Run-On Update

Returned to post-vacation reality last Friday, was thinking about aspiring to become a housewife instead of a Corporate New Yorker on Monday, hadn't figured out the whole "housewife-without-being-married" thing on Tuesday, but began to remember why I love working in New York City today.

Life on ...

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Rost in Tlansration

Greetings for a final time from the land of redundant packaging. See photo below.

Today is my last day in [city eradicated] ... not quite my last day in Japan as I have an 8-hour layover in Tokyo tomorrow before my 13-hour flight back to the armpit of the northeast, I mean, Newark. As usual, Terrence was busy most of the day with game film meetings and basketball practice, but I was able to enjoy one of very few sunny days that I've had during my trip. Most days were windy, rainy and snowy. Scattered showers. Lows in the twenties. Between team trips to away games in other cities, I caught up on a lot of much-needed sleep and discovered watch-movies.net over sushi and Japanese pastries.

Terrence has a comfortable, furnished apartment decorated with tatami mats and shoji screens. He doesn't live in the most lavish neighborhood in [town eradicated] , where I was told that the per capita income is higher than any other city in Japan, but his neighborhood has adorable, narrow streets lined with tiny restaurants, cafes, bakeries and shops. Bell Bakery, two blocks from his apartment, has become a daily favorite of mine. They have the best bread and cakes. It's always crowded before noon and the wide variety of baked goods go fast. I am certain that everything is fresh every day because one evening I went in and literally bought the last bag of rolls.

Very few people in [town eradicated] speak English so I have purchased quite a few things that weren't exactly what I thought they were - the outcome of which has had diverse effects. Grocery shopping, for example, is a lot harder than one may think. Imagine walking into a grocery store where none of the packages or cans have labels; that is what it feels like. Or imagine sitting in a restaurant and trying to order what-you-thought-was-chicken based on a faded, blurry photo adjacent some Japanese characters. The experience overall has been a lot of fun - and certainly memorable.

The Japanese also have an amusing disregard for what Americans would accept as proper English spelling and grammar (much to my delight). In the past three weeks, I've noted the following: a candy called Crunky (pronounced Crunchy); a T-shirt with the words: "Love is Brind"; a sign that read: "Wishing Christmas pals to bring you a happy time"; a hardware store called Hard-Off. I wish I could remember some of the other good ones. The variances in spelling and grammar have to do with Japanese pronunciation. R's are pronounced like L's and some L's are pronounced like R's - even though the Japanese don't seem to be able to produce a true R sound. Terrence's fans, for example, were always shouting: "Tellence! Tellence!" And his teammate Rodney has learned to answer to "Law-doh-ney." I also found much delight in this and encourage Tellence to legally change his name.

As I prepare to leave Japan, I am reflecting on the experiences and discoveries that I am logging to memory. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that, in my 28 years, I have vastly underestimated the value of a heated toilet seat. I am also quite sad to leave behind the posterior shower and bidet spray. If I ever own a home, I fully plan to invest in importing one from Japan.

Until then ... sayonara.


A Year Ago Today: NYC Real Estate: You Do Not Get What You Pay For
Two Years Ago Today: Penmanship Approved

Must ... Stop ... Clicking

Sentences like the second one in this blog post are why I am searching for an A.A. group to help me phase online social networking out of my life. Every time I try to deactivate my Facebook account I choose "This is temporary. I'll be back." when I know the truth is "I spend too much time using Facebook." I deactivated it once for awhile, but before I could truly allow my withdrawal symptoms to subside, I was reactivated and relieved that my profile was indeed "restored in its entirety."

Since I can never get myself to re-click that ominous red deactivation bar with the appropriately selected radio button indicating that I am an addict, I decided that my first step was to stop telling people to "find me on Facebook". Then I changed my privacy settings, made it impossible for more acquaintances to search for me, request me as a friend or invite me to join groups. I couldn't even get myself to delete my adolescent MySpace account so I updated my profile with a note that I would be checking in intermittently so one should email me instead. Email! There's really no way out of the abyss.

Poking, status update stalking, mindless personal photo surfing that subtly fosters my inner narcissist, and other inane applications are just an endless misuse of my time, and I must stop the madness of secluded virtual interaction.

Not that blogging is the most productive use of my time either since my public posts are rarely revolutionary, introspective or inspiring ... not like BNR's. About to go leave comments on other people's blogs instead of further exploring the gorgeous Japanese city in which I am vacationing for only two more days.

A Year Ago Today: Random Act of Kindness
Two Years Ago Today: Please Use All Available Doors ... If You Can Get There Before I Shut 'Em

A Yen For Your Thoughts?

Lack of non-Christian-based Japanese religions aside, I was confused by the message of this sign in a Japanese hotel.


A Year Ago Today: The Moments That Make the Ride
Two Years Ago Today: Brush with Death

"Things I Love" Thursdays - The Crossroads of the World

I'm alone in Terrence's apartment in eastern Japan, listening to Times Square celebrate the New Year on the other side of the world. It's just after two o'clock in the afternoon here. Beyond the shoji screens of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the morning snow that topped the oriental bushes is gone. The space heater is warming my bare feet on the tatami mats. I can't decide what to eat. Terrence has a jam-packed first day of 2009 with game film sessions and basketball practice. My mom and I talked via Skype for her last 30 minutes of 2008 while I watched live streaming video of Times Square on boxingvid.com.

The video is still playing in another web window, and Louis Armstrong's magnetic voice is crooning What a Wonderful World over the horns and screams in Times Square. I know it sounds more savvy as a New Yorker to announce that I hate the tourist trap in the Crossroads of the World, but I don't. I can't say I'm always happy squashed between a family from Minnesota decked out in the latest and greatest tourist gear and a homeless man pushing a shopping cart filled with trash bags of unwashed clothes, a broken coffee maker, a Scooby Doo plastic dining set, and a step ladder, but I do love living within five blocks of Times Square on a narrow street tucked away in Hell's Kitchen with Broadway in my "backyard." I love that magical moments can actually happen outside the gaudy souvenir shops, below the neon lights and oversized billboards. I love that my intimacy with the streets edifies me to avoid the crowds when I want to and provides solace in familiarity.

I imagine this is how a jealous lover would feel, watching someone else dance with the object of their affection. Or maybe it's more envy of not being able to join them because I would gladly allow others to cut in if only for the chance to share that beautiful, dirty, wonderful, grimy, charming, smelly city. New York moments are, after all, best when shared.

Ringing in 2009 in Japan roughly 14 hours ago wasn't too shabby, however. I joined Terrence and his American teammates outside a Japanese castle in the city square, which was haloed in a gorgeous fireworks display at the stroke of midnight. But I still thought of New York.

Last year, I gathered for the 2008 countdown with my New York friends in an apartment on Bleecker Street in the West Village, continued to celebrate at after-hours on the Lower East Side ... and somehow ended up in Jersey.

Three years ago, I brought in 2006 working in a smoky casino in North Carolina holding a tray full of drinks and watching the guests around me jump up and down, blow horns, and kiss and hug each other. It's weird how you can feel completely alone in a sea of people. I quietly consoled myself among the masses with images of what my night could be like a year later somewhere in New York City. It would have to be in Times Square. My next New Year's Eve had to be better. For me.

So for 2007, I found myself again in a sea of people, but for a few brief moments, I felt like I was one with everybody in the new city that I called home. It's so cliché but the sheer, non-alcohol influenced happiness was absolutely surreal. For the first few minutes of 2007 - despite what hardships may follow - we were at peace with ourselves, our lives and the world.

Immediately after "Auld Lang Syne," Frank Sinatra's voice floated over Times Square as confetti drifted in loops and swirls to the jubilant bodies below.

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it,
New York, New York
These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it -
New York, New York
I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you,
New York, New York.

I sang along at the top of my lungs, completely off key, and half swaying off beat and half jumping up and down, waving my long, red balloon, and thanking my lucky stars for that first night of '07.


"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today:
On the Brink of 2000-Great
Two Years Ago Today:
Rockin' New Year's Eve
Phone Photo Ops - First of 2007

Thursday, January 1, 2009
4:10am JST (Japanese Standard Time)

If you are reading this post from any location west of the general geographic alignment of latitude 36°00' N and longitude 138°00' E prior to midnight in your time zone, greetings from the future. It is 2009 here, and we've just returned from celebrating in the streets and bars of "The Land of the Rising Sun."

Wishing the world all the best for the new year!
See the rest of you when you get here.

New Year, Old Me

The end of one year and the start of another often - if not always - brings self-reflection and resolutions. I don't know that I'll sign on the dotted line for any new goals at the stroke of midnight, but I will continue to try to understand who I am and what I want. Here's what I think I know:

The basic themes of the novel Rules for Saying Goodbye generally define me. But I realize something new about myself once or twice a week. I don't seek to constantly reinvent myself, yet I might not ever really know everything about me all at one time because different parts of me change, sometimes frequently; this should probably bother me, but it doesn't.

I don't have a very good awareness of my personal space so I often bump into things. Because of that, I accidentally shaved off the very top of the middle finger on my right hand and permanently disfigured the nailbed when I was five years old, broke my right arm when I was six, and I have a permanent, dime-size, swollen bubble over the third metatarsal on my right foot. There are various scars on my legs, arms and back, and I generally have a few bruises or a twisted ankle at any given time.

I wish I was wittier, but I typically end up bordering on corny and sarcastic. I like to surround myself with people who provoke thought. I'm a sucker for a sense of humor. I don't fall in love easily, I don't get attached easily, and I have to be both of those things if I'm going to get jealous easily; I can probably thank a military brat upbringing for that. I was nominated for the "Most Friendly" Senior Superlative at my second high school (I am still usually nice 10 years later). I like to step back and absorb certain moments so that I can remember the details; I do that most often when my friends are laughing.

I have - not so much a phobia of - but a general repulsion of clumps of dust, hair, and I despise grimy countertops. Despite a few isolated circumstances, I feel like a fairly lucky person - especially considering all of the horrible things that can happen and have happened to others in the world. I'm boycotting diamonds, and not because I don't absolutely adore them and not because of the movie Blood Diamond, Kanye West's song or other trendy political fads, but because of the book When You Ride Alone, You Ride With Bin Laden by Bill Maher.

Moving to New York City three years ago was the best decision I ever made.

When I used to have a kitchen with enough space for a table, I liked to read the back of the cereal box while I ate breakfast. I love Manhattan, Lox cream cheese with my Friday morning bagel ritual, weekend brunches, and Pinot Noir. I have a dark side, and I generally do not trust those who don't. I'm a chain gum chewer; not a nervous habit or to break any addictions - just do. I believe that only time tells all things, and it is the one thing I firmly stand beside and simultaneously fear because it is an undeniable, unpredictable constant that both richly and unremarkably defines all of us.

A few general standards that seem to remain constant about me include the following: I like astronomy (not astrology), chocolate, cultures, horseback riding, maps, national and international political affairs, nutrition, photography, reading (for fun, knowledge or to pass the time), some sports, travel and writing ... and if you've got undiagnosed OCD like me, you'll have noticed that I listed my general interests in alphabetical order. I just do organized shit like that with minimal effort.

I'd like to sit with Stephen Hawking and talk about the mysteries of the universe over red wine and lightly toasted miniature bread roll slices topped with raspberry jam and warm brie cheese. Oh, and I have a girl crush on Ellen DeGeneres.

A Year Ago Today: Again
Two Years Ago Today: Tonight's the Night the World Begins Again

Remembering Decembers

As with previous months, the responsibilities of my expanded job position and my trip to Japan have prevented me from blogging as regularly throughout December as I would have liked. Thus, affecting my Year Three in Preview, where "posts of present accounts of being will end with 'a year ago- and two years ago- today' links to the past of becoming until the third year comes full circle and the 'Becoming a New Yorker' blogtale is complete."

So here is a year ago this month and two years ago this month for December:

December 2007
December 2006

In Japan

I made it to Japan. I arrived in [town eradicated] late Thursday night (Thursday morning in the U.S.) and roughly 24 hours after I left Newark. Friday morning, I rode with Terrence's BJ league basketball team to another Japanese town, which is where I am now - about six hours from his seasonal home. The girlfriend of one of his American teammates is also visiting (from Los Angeles) so it's nice to not be the only girl on the team bus. It was a beautiful drive north along the coast before we looped south around a chain of enormous snow-capped mountains. I do also have to mention that the Japanese coastal tunnel system is quite impressive. I took lots of pictures, of course.

The team had a game yesterday, which they won. Their fans are amazing. I was surprised at how many of them made the six-hour trek to support the team this weekend. You cannot miss them because they were dressed head to toe in fan gear and were waiting at the arena to welcome the team when the bus arrived for Saturday's game. I don't think I have seen anything quite so adorable as watching Japanese fans, dwarfed by the American players, asking for photos and autographs. Some of the children are as tall as Terrence's knees and stand with pen and paper in outstretched arms with their heads cocked so far back that the backs of their necks disappear. After the game, they waited around the bus to take more photos, get hugs and then stood waving until the bus pulled away. I have always thought it to be corny when entertainers and athletes tell their fans that they love them, yet - even though their fans had absolutely no interest in me whatsoever - I felt something like love watching them interact with the team. The sincerity of their admiration and the pride in their smiles were so genuine and warm.

There is another game tomorrow at 2:30pm before we head back. The day after Christmas, we leave for another Japanese city.

A few initial notes on Japan:
- The Japanese definitely have the cleanest genitalia in the world. I find the toilet posterior shower and bidet spray quite refreshing.
- When I arrived, I noticed that random people were wearing surgical masks. The American in me assumed that these random Japanese were phobic of other people's germs or air pollution, but Terrence told me that they wear surgical masks when they have a cold or other contagious ailments because they do not want to infect others - something I could never see happening in the U.S.
- They have squid jerky here. I took a few pictures.

A Year Ago Today:
What I Love About New York
And More
Two Years Ago Today:
Homekeeping
Morning Star Sighting

En Route to Time Out

In approximately four hours, a car to Newark airport will be picking me up for my flight to Japan. I highly recommend 212-333-3333. The next time I will see New York will be in 2009.

Sayonara!

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today:
Drunk Santa
Chinatown

Phone Photo Op - Close Quarters

Our neighbors rarely remember, take into account, or care that our living room being positioned directly opposite their bedroom means that we can see them.


A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Saturday Night Lights

Phone Photo Op - Snow Day

Corporate afternoon view


A Year Ago Today:
Morning-After Text Messages
On Cloud New York
Two Years Ago Today:
I Love Michael Kors

Phone Photo Op - Living Room Picnic

You know you have great friends when your girls' night sleepover in Queens (hence the spacious living room pictured below) opens with a carpet picnic on Mayra's baby blanket with wine, cheese and chocolate.


A Year Ago Today: "Things I Love" Thursdays - Fall Foliage
Two Years Ago Today:
Swirling Diamonds
5pm Pic

Phone Photo Op - NYPD Police Horse Trailer

In case you've never seen one ... I hadn't either.


A Year Ago Today: Choices
Two Years Ago Today: The Morning After

"Things I Love" Thursdays - Evening Views

I love the view of Midtown from my boss's glass office.

"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today: BNY's Installment of Gawker Stalker
Two Years Ago Today: Corporate Holiday Party

Phone Photo Op - Women in Black Against War

Peaceful protesting on the steps of the New York Public Library


A Year Ago Today: Around the Office
Two Years Ago Today: More Food for Thought

"Things I Love" Thursdays - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of It All

Speaking of Christmas trees, the most wonderful - and equally annoying of all - was lit in Rockefeller Center last night. I was trying to run errands in Midtown, four blocks from my apartment, in the Rockefeller Center area when the absolute madness forced me to flash my employee ID at NYPD officers and fib that I had to deliver the contents of my Saks 5th Avenue shopping bag to a photo shoot within the restricted blocks. To my mild surprise, it worked.

Upon completing my errands just before 9 o'clock, I was walking toward Hell's Kitchen on West 51st Street when I heard Beyonce singing from Rockefeller Center. I was too cold, carrying too many bags, and too irritated with the masses to hang around on the crowded streets. But her voice was so beautiful. It echoed along 51st Street, scoring my walk home with Christmas carols, and reminded me that for every one thing I hate about this city, there are 10 things that I love in its celebrity-obsessed, overpriced and tourist-infested streets.

A phone photo op from 5th Avenue as I weaved my way through the slalom of Rockefeller tree-lighting spectators with my "bag for the photoshoot."

When I finally got home, I entered my apartment building, letting the door bang shut behind me, shrouding me from the holiday insanity. Seconds later, as I finished the grueling ascent of the four-floor walk-up, my heart was ironically warmed by more Christmas cheer upon discovering that my roommate and our neighbor had decorated our hallway with strings of lights.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today:
This Just In
Deflation Countdown
High-end Furnishings

Celebrity Sightings & Overpriced Surroundings

In New York, you're more likely to see NFL stars guest appearing on TV shows while walking from the office or browse $100 Christmas tree ornaments at Saks.




A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Bloomingdale's Blues

Phone Photo Ops - Christmas in New York

In case there is any doubt where you are, according to New York City, it's definitely Christmastime.






A Year Ago Today: Men in Macy's
Two Years Ago Today:
Sobieski Sighting
Subway Symphony

Remembering Novembers

As with last month, and under the moderate strain on my time created by my upgraded job responsibilities, I have not bogged as regularly throughout November as I would have liked. Thus, affecting my Year Three in Preview, where "posts of present accounts of being will end with 'a year ago- and two years ago- today' links to the past of becoming until the third year comes full circle and the 'Becoming a New Yorker' blogtale is complete."

So here is a year ago this month and two years ago this month for November:
November 2007
November 2006

Phone Photo Op - Thanksgiving Dominican-Style

Last night, my roommate and I joined friends in Harlem for a Dominican-style Thanksgiving feast. And in the grand tradition of the Dominican timetable, we started drinking at 6pm and eating at 9:30.

It was worth the wait!

A Year Ago Today: Annual Conference
Two Years Ago Today: Bad Day Average

"Things I Love" Thursdays - New York Romances

I love this table at Seeda Thai II on West 50th Street.

"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Miracle on 34th Street

I was not permitted to blog about the great news until all pertinent parties had been informed. Now that the cat is officially out of the bag, I am celebrating in the blogosphere.

On Thursday, November 20, heretofore known as "HeSheIt" Day, I was standing on the southwest corner of 34th and Seventh with Tokii after dinner and a basketball game in Madison Square Garden (her husband is an assistant coach for a top NCAA team playing in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs Cancer). Yawning through farewell hugs, I was bidding her good night when she paused and took my hand. Placing it on her belly, she said, "But first, meet your god child."

Suddenly wide awake, squealing and jumping up and down under the neon lights of Midtown, the curious stares actually blurred around us. I could not just go home after news like that. After regaining my composure, we went to get coffee and talk about the he/she/it forming inside of my best friend ... and more importantly, what an amazing God Mother I am going to be - the years ahead of cards and presents for Birthdays, Christmases, Graduations and HeSheIt Days.

She might not believe it - so I didn't tell her - but when I was standing in line for my ticket at the team will call and she waved from beyond the barricade to get my attention, I experienced nanoseconds in which I thought, "Wow. She is glowing." Yet within those mere seconds I assumed that either (1) the TV studio sure does take good care of their actors' skin and hair or (2) she is really happy to see her best friend. Looking back now, I want to believe that I had sensed something was different about her.

Over coffee in the lobby of a nearby hotel, we discussed how she might surprise her husband with the joyous news, how her family and our friends would react, and what challenges lay ahead in juggling her unplanned pregnancy with a significant role on a national television show. Her husband called periodically as the night grew later and his evening obligations to the team were winding down, and we giggled excitedly about the fact that he would soon be a father. I did not get home until after 2am and still had to pack for a weekend trip to DC for an Andrea Bocelli concert at the Washington National Opera. When I woke up a few hours later to get ready for work, it was the funniest thing ... the sky really was bluer.

A Year Ago Today: Back to My Life
Two Years Ago Today: When the Past Comes Back

Phone Photo Op - 34th & Seventh

I received wonderful news here last night.

More to be revealed in due time.

A Year Ago Today: Aging, Not Wrinkles, Is Cruel
Two Years Ago Today: Small Big City

Phone Photo Ops - More Autumn Views

Along my block in Hell's Kitchen




A Year Ago Today:
Dinner in the Dark
Subway Rules
Two Years Ago Today:
Great Expectations
Got Joe?

Moving On Up

I received a promotion of sorts. In addition to assisting the SVP of Digital Advertising, I am now also assisting the EVP of Media. It's a trial period - to see if I can handle both workloads. But if this week is already any indication, I'll be going to bed a lot earlier every night and blogging a bit less.

In fact, this post is going into the Drafts with the others until I find time to finish it.

Update: Publishing this post; nothing to add regarding this day - other than, I was very tired.

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Name Dropping

"Things I Love" Thursdays - The Power of Remaining Nameless

I love the anonymity in New York City that empowers you to do almost anything in public (within reason), such as stop to buy deodorant on your way to brunch and put it on while standing in line at Rite Aid.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today: Survived First Night
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Phone Photo Op - Commuter Keys

In New York, you're more likely to hear Alicia Keys perform live in the Good Morning America studios while walking to work.


A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Reality Soon Sets

Phone Photo Op - You Dirty Rat

A giant rat outside of an office building is usually an indication that a corporation within is doing something that someone finds worthy of protesting - in this case, poor asbestos treatment.


A Year Ago Today: Game of Grab Ass
Two Years Ago Today: Fall is in the Air

Phone Photo Op - Season of Gold

A shade of autumn in New York


A Year Ago Today: "Things I Love" Thursdays - Fall Fashions
Two Years Ago Today: No post