July 23, 2009

The restaurant was so busy today. I've never had such a busy morning shift. It was relentless, and really grew to be pretty frustrating, being there by myself. I did, however, make more money in tips than I have in any previous morning shift. I had to stay late to collect my tips, though.

In the morning, before it got busy, something funny happened. It's been happening more frequently when characters from the neighborhood will poke their heads in and chime in with what they have to say. The other day, a woman stood in the doorway and asked if this was a restaurant and said she was sent by Rosa Parks. When I questioned her, she rolled her eyes, as if I was the one that was not making any sense.

So yesterday, a woman came in asking me to change her dollar for the bus (New York City buses only take cash in the form of change), but instead of giving her four quarters, I gave her a dollar coin, which are virtually useless in a cash register. She took the dollar coin, and in gratitude, she grabbed the hand which contained it, and said to me, "You're a very handsome young man!"

I thanked her, and I appreciated the compliment, but it was just an unusual way to thank a person.

After work yesterday, I baked. I baked a ton of cookies and cupcakes for the party I'm preparing for on Saturday night. The cookies are damn good. Oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip. The one problem I have with my baking is consistency. I find it very difficult to produce any two trays of cookies that are exactly the same. Each tray comes out a little softer or dryer or a little more lumpy or a little more flat than the one before.

I also read the latest edition of the Onion, which I couldn't put down, because it is absolutely hilarious. And I watched Don Knotts' the Reluctant Astronaut.

The previous days which I hadn't posted on have been filled with working, selling t-shirts in Union Square, and being tired. Man am I running out of energy. I also haven't gone running more than a week, so I need to do that again, that'll help me get my energy up.

July 20, 2009

Today I slept in. It felt terrible. Because now, I'm just as tired as I was then, and I don't feel like I accomplished much today. So much of my daily routine is centered around where and when I'm working that day.

Last night, I left the power cable to my laptop at work, so this morning, I had to go back and retrieve it before I could get any work done at home. I can't stand being there when I'm not supposed to be there. But I went anyway and I got some coffee and a bagel. On the way out the door, I came across my neighbor, who laughed at the shirt I was wearing. This inspired me to make the video I'd been meaning to make using that particular shirt. So when I got back, I went up to the roof and filmed it. It took me about twenty tries to get a take that I liked and that was audible through all the street noise. I still have to produce it, but at least the footage is done.

I had to go to work shortly after. It always seems to happen once I get into a batch of creativity. And that was the worst because work was so slow. It was one of the slowest nights I've worked in a long time. And the tips were even worse than that. It's not looking good considering I have rent coming up next week.

Tomorrow's another day, though, and it's going to be an early one and a big one for me. I can just tell. Too much to do, so little time.

July 19, 2009

Huh,

I always envision myself updating this everyday, but I just get so busy with everything!

What with work and with occupying my time with various other activities. It's never a break being me.

The other day, I had a jam-packed day from finding out my last paycheck bounced to helping my friend move all day, to being an extra in an independent film! It was a fun day.

After that, I took a day to work for my old job, and then come work for the restaurant at night. That was Friday. I was visited at work by my friend and her sister.

Saturday, I returned to the restaurant, then went down to the Siren music festival to meet some more friends. I saw Built to Spill, which was a good band. But I didn't get as much out of the concert as I hoped. I was originally planning to go camping on Governor's Island with my cousin, but that fell through.

Today, I got all my errands out of the way, so as to have a very productive week this week. Then went and made some money at work.

July 15, 2009

Today I was on a mission to see the new Harry Potter movie. It is a film series I have had increasing interest in ever since I kinda sorta dated this girl who was obsessed with them, and since I read the entire series of books (except the last one) for myself.

Since I didn't go to the midnight showing last night, I went to the first available showing today, at 10:o0 this morning. It was the first thing I did after waking up. I didn't even eat breakfast until after I bought my ticket. On my way to the movie theater, I came up with the novel idea to try and see more than one movie if I could get away with it. There were two other movies in the theater I really wanted to see, and if I could get away with paying for only one ticket before I had to go to work, then that would really be grand.

I watched the previews while eating my bagel, egg, and cheese sandwich and drinking my iced coffee, that I legitimately brought into the theater without even being questioned. They showed a preview for Sherlock Holmes, due out in 2010, which really excited me. I was so disappointed in the first few trailers they showed, because they included what promised to be horribly revolting movies only designed to perpetuate the downfall of human intelligence, but when I saw the preview for Sherlock Holmes, everything seemed to be ok. Then Harry Potter came on.

This was the first time in the series when I had read the book prior to seeing the movie, and as a result, I think I, of course, had a major let down. Though the movie stretched to two and a half hours long, there didn't seem to be much to it. Granted, I knew everything that was going to happen, but it just seemed to me that the acting was weaker in this movie than in the others, like they were just going through the motions of making a Harry Potter film. They all follow the same formula, and this one was no different, but it left me dissatisfied, like I missed something. I guess the idea is to whet my appetite for the final installment of the series, which I still need to read, and will most likely get to once I finish reading Tom Sawyer. Nonetheless, I could have used a little more magic in the movie today.

After Harry Potter was over, I wandered around the theater to see what else was playing. I caught the last ten minutes of Bruno, which was another movie I desperately wanted to see, having laughed from beginning to end of Borat, which came out in 2006. The last ten minutes was entertaining, but not as funny as I hoped the movie in its entirety to be. I have faith, in Sasha Baron Cohen, though, and I will go back to see the movie from the beginning when I get a chance. But it wasn't in the cards for today.

I did manage to sneak into a screening of Public Enemies, Michael Mann's latest biopic about John Dillinger, as portrayed by none other than Johnny Depp. That movie was great. I was sucked in, right to the end, and as the clock was ticking closer to my start time at work, I couldn't peel myself away without seeing the end of the movie. Fortunately for me, it came just in time, and I was able to take in the entire work of art, before returning to my reality of waiting tables.

Ah, what it must be like to spend your life in the movies. I'm still waiting for that opportunity.

Work was pretty boring at first, but then it picked up. It got steady and we had open mic night in the basement, and we made some decent money. But then my boss made us stay extra late to clean up the place, which is why I'm writing at this hour.

But anyway, I'm back home now, and tomorrow I'm helping my friend move, so I need to save some energy, so I am turning in.

July 14, 2009

Today I wrote a lot in my note pad, so I feel like I've contributed to the writing cause, though I can't stand how much my novel idea and now my tv show idea is eating at me. I thought the restaurant I work at would be a great basis for a tv show in the vain of Party Down, my new favorite show. And all the people I work with are divine inspiration. I don't want to jinx it, though, so that's all I'm going to say about it.

Come to think of it, I did a lot of writing today.

I got up early, shaved, showered, and dressed in a suit to report to the Village by 7:30am. I surprised myself by getting there on time. I even had time for a quick coffee and bagel. I knew there was a reason I saved that five dollars from yesterday.

So the reason I had to be at work so early, though, was because I was moonlighting today at my old job. Lorelei called me up to see if I could fill in for them today. My job was to assist in registration and then take notes at the individual breakout sessions for a conference that was being held at NYU on behalf of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygeine and the Office of Emergency Management.

I worked this event last year, but I didn't have to take notes, I mostly just stood around.
This time, I was to take notes, which meant sitting through some pretty boring seminars and pretending to be interested.

The interesting part of the conference is that it involves all levels of emergency services in New York City, the Fire Department, the Police Department, Poison Control, the Health Department, and the Office of Emergency Management, not to mention a bunch of other agencies presenting information on stuff.

I learned all about a new service called GeoChat, which will probably replace Twitter in a few years, and if not, then something like it.
Then I learned about fire truck and ambulance accidents, which was not that interesting.

Later in the afternoon, I learned about the water sanitation in New York and asbestos control.
The water sanitation presentation was a lot more fascinating than I thought it would be, mostly because I am amazed that so much water flows though this city per day, and that there hardly ever seem to be any problems with that. It's one of the things that makes this city great.

But I had to take notes on my little laptop the whole day, and that was kind of annoying, but it made the whole day go by quicker, and the lunch was pretty good.

The other thing that made the day go by quicker was my discovery in the bathroom. When I was taking my morning dump, I found someone had left a Metro newspaper (one of the New York dailies they hand out for free), which told me the New York Philharmonic was playing in Central Park tonight.

Having had such a great time seeing the Orchestra in the Park last year, I couldn't stop thinking about it all day, and just wanted to go home and prepare for it.

I texted a few people to see if they wanted to go, and I got responses from two of them, who said they'd like to go. Now I was really excited, and I was texting furiously throughout the day to make plans. I needed to get out of NYU as soon as possible so I could go home and change and then head back up to the Park. People seriously get to these things three hours in advance to stake out their seats. Blanket space is hard to come by in Central Park when the Philharmonic is playing.

Fortunately for my, I signed up for Central Park's Twitter feed, so I'll be notified whenever something like this happens.

I ran home, changed, and brought a few snacks to eat on the train. I got up to 86th street and my duty was to get more snacks for the picnic I was going to share with my friends. I wanted to get beer anyways.

But it took me forever to find a grocery store that wasn't ungodly expensive, and I finally did after about 45 minutes of walking around and shopping. By the time I go to the Park, there were no good spots available, so I picked one out along the side, figuring my friends would be able to find me easily once they showed up.

Only they never did. And the concert started and I was still wondering where they were. I was texting like mad and getting no answers. That's when I started to get mad. Finally I gave up, and just walked around Central Park, listening to the Philharmonic play Beethoven's 7th Symphony. I didn't want to leave before it was over, based on principle. Also, it's a beautiful piece, much like anything by Beethoven.

Plus, after the concert is over, they launch fireworks, and I kind of wanted to see that too. I ended up seeing them real close, because I was down by the big fountain by the time they shot them off, and that is approximately right next to where they launch them from.

So that made me happy after a kind of glummy night in the Park by myself, being surrounded by bunches of other people enjoying themselves. But I did get a lot of cynical, angry writing done, which I like. And tomorrow I'm going to see Harry Potter during the day before work. I'm really excited for it, seeing as it'll be the first time I've read the book before seeing the movie.

So, until then, good night!

July 13, 2009

Yeah, so I guess I haven't done such a great job of writing every day. It's hard. I'm so busy, and by the end of the day, I'm exhausted and I just want to go to bed. So much has happened since the last time I wrote. Michael Jackson was buried. I went to my friend's rock show and watched him bleed all over his guitar. And now I'm planning a party. I worked so much in the past week. I still don't have any money to show for it. But today was my day off.

I went to a couple different Starbucks today and applied for jobs. I made connections with Anthony, my former roommate, and a manager named Anthony, who I used to know when I used to work there before. Hopefully something will come of it, because I cannot keep going from week to week scraping by and trying to make ends meet.

I applied online to what I thought would be a really awesome job personally assisting this sitcom writer who needs web help. I guess I didn't have enough qualifications, because he hasn't written me back yet.

I wish there was a way to figure out how people think of you at a given time. I wish there was a public approval meter of some kind. I sent out Facebook invitations to a party that we are having next weekend, and a few people, not a lot, but a few replied not attending right away. That irks me, you know, because now I'm stuck trying to figure out why they don't want to come to the party. But is it me? Is there something I can do differently? You know, let me know. I don't want to keep inviting you to things if you don't actually like me.

It's frustrating, and there is not a really productive way to go about it.

I was going to spend the day writing, but like all other things, my life got in the way today.

I did my laundry, and went to the city to deposit money in the bank and fill out applications at those two Starbucks. Then I went to the studio because I was going to organize my t-shirts finally, and take them out of the boxes they've been in for weeks. I'm moving my "office" from the basement of one of the apartments to the "patio" in the other apartment. The "patio" is the loft space that houses two other rooms in the studio. The ceiling is not tall enough for a normal person to stand up in and feel comfortable. But the room does have some nice carpeting and these great cubbies ideal for shelving and organizing t-shirts. So I am going to incubate my business from there.

I'll probably put a desk up there and my printer, and then I'll be able to make the studio a work destination once again. There is so much I plan on doing when I have the money to do it. But, as they say, making that first million is always the toughest.

July 6, 2009

I didn't recap my day yesterday because by the time I was ready for bed, I was really tired and kind of drunk.

I opened the restaurant and worked until 4.

After work, my coworker and I checked out the new Checkers that just opened in downtown Brooklyn. I was really excited about trying Checkers for the first time, as I'm always looking for another fast food burger. Unfortunately, it wasn't really anything to scream about. It seemed like pretty typical fast food. But I find happiness in its rarity. The fact that it opened in a kind of nice area of Brooklyn says something. Even though there is a Popeye's Chicken right across the street, it's still in a very nice area. The coolest part is that Checkers has a back open-air patio, on which one can enjoy his or her fast food snack.

After that, I felt the need to go running, so I did before I headed back to the restaurant to try to work on some things. It was incredibly slow, but the few of us that were there ended up making it a little more enjoyable.

But I did end up coming home and going straight to bed.

Today, I got up and did my laundry, then went back to the restaurant for more atmosphere and good company. I actually got a lot accomplished, and was able to talk to some friends and get some good grub. But either the internet connection or my computer is really faulty, and so I was working at a snail's pace for some of it. That ended up getting me really frustrated, so I had to leave.

I went to the bank and to the post office before they closed. I ran my errands and got some photos and conversation from one of the guys at the studio, who helped me out.

I came back home, took out the garbage and went to the grocery store for a few items. I was able to get some iced coffee from the restaurant and pay for my meal from earlier, which I had forgotten.

Then I came home again, ate my supper and made some delicious chocolate-chip cookies with Maker's Mark as the secret ingredient.

I watched Kramer vs. Kramer on Turner Classic Movies, and found out that it was a great movie, and got more work done on my website and with photo editing.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I got closer to the website that I want. I watched one and a half really good movies (the other was American Movie). I'm going to bed tired and I have to get up in five hours, but tomorrow will just be another day of progress, hopefully.

July 4, 2009

Independence Day, 2009. I was in New York for it. Two years ago, I went to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest by myself. I got up early to go to it, and I ended up meeting some friends down there who went with me to the amusement park after the contest and lunch. That was my first Independence Day in New York. Last year, I was actually in New Jersey, on the shore with the friends I just came back from the shore with. So I missed New York and any fireworks.

This year, I am back in New York, but I am broke. So today I had to work.

I got up early again to open the restaurant, only to have it be increasingly slow all day long. It was Independence Day, so there was a particularly joyful mood in the air, though at the restaurant it was pretty typical fare for a Saturday. I ended up working out a deal to leave early, and immediately afterwards went to the bar to meet with some co-workers before we all went our separate ways.

We enjoyed the afternoon. And drank some beer.

After that my plan was to go into the city for the big 4th of July fireworks festivities. I rode my roommate's bike to the studio quickly to grab some t-shirts to try to sell to passersby on the street in Manhattan. I didn't sell any.

But I did meet with a friend couple of mine who I hadn't seen since January, and brought them with me to another friend's rooftop to watch the fireworks. It wasn't entirely easy to see them, but we watched nonetheless.

After some awkward socializing and consequent bailing, my the couple and myself returned to our respective quarters in the city, and now I sit here ending the day with you.

My day could have gone better, but it could also have ended far worse.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed to start another day tomorrow.

July 3, 2009

I'm so tired, but I'm keeping my promise to write everyday, if it kills me. People who want to write for a living don't rest to do other things. They keep writing, so that's what I'm gonna do.

Today was a jam-packed day. I got up early to sell shirts in the city. I went to Battery Park, instead of Union Square, my usual hangout. I sold one t-shirt right way, and then another hours later, and that was it. It rained briefly. I packed up to leave and then changed my mined at one point. But I stayed for a few hours, before I knew it was a bust, and I wasn't going to sell anything more. I took the shirts back to the studio, before I embarked again to get a haircut, and go to the bank, finally. i did those things, but then I was running late for work. And I needed to shave. i couldn't go to work with short hair and a five day beard.

So I was half an hour late, and work was kind of stressful, kind of not,. i love the people I work with...most of the time. And I find myself being attracted to so many women during a day that it gets annoying. I wish sometimes, I was just asexual, so I could carry on with my work. I'm so tired I'm writing this with my eyes closed. That's why there are so many typos and I'm going to have to go back and edit later.

My hair feels nice now, but I must go to bed. I have to open tomorrow, and it's July 4th. It's one of my favorite holidays, actually.

I've now written on this blog everyday that I've had it. And since I got it, I haven't written on my real blog. The whole point of this blog was to get me to write more on the real blog, which people actually pay attention to.

July 2, 2009

I don't know why I'm so tired already, but I am exhausted, and I can barely keep my eyes open.

Today I woke up later, and I feel so sick about it. Why is it that whenever I don't wake up early, I am completely unmotivated the whole day.

Today was a decent day, but I definitely didn't get as much accomplished as I should have. I started by cleaning my apartment. Man, was it dirty. You could definitely tell I hadn't been here for a month.

I didn't end up leaving the house until 1:30 or so, a shameful time to start the day. I was going back and forth about whether or not I should go to Union Square and sell, because it was supposed to storm but it was bright and sunny all morning. Finally, I decided I would get the web-related things done I needed to get done so that I could have a monster day in sales tomorrow.

Besides that a lot of people will be out tomorrow since it will be the Friday before July 4th, and many people will be off work.

Hopefully, I can clean up.

So I went to the studio to work on stuff and get prepared. On the way, I stopped at Abigail to pick up something that I need to send to my mom. While I was there, I ran into a good friend of mine who pretty much convinced me to hire him to do my website. He was there working on his own website when I showed up.

At the studio I pretty much just lulled around. That place always gets me to slack off. There are no windows. It's just so dire and bleak all the time. It's hard to stay motivated.

I didn't get the packages mailed that I wanted to mail. I needed packing tape. I also didn't make it to the bank, like I needed to. I left the studio to head into Manhattan to get packing tape and try to take some pictures of Brooklyn from the Manhattan bridge for the website. While I was walking on the bridge, it started raining, and as I got further along, it rained harder, until it was pouring.

So I ran to try to cross it and just go home when there was an overhang and two other gentlemen were waiting out the storm. It was pretty unique and outstanding to be trapped on the Manhattan bridge during a rainstorm, especially with the guys I was teamed up with.

After the rain let up a little bit, I walked back towards Manhattan. I still wanted to try and get a haircut before I went home if I could, and I still didn't have packing tape. Once I got to the end of the bridge and onto land again, it started pouring again, and so I had to wait out this second cloudburst under some construction scaffolding with a much larger crowd.

After that was over, I went to see if the barber shop was open. It wasn't. But I did get my packing tape, so I can mail these packages tomorrow, after I get a haircut and go to the bank.

Tomorrow's also Friday, it's still a work day, and I hope it's very profitable.

July 1, 2009

First day of July.

Today, I got up at 7 again to be at work by 8. I opened the restaurant for the third day in a row. I think I'm getting the hang of it again. I definitely could do it steadily if that's the way the scheduling worked out. Unfortunately, it's not, and so I'm left at the mercy of the way the owners and manager decide the schedule.

Work was so slow today. Slower than yesterday. I worked on a crossword puzzle for a lot of the day. I had about two tables and I messed up the order on one of them, this group of very nice ladies from the Botanic Garden, and I messed two out of the four orders up. I thought I was past that, but I guess not.

This girl came in who I was looking forward to seeing after not having been here for a month. She lives in the neighborhood and used to work at the restaurant. That is, she worked there for about a day or something. I worked with her one time. I remember meeting her for the first time and thinking, "wow, she's very attractive!" At first, I thought she may have been a lesbian, I thought it was too good to be true. Then it turned out to be too good to be true anyway, because while she was straight, she had a boyfriend.

But now she doesn't, and it has been a few months removed from then, and I think I may like her. I gave her a cookie for free today. She seemed to like that.

The staff meeting happened. One of my coworkers offered me a shift on Friday, which I decided to take, because, lets' face it, I'm broke. I need to be working as much as possible.

Also at the staff meeting, I met that girl who I knew before and started working in the restaurant while I was gone. The tension and awkwardness between us is so present it makes it hard to move around when we're having a conversation. She seems odd, in a way. At first, I thought I liked her, but now I'm thinking the opposite. She does have some very nice curves, though.

The staff meeting started late and ran long, and I didn't get out of work until 5:30, an hour and a half after my scheduled departure time.

I came home to find that I had four voice messages on my phone, which doesn't work. I can see that I have four voice messages, but I can't check them. Finally, Adam came home, so I borrowed his phone and checked them. My sister got bumped from Honduras, due to the militant activity there, and will serve the rest of her summer in the Dominican Republic.

I just hope she's safe.

Then the internet happened. I've dubbed Wednesdays to be my web work Wednesdays. My friend, who is building my website sent me a lot of information after I sent him an email requesting an update. Then we got to talking about what to work on next. It was very productive, but I had to stop and take a break to shower and eat. Well, then I got caught watching South Park, and Adam came out of his bedroom to point out that there was a Billy Mays marathon on the Discovery Channel.

I stated watching and enjoying very much his late show, Pitchmen. Fortunately, with the convenience of the laptop, I was able to continue working while watching Billy Mays. I did that for the past four hours and now I'm tired and writing from bed. Goodnight.