestions about how to make this look "sexier" please let me know! Maybe I need to change the mouth or the eyes? The thing is, they want it to look kind of sloppy.



To add to my business, I also just received my new passport in the mail (DOESN'T EXPIRE FOR 10 YEARS YAHOO!) which means I can start my VISA process...now. And I've been house sitting for a neighbor. And I'm doing some video work for my mom. And I'm researching the possibility of minoring in Art at Temple U. And I'm sort of studying for my permit test (I don't know when I will take it but I swear I'll get it done this summer). And tomorrow I am dogwalking all day (7 dogs throughout the Harlem/Upper West/Upper East areas). AND I leave for Cape Cod on Friday for 4th of July!

SO FRICKIN' BUSY!

I haven't seen my friends or even my baby bro in soooo long!!

I miss them.

Ghost Story

Yo, so here's the deal. I am not a religious person, but I do sometimes consider myself a spiritual person. I believe in ghosts and horoscopes and hauntings and psychics etc. I don't know why. I was kind of raised on it. I get a real high off of scary movies and books and I always kind of wished I was a psychic. Other than getting some really creepy vibes from the back room bathroom in my old apartment on Riverside Drive, I have never really experienced any real "paranormal activity". Sure, I've heard stories from other people. When I was growing up we had a roommate named Julie who apparently was followed around by ghosts her whole life. She would wake up and find all of her kitchen cabinets and drawers open or she would find things in her apartment that wouldn't belong to her.

I'm not positive, but I think I had my first "supernatural experience" last night. I didn't remember all the details until this evening. I woke up this morning feeling really weird and was kind of wondering why I don't always sleep well at when I am at my grandma's house. I was thinking maybe it was because the bed is just a mattress on the floor and being that low might be disorienting or something. I always feel kind of unrested. I fell asleep at about 2am but woke up around 3am cause Adam drunk dialed me. We talked for 17 minutes (according to my cellphone) and then I hung up and rolled over and tried to fall back asleep. I felt like I was in one of those half awake/half asleep dream states where you can still think and move but everything is cloudy. As I was snoozing I was facing away from the wall and all of a sudden it felt like someone was laying next to me. It was comforting at first. I thought I was hallucinating that I was being spooned by Adam or something (since I had just gotten off the phone with him). Then I felt something like a hand go down the length of my arm and then gently hold my wrist. I wanted to change positions to face the person...but when I tried roll over, I couldn't. I felt restricted like I was being held down. I felt lucid but drowsy at the same time so I was able to create thought processes in my head. I kept trying to roll over but I couldn't move my body and then I tried to scream but no sound came out. My mouth was open but other than a slight weezing, there was no sound.

I kept trying and trying and I couldn't scream or make any sound and I kept trying to move my arms and turn around but I couldn't and I remember thinking, 'Oh my god. Someone broke in and injected me w/ a muscle relaxant and I'm about to get raped.' (Kind of a weirdly specific thought process.) But then I was finally able to move my head so I turned it to the other side of the bed where I felt the person and there was a naked man curled up and I remember thinking, 'he's Spanish or Mexican' cause he had darker skin and then he made a face like he was screaming or talking. His mouth was kind of rounded and he looked sad. I was instantly freaked. But the second I saw him I was able to turn my head back and then I could move my whole body again. It was as if I had woke up because I had full control of my body again. I felt slightly threatened but I rolled over in the direction the man had been and he wasn't there so I curled up in a ball and instantly fell asleep until morning.

I really hope that was some weird awake type dream because otherwise I'm pretty sure it was a ghost. It didn't feel like a dream. I'm only a little scared though. Tonight I'm sleeping at my dad's and I'm not supposed to be back at my grandma's until at least wednesday. I kind of want to go back and see if it happens again. But I am a little scared. It was the weirdest experience.

MY POPS

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!








I LOVE MY DAD.

Things Are Looking UP!

After a few weeks of absolute uncertainty, stress, paranoia, and frustration, things are finally getting better! I am no longer worrying about:
-my financial situation
-finding a job (because I seem to be getting jobs thrown at me nowadays!)
-buying my plan tickets (BOOYAH! I'll be in Europe from 9/1-12/17)
-applying for a passport (had it expedited yesterday!)
-not seeing my friends (I love them more than ever and today we're hanging in Central Park)

YES!!

I really hope my summer continues to look like this as opposed to how it looked a few days ago when everything was going wrong and things like having my nose ring stuck/having to have my step-dad attempt to remove it with pliers and getting into fights with my parents. THOSE DAYS BETTER BE OVER!

Beware

So not to be super morose and a barer of bad news, but last night I received word from Adam about this girl that we both knew. Her name is Sabina and it turns out she was robbed and murdered the other night in Philly.

I didn't know her that well. I had only met her a few times and we never talked much but I'm still really really freaked out about it happening. Like, when Adam told me I didn't think much of it. The weird thing was that I had just looked at a picture of her at an event on fb. She had just been in my thoughts. After I got off the phone I went to tell my dad and all of a sudden I broke down and started sobbing. It's just REALLY SCARY! I've never realllllly known anyone my age who has died in such a violent way. And she was tiny. My size. Maybe smaller. It's so fucking sad. It doesn't even matter that I didn't know her well, it's just such a fucking waste of life. She was so young. And now I'm scared for EVERYONE. I just don't want to hear of this happening to anyone else. It's so terrible. People can be so terrible.

Basically, just everyone please be safe this summer. Don't walk around by yourself like Dee that night she disappeared and thought she was with Corrie. Just be careful and I promise I'll do the same.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=127626843928720&ref=search&sid=r54a0bAUN5v37Szoz6Mm4Q.2412009713..1

Summer in the City: Part 2

Summer in the city is CRAZY.
I applied for a job at URBN but I have yet to hear back from them :/

I babysat for an OCD/anorezix wealthy NYC 8 year old. SO ANNOYING and disturbed AND her parents actually forced me out of their apartment without paying me. Apparently it was an accident but they didn't respond to my texts for 3 days about payment. They owe me about $60, which isn't a lot but I earned it and I want it.

My cousin Come (there is usually a circumflex on the O so it is pronounced more like COMB) is visiting from France so I have been playing NYC tour guide the last few days. I've walked miles is terrible shoes. My feet are destroyed. We have visited SoHo, the High Line, Central Park, Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty etc. I took him to Ricky's, one of my favorite NYC stores, so he could buy his girlfriend American souvenirs and he requested that we only eat at diners because there is no such thing as a good hamburger in Paris (did you know that Parisian supermarkets also do not sell root-beer and Oreos? Every time he visits we buy them in excess).

Last night I went to dinner with my grandma up in Harlem. We ate at a Sengalese restaurant and I ordered Mafe. SO GOOD! It was rice, potatoes, carrots, and lamb in a spicy peanut sauce. We got this amazing ginger juice too. Homemade in the store, so sweet going down w/ a spicy aftertaste. Amazing.

Tomorrow we are hosting a barbecue in NJ for friends and family to attend. Adam is coming for a visit and I am SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM! I go back to Philly for 1 day on Tuesday and I am looking for friends to hang! I'm seeing Fiddler on the Roof that night with Adam's pep-pep and mom.

All of my friends are still away in Montreal but it hasn't been awful since I have kept myself very busy. I haven't seen Mercedes in forever either, even though she is in the city. I did get to hang out with Layla and her friend Lindsay though. We got smoothies and sat on a pier by the Hudson river where we had a view of some pre-memorial day fireworks and the apartment complex where Jay-Z and Beyonce live. Turns out Layla's friend Lindsay knows Liz Pride! It was awesome because usually when I tell people I go to Temple the conversation goes like this:

me: I go to Temple University.
person: Oh! DO you know SO AND SO?!
me. No. Temple is a REALLY big school.

I've actually had this conversation a million times so it was a shock when I actually knew the person they were talking about AND they are a good friend of mine.

Now I am on my way back to NJ so I can see SATC2 with my mom.

Summer in the City: Part 1

My my, summer in the city. Some things that have occurred as of lately:
1) Harlem Happy Hour in my grandma's zen garden with Tessa and Caroline. The margaritas were delicious. A game of never have I ever was played, which was even more fun because we already pretty much know everything about each other. It was really easy to target people with things like, "Never have I ever done anything sexual in a public place" or "Never have I ever kissed someone shorter than me" etc. Regardless, I was usually the person to lose the game.

2) Went to a The Static Jacks concert. They are personal friends of Caroline and the show was really good. The band is really up and coming.

3) Caroline's birthday party. Drank champagne on her roof and giggled a lot.

4) Visited Adam in Philly for 3 days. It was real low key and fun. Went to a Phillies game. (I <3 Jayson Werth).

5) Went to get delicious cookies with Layla at our old favorite middle school cafe. The cookies are a specialty of the place. They are called Allisons and they are double chocolate chip cookies with chocolate chips sprinkled on top and white chocolate chips baked in, covered in whipped cream and then put in the microwave so it becomes this deliciously soggy chocolate mess. SO GOOD.

6) Officially moved into my room in Harlem. It's small and I have to share the space with my grandma's art supplies. But I don't mind. It's kind of homey. My grandma is a sculptor and has done a series of busts of herself and my mom. They're pretty cool because they immortalize my mom at 14 and my grandma at various younger ages. They are cast in Bronze and are from the chest up. She has always wanted to cast a bust of me but has never had the time, but now that I'm living with her this summer she is hoping to immortalize me at 20 (half nude!) with a bust sculpture.

7) Opened my a bank account with Bank of America and started my first savings account (hope to be a property owner by 30).

8) Applied to every job I could find on Craigslist (but have yet to hear back from any of them). Looks like I might end up being a hardcore babysitter/part-time nanny or a dog walker this summer. But I actually don't mind that because the pay is good and tax-free and my schedule is more flexible this way. I mean, I haven't got any gigs yet, but if I continue to market myself I am sure I will get one.

I ALREADY MISS PHILLY SO MUCH! My friends are going to Montreal in 2 days and I will actually have nothing to do for a whole week! I might spend those restless days doing stuff for my mom or sewing some dresses. Maybe I'll take up oil painting again.

THE SUMMER IS YOUNG AND SO AM I! (Oh and my laptop is still broken so I'm using my bro's stupid PC.)