Wednesday, June 29, 2005

three feet high and rising

there's a three foot high styrofoam model of the empire state building in my office.


just thought you might like to know.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

"allll by myysellffff" (sing along with me)

i've realised recently that one of the things i value above all others is honesty. even if it it's in the form of bluntness. i can't stand two-facedness (yes, i probably just made up a word) or sycophancy. it drives me nuts. so in the spirit of things i thought i'd get down to some bare bones honesty, raw emotion similar to some of last summer's postings.

that's not to say by any means that up till now i've been less than honest. it's just it's frequently taken on a "i got up, i had my cornflakes, i went to the darkroom" kind of tone (i have been there an awful lot recently) and anything omitted has been done so purely to protect the individuals involved. and possibly my parents, in case they ever happen to stumble across this. although let's hope not.

**
okay, i started writing this, and have come back to it a while later and have forgotten all the eloquent ramblings i was going to post, so i'll just sum it up, very briefly.

it can get kinda lonely over here.

i don't miss london or england. i love new york. Love it with a capital 'L'. no, wait, with a capital L O V and E. it's so my city.

but i miss the quality of friends i have back home. you know, where you can just call someone up and be like "i'm bored/blue/grumpy/want to celebrate, let's hang". when you have that complete safety net of people around that you don't realise how much you take for granted until you move 3000 miles away. i think it's especially because there's been a lot of stuff going on at home recently, and i've been a little bit sad that i haven't been there to help out (or crack open the champagne). but i can't imagine not being in this city, so it's a bit of a conundrum.

maybe this is just a hangover from L. being here and having a best friend on this side of the pond for a while. who knows.

the sun will come out tomorrow, and other chirpy american warblings...

(big shout outs to my imaginary friend-texting buddy for having someone to text in this timezone, and the NY crew/chinatown apt kids for all being super-welcoming and inviting me along places the whole time. much 'ppreciated, thank you. kisses)

Saturday, June 25, 2005

mermaid parade



so we eventually made it to the mermaid parade out at coney island. it was hot out there, boy. i kept doing the little-kid trick of running off and losing who i was with because i was distracted by something in the parade. i found a good place to duck under the police cordon though, and got some wicked shots. the polaroids came out like fifty times better than any of the digital shots. i heart my polaroid.

bumped into eric at one point (there were so many people, i totally didn't think i'd find any of that lot at all) but we didn't stay too long, only a couple hrs or something 'cause the others all wanted to head back. i was a little sundazed and not minding too much.

but it was cool. kind of random. a very odd parade. but entertaining.

bigger boat?

Friday, June 24, 2005

the dark room. again.

darkroom steps

mooching around the house… make dinner… watch first half hour of ‘The Karate Kid’… tidy up… lie down on now clutter-free bed and doze off… make self get up as will never leave house otherwise… piss around trying to decide what to wear… put basketball on, game seven of the championships, baby… housemates get home and turn over to britney’s wedding special…talk with various ppl as lady of the hour, L, is running late… end up running super-late myself… have nice chat with L’s dad who calls me from Canada… eventually leave house… get down to the dark room and L is already there… along with Jason, Jeanie, Jeanie’s friend Rhiann, Aron, Stacie, Toby, Rebekkah… get drink… feel weird, can’t believe L is going back to London… what am I going to do??… time gets lost as drinks come in… Stacie and Toby leave, Jenny (Chewie) arrives with guy she’d been telling us about, Jenene and Jennie briefly turn up after 3 ½ hour movie marathon, Christy-Claire comes, L’s friend Jordan arrives with a couple of friends, Jeanie goes… lots of trips outside to smoke and talk and chat to the bouncer… turns out “House” (his name, apparently) has his kids nicknamed after all of the Thundercats, and instead of a family whistle (or something similar), when he wants to round ‘em all up, he just shouts “Thundercats, ho!!”… brilliant... jordan and christy-claire busting some serious moves on the dance floor… outside on a cigarette break, we convince them to show us a move they’ve been working on (vimeo footage to follow, obviously)… walk up Ludlow to find L food… hear stories of a weird mirror in one of the places nearby… we think it’s max fish but it’s actually the pink pony, so me and CC wait for the bathrooms in the wrong place to see it, get asked to play pool with some random… back to dark room… smoking in the basement… (would like to point out that most times i just accompany, not smoke. maybe the occasional drag here and there)… up to jason’s apt… realize it’s super late and it will take me forever to get home… try unsuccessfully many times to leave… finally manage to escape… 2nd ave station deserted, kind of creepy… people then turn up… watch the mice and rats crawling over the tracks… get off at W4th, walk to PATH at 9th, collapse on station floor waiting for train… finally turns up, can barely keep eyes open… incredibly over-tattooed guy opposite me on train keeps giving me funny looks… finally able to crawl into bed at fiveish… wake up at 6:07… alarm then goes off at 6:45… yawwwwn… for some reason still make it into work earlier than i have all this work… buy iced coffee on the way in… currently so tired can’t quite think straight though… ah well, i’m young, at least it’s friday…

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

open letter to the pistons

dear detroit

i'm sorry i doubted. tonight was a killer game. i'm glad after that brief heated moment in the second quarter y'all managed to keep your cool.

kick the spurs' collective ass on thursday.

thanks.

with best wishes,

h.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

kegger

keg party

so we had class yesterday. some crappy architectural tour thing. met on fulton & bdway, then it just around that area, like round city hall and stuff. he showed us where five points (made famous in 'gangs of new york', a film i haven't seen) used to be, then we walked over the bklyn bridge, ending up in bklyn heights. it's beautiful there. spending time with my intake was not beautiful, however. knobs.

i didn't see the point in heading back to manhattan when frank/amy/sharif's "5 yrs in NY" bbq was in brooklyn, so mooched around the heights for a bit, walked up to jay st-borough hall to get the F up to smith. a bunch of peeps already at the bbq, got myself a beer - they had the red plastic cups and all, just like in the moooovies (!) - eventually tracked down some veggie burgers/dogs. didn't stay too late as meant to be meeting jas et. al. but they were still at home, so went back to newport and crashed, totally.

god the MB lot are idiots.

Saturday, June 18, 2005

my first NY roof party

finish work, head to apple store (soho) for jenene & co's talk... free beer at the merc bar but the bar sucks... walk back to chinatown w/ jennie, eric & nathan... pick up takeout and whiskey on the way... 35% kentucky bourbon, drunk neat... between four of us, get through about two thirds before the others get back... everyone leaves at midnight and heads over to rooftop party on division... seventh floor walk-up, oof... my first NY roof party... more whiskey... vimeoing doesn't work, it's too dark... jennie & raul star-gazing (there were no stars)... good view of the manhattan bridge from that roof though... left to walk up to PATH station wayyy uptown... slight detour through LES, to dark room to use their bathrooms... randomly bump into jeanie so stay for a while... see jason but too shy to say hi... me and jeanie get hit on by these two strange austrian guys... i eventually leave, walk up to 14th & 6th, head back to JC... wake up with *slight* headache and some guy's number scribbled on my hand...

Thursday, June 16, 2005

NYFF

well now. i was just asked to cover the NY Film Festival this autumn. full press accreditation 'n everything. that's nice.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

class last night

So in class last night I sat in the middle of the back row where the cliquey kids sit, as I’d been talking to them in the elevator on the way up. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Obviously there was a lot of talk around and over me, and there were moments when I felt like a bit of a lemon sat there. I consoled myself with the thought I was doing it on purpose to disrupt their little giggling gang. I felt almost smug at times, the looks when one of them walked in and saw me sat in the middle of the row in between people who wanted to sit next to each other.

Then the lecture started and they started passing notes. Dear god, PASSING NOTES. How the hell old are we? This isn’t high school! For the love of…

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

where is my mind?

oh god. i just had to turn down pixies tickets because i have no money and i have class tonight.

it hurt.

it physically hurt to have to say thanks-but-no-thanks.

LCD Soundsystem
Interpol
The Pixies
Jones Beach, Long Island

tonight.

waaaaaahhh.

Monday, June 13, 2005

scott free & sake

me, L, plum

The most heard phrase this evening: “So did you hear about Michael Jackson??”

for some reason, after some drinks, the plum stone ("pit", apparently) in L's plum wine sake was highly amusing

(photo thanks to mr chew)

Saturday, June 11, 2005

up and down the east side

up to meet L. at the carlyle in the upper east side with my stuff - marvel at the splendour - ignore everything in the overpriced minibar and make drinks with vodka bought from duty free and soda from duane reade - order out pizza - a few drinks and slices later, leave and get the 6 downtown - head to the dark room - meet L's high school friend straight off, then Jason, the bar's owner and L's friend from london - free drinks all night, it would seem - CC turns up with roommate - drinks, talk, cigarettes outside (menthols) - everyone hanging in the street again - the LES on a summer night, yo - back inside, more free drinks (L. decides shots would be good, Jason gives us Jaegermeister), talking to strange employees - CC has to take off - L and I go hang upstairs in Jason's apt - a strange blond australian girl turns up at the apartment "i'm getting a plane tomorrowwww jayyyson and i just wanted to say byyyyeee" - odd chick - back downstairs, more drinks, more talk, more jukebox - back upstairs - get invaded by more of Jason's friends, a cool girl called Dagney and some others i don't remember - a really really stoned guy called harry who was sat opposite me trying to feel me up - even *more* people turned up once the bar shut, all the bartenders 'n shit - eventually wandering out of the apt when it was broad daylight - stumbling to the bowery and hailing a cab back up to 76th & madison that was surprisingly cheap although no traffic at that time of morning on a saturday - somehow getting into PJs and collapsing into the most beautiful comfortable bed - sleeping till about 2pm, the tv on all night, occasionally waking up to hear spongebob squarepants on in the background - falling asleep again about 3 for another hour or so - bubble bath, get dressed - head to barneys, air incredibly humid and oppressive - big thunderstorm while we're in barneys - walk past seal and heidi klum - have dinner in the restaurant on the top floor of barneys - stopped raining when we come out - walk back, find 'ever after' on tv, watch it in bed - make an executive decision to leave once movie is over as would be so easy to just stay in bed for the rest of the weekend - trek back to JC, am unimaginably depressed at returning to this apartment after the luxury of the carlyle...

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

so little to do, so much time...

holy mother of *crap* i'm bored

i mean, talk about understimulated and underchallenged

i know i shouldn't complain...

at least it gives me time to do my MB work/email peeps/promote my services as theoretical drummer (i just joined three new bands today)

maybe i've just had too much caffeine. ho hum.

Monday, June 06, 2005

excerpt from an email from m.

'I think you are already WAY too american...check out this sentence:

the cops busted them for selling liquor to a minor.

What you meant to say was: "the police officers arrested them for selling alcohol/intoxicating substances to an underage youth".'

Sunday, June 05, 2005

so, can i get your number?

oh good lord, one of the doormen to my apartment building just asked me out.

i was coming back from duane reade with ratty wet hair in an ancient skirt because i need to do some laundry, and he asked for my number and if he could call me sometime.

it really freaked me out, i had no idea what to say. i looked around for his friends to see what the joke was about but there was only me and him there.

sheesh.

what's going on?

Saturday, June 04, 2005

raining on orchard

1) it's june. it shouldn't still be raining.
2) feeling like an outsider, whatever the situation, sucks...
3) ...so that when someone makes an effort to talk to you, you practically hug them with gratitude
4) it's nice when people remember you from a quick five minute conversation the weekend before
5) being told you look like rod stewart (rod stewart?! wtf?!), even if they say they mean it as a compliment, is rarely taken as one. even if that 'and you think i'm sexy' song is playing. seriously.
6) hanging out with people in the "music industry" means you don't often get to talk with who you want as everyone else wants to talk with them too

so initially i was at some dive on essex with roommate and other MB peeps. then they all spent ages deciding where to go next so i "split that joint" (just for you, sbj) and went to meet some of the kids from last weekend up the road.

we were at orchard bar again last night, and the cops busted them for selling liquor to a minor. i saw them writing out the citation or whatever when i went to the bar, then when i was hanging outside i heard the bouncers talking. they had an underage undercover detective. although i don't quite understand how it happened as they were IDing everyone when we came in. unless that was after they'd been busted, and it just took a really long time for cops to come by and write up a ticket.

so it was, like, *all* music people there last night that we ran into. i was talking one guy, a manager, and asking if he managed anyone i know. "lindsay lohan?" umm, yes, know her. he also did junior senior, and we then had a huge argument about which year it was that they were first around, so to speak. i said '02, he said '03. i was trying to explain the difference between Europe and the US (a European band would most likely come out first in Europe), and how me and sam crashed the Dazed & Confused party and accidentally wandered on stage when Jr-Sr were playing, back in Dec. '02.

and there was also the girl who was ipod-DJing there last night and does the PR for the futureheads (i was talking with a music writer who told me this, i did of course tell him he had a spare free ticket going, call me...), and a guy in a band, who told me he was going to milton keynes in two weeks.

me: oh christ, poor you.
him: what? no, i love milton keynes!
me: huh? milton keynes is a shithole!
him: 60,000 people man! opening for green day in front of sixty thousand people..
me: oh. right. well.
him: although, yeah, from your point of view i guess it's a shithole....

i always feel kind of bad when they tell me the name/s of their band/s and i've never heard of them before. i guess it just depends which musical circles you move in. listen to. whatever.


the question i've been pondering most: is it extremely unfair to let a guy buy you shots when you know that he doesn't have a chance in hell, and you're leaving in five minutes anyway to go meet drummer boy and co. a few blocks away?

Thursday, June 02, 2005

2am

so i took two lemsip capsules before i went to bed because i was still feeling crummy and wanted to feel better by the morning.

of course, it's only when i'm still wide awake and tossing and turning an hour and a half later i remember there's caffeine in the bloody things.

so now it's 2am, i'm completely awake, really need to sleep, cursing my stupidity and just getting sick in general. it'd be sooo nice to be able to pull a sickie tomorrow (later today), it really would... gah.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

how d'ya like *them* apples

i know NY is called the big apple, but the apples here really are big. i mean, huge. i can never eat a whole one. and they're really sweet as well.

makes me pine for sainsburys' bags of little braeburns. they were cute, and the perfect size.

is this a slightly nonsensical posting about apples, or is it just me?

i feel so fluey today. going home to make soup and kneidl after work. there's some kind of MB party, but i have a valid excuse for not going, at least. blech.