Tuesday, December 25, 2007

There and back again

I'm home and Christmas was fantastic as usual.
It involved lots of face-stuffing and present unwrapping.
and tomorrow it's off to vacation!
I am so excited! Whoppeeee!!
Merry Christmas everyone & Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The case of the missing charger

I realise I'm in the midst of finals with just 2 more days till all this madness is over and I'm home free. But for 2 weeks now, I've been searching for my missing charger that belongs to my dust buster.

Look, I'm no clean-freak but when you're drawing, sketching and erasing, cutting & pasting, your room can get pretty dirty. And for some reason, my dust buster charger has decided to go AWOL. Now my apartment isn't huge and inanimate objects don't just get up and leave. So where the hell is it? Beats me. I've been looking for 2 weeks and I still can't find it. I'll have to resort to borrowing my friend's charger since she has the same handheld vacuum. Sigh.

It'll probably show up when I move next year. Good God! In the meantime, Dirt Devil has a cute Kone handheld vacuum that comes in pink...teeheehee....

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Guess what arrived at my door today?



December 12th, 2007
One year. How time flies.


Friday, December 7, 2007

New York ARGH #1


NYC Subway.
Originally uploaded by daltonrooney
OK, so tonight I decided I needed to put into words my opinion of the Brooklyn bound L train departing from 14 Street Union Square station & the 14th street buses.

For the second time now, on a Thursday night at approximately 8:30pm when I'm heading home from Fashion Drawing class armed with 4 illustration boards (20x30"), my portfolio bag and school bag filled with textbooks, notebooks, markers & coloured pencils. I usually take the bus, but for some reason, it seems to take forever on this day. So instead of freezing my ass off in minus 5 degree weather, I head to the subway to take the L train home.

I struggle down the stairs into the warm subway platform, I see people, alot of people. More people than usual. My thoughts are: "Oh, they must be sick of waiting for the bus too or its cold out and they're retreating to the subway for warmth." I naturally assume, everything is normal and the train will come in approximately 2mins as the overhead digital sign indicates.

10mins pass and still no train. More and more people gather as time ticks away. People are cranning their necks to see if they can spot any sign of the headlights of the train - nothing. No lights, no whoosh of wind coming through the tunnel, no rumbling sounds on the tracks. 20mins, still no train and at probably close to 30mins, sign of track life appears and we feel the whoosh come through the tunnel and the L train finally arrives. At this point, I'm surrounded by a bazillion people, and note I am still armed with my art supplies.

We all stuff in. I find a good spot to stand, close to the exit so I can take my leave in about 2 stops. We all file in, find our places and brace ourselves for the inertia sway of the train taking off from the station. But the doors never close, the train never moves. The inertia I was anticipating never happened. And it never happened for another 15mins! The automatic announcement is made that there is a delay. We all wait patiently in the train, waiting for the doors to close.

Another automatic announcement is made, that the delays are due to traffic ahead on the track. Then automatic another announcement is made that the L train is out of service. People start to file out, frustrated and sighing. But there are some who remain, steadfast in their postion hoping that this is merely temporary and we'll be off soon. I am one of these hopefuls.

So I stand and wait. I pull out my phone to listen to some music and keep myself entertain or more truthfully, prevent myself from staring at the man in front of me who shows clear signs of agitation at this delay but refuses to leave the train. He is hopeful too, but a frustrated hopeful.

Finally, the conductor comes on and announces that the train is in service and that we will be moving shortly once the incident ahead of us has been cleared. 10mins later, we are finally moving...VERY SLOWLY...and then, we stop - right in the middle of the tunnel. GREAT...then we start moving again and literally crawl into the next station. OMG this is terrible. If I walked in the blistering cold, I would've been home by now!

At last, I reach my station. 2 freaking stations away from where I started. Sigh. I'm just glad I didn't miss my Grey's Anatomy.

Monday, December 3, 2007

New York Eww #2

Someone who lives above my window, pours some foul smelling water from their window occasionally at night. Either that or that yucky smelling water is coming from somewhere above me. I keep my windows closed at night now. Gross.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Home for the weekend

It's late in New York time.
But I'm home.
And it feels so good to be home.
Home-cooked meals.
Home-made soup.
Family.
Digby Baby.
My double sized bed, fluffy warm pillows & snuggly duvet.
A massive bathroom to myself. No sharing.
And all the toiletry space in the world.
The massiveness of this suburban home,
contrasted against small, New York & Bostonian apartments
The luxury of in-house laundry.
Quiet, Peaceful Suburbia
Beautiful British Columbia
Vancouver will always be my home.
New York will probably always drive me crazy.
It's good to be home.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

New York Eww #1

I saw a condom on the floor of the M14D bus while heading home.
A used condom no less.
Just lying there, in plain open sight for the whole world to see,
crying "Look at me! I'm used, dirty and disgusting!"
I threw up in my mouth just a little bit.
Eww.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Partying MIT Style

MIT Fall Ball - November 16
MIT Sloanies know how to party - ever since Jordan joined the Sloanie family, I've had this impression that anyone who goes to MIT is the epitome of dorkiness. I was so wrong. Apparently, Sloan is where the cool dorky kids go (if such a concept does even exist) but regardless, these Sloanies know how to have a good time.
I've been introduced to the infamous 141 parties and the Sloan potion and just this weekend, I've attended the "must-attend" event of the year - The MIT Fall Ball held at Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. Everyone got glammed up and with an open bar, we danced to a mixture of 80s and Top 40s music. Clearly, the DJ misconstrued the age bracket of this group of grad students - Jordan and I were born in the 80s! Nevertheless, we had a good time. Who would have thought Bhangara music would be sucha hit with B-school students? *grin*

Friday, November 9, 2007

The Art of Fabric Swatch & Paint Chip Collection

In the course of my studies at Parsons and my stay in NYC, I've learnt the subtle techniques of getting things for free/cheap (ie. free furniture from the garbage, getting into museums for free, cheap Broadway tickets, cheap drawing paper = legal sized Xerox paper etc) A new thing I've learnt this semester is scoring fabric swatches and paint chips.

In colour theory class - I've learnt that paint chips provide a far better and more accurate sampling of colour when doing colour palettes. It saves me alot of time because then, I don't have to mix the colours from scratch and paint them into chips - I simply cut and paste. My personal go-to place is the Benjamin Moore store near school where I'm sure several art/fashion students flock to for paint chips which are of course free. The sales people don't blink an eye when I step in, armed with my computer print-outs of Vermeer and Sol Le Witt and my art bin which holds an arsenal of paints and colour aid papers, I head straight to back of the store where walls of paint chips in a multitude of hues, shades and intensities await - crying to be chosen by me. I happily gather as many as my heart desires and am never disturbed, disrupted or distracted by the sales people. No weird stares, no "can I help you with anything? but I really want to kick you out, you cheap student!" - just peace and quiet and the whole wall of Benjamin Moore's collection at my disposal.

Fabric swatch collection is a little more tricky and requires a little more manipulation and tactics. First of all, New York's Fashion district is lined with many fabric stores at a designer's disposal. And being in one of the fashion capitals of the world, I'm sure dozens if not hundreds of fashion students go to these stores to source fabrics for their projects - fabrics which they do not purchase, but merely use for presentation and mood boards. I am one of these students. Now, the rule in this particular store is that each student cannot swatch more than 10-15 fabrics. What I learnt on this fabric swatching trip, was the subtle but effective method of choosing the right people to swatch for you. What many people don't realise is that when you enter a fabric store, you cannot simply whip out your own scissors and cut whatever fabrics you want - you require the assistance of a staff person to do it for you.

Now, you can see how frustrating this can be, when the number of people sourcing fabric versus the number of staff that can help you is improportionately imbalanced. There are clearly more students/designers than staff - thus making swatching an extremely challenging task, especially when the store is 3 storeys big. First, you need to find a staff person amidst the isles of chiffon, jersey knits and tweeds. Second, you need to hang on to that staff person before another student steals him away. Third, once you have his attention, you need to hide from his attention the fact that you already have 30 swatches of fabric and kicks you out of the store. Although, that night when I was there I came across 2 types of staff: a) the one who is anal about the number of swatches you collect and really isn't in the mood to follow you around and cut swatches for you or b) the one who doesn't care how many swatches you collect, is super friendly and even suggests the matching fabrics to go with the ones you already have in your hand!

Note to all swatch collectors: bring a bag to keep your swatches - that way, you can easily hide them from prying eyes. Happy sourcing!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Crap!

There was a spanking new Expedit bookshelf unit sitting downstairs in the garbage/recycling room but I was alone and could not lift the unit up myself! DAMMIT! So 30mins later, when I went to put my laundry into the dryer - it was gone. And 10 mins later, one of my room-mates came home from school. $#^%&^*@.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

NYC - NJ - LI Adventures

Weekend highlights
Damien Hirst's Shark
NYC Rain
Rice Pudding for dessert
NJ IKEA stress

The LIRR
DS Lite Entertainment
I learned Sudoku
The sucky NY Islander Game
Yakitori supper
Another awesome weekend with my boy!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

He's here again!

Lexington and 57th 3:40pm - Window shopping
here's something incredibly romantic walking around NYC in the sprinkly rain.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Things I see/feel/hear/smell while commuting around NYC

  • ALWAYS an ambulance, fire engine or police car with their sirens on (it doesn't help that I live near both a fire hall and a hospital)
  • Buskers - some showing their wares of creativity, others simply just showing off their wares, and ones who shameless just ask for spare change (aka beggars but I'm trying to be PC here)
  • The glorious smell of puke (like I did this morning while walking to school) somewhere on the sidewalk, where you constantly look around while waiting to cross the road, to see where the disgusting smell is emanating.
  • The dripperty drip of an air conditioner - note: this is a regular experience, you've never truly experienced New York until you experience a semi-cold drip of some liquid
  • and you're not quite sure if it was air-con condensation or someone's spit or bird crap.
  • The bumps and sidewalk stepping while trying to get anywhere. I'm not quite sure why but everyone here seems to walk faster which in turn makes you walk faster, when really you don't have any reason to. I feel compelled to rush everywhere I go, on the bus, the street and in the subway.
  • Dogs - lots of dogs. And dog poo too. It seems in the big city of New York, people are so hurried and busy that they barely have time to social relationships of any genuine kind. The result? Fuzzy, loyal, four-legged companions, by the dozens, all over every single park, tree and green space you can imagine. I miss Digby...
  • Men in suits after 5pm, walking around with their pressed, crisp shirts in clear laundry bags.
  • Women in suits before 9am, walking around in flip flops with their heels in their work bags.
  • High school kids at 3pm, swarming all over the bus stops, subways - screaming, yelling, simply being a nuisance.
  • Coffee/tea/pastry vendors all over the city in the morning - I know one I always go to outside my school who cheerfully wishes me "Good morning", calls me "Gorgeous" and serves me my tea or coffee and my jelly doughnut every Tuesday morning. Nothing makes your morning, when someone calls you "Gorgeous" even when you're wearing yesterday's stinky tee and no makeup. Hee!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Out of place?

Being Asian, I realise I'm a minority in North America. Growing up in Singapore, I'm not a stranger to multiculturalism or racial diversity and moving to Vancouver, I embraced the multiculturalism prevalent in my new home. Now, moving to New York, I am once again surrounded by people from different cultures and countries but never once, did I ever feel out of place at any point in time, until today...

Scenario 1:
I was invited to a Korean church service by a classmate of mine. I consider myself to be an easy-going and an open minded individual so I cheerfully went, knowing that the service would be entirely in Korean! I was told though, that there would be a translation of sorts via headset but unfortunately, it didn't work! So I went through the entire service in Korean! Being Singaporean, I always thought I had the upperhand being able to speak English while living in North America - while many Asian immigrants struggle in this area. But today while at service, I truly felt out of place. Not understanding the sermon or what people were saying or sharing really felt awkward, jarringly awkward. However, the congregation was extremely friendly and nice and made me feel comfortable, especially when everyone of them spoke English!


Scenario 2:
I was at the Apple Store in SoHo and while I was waiting, I did what I usually do when I'm bored - I people-watch. After about 10 minutes of observing, I came to realise that I was surrounded by gay couples. There was a lesbian couple sitting next to me, a gay couple infront of me and behind me. There was a gay guy with his friend in the skinniest jeans and beautifully tweezed eyebrows walking around the area I was waiting in. His gay companion, carrying the latest YSL bag, a pashmina wrapped around his neck and True Religion jeans. Boy, did I feel out of place. Here I was, straight and happily straight, I felt awkward being the only straight person in the small square feet of space around me. Awkward...

Friday, October 5, 2007

I'm in Boston

once again, for Canadian Thanksgiving with two fifths of the Lee clan - its Turkey hunting and debauchery in the kitchen! Hahahaha!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Chinatown is growing on me...

So every other weekend or so Jordan makes his bus trip from Boston down to New York City - what has now become the reliable, safe and clean Chinatown bus has become a bi-weekly occurence, whether its me going up or him coming down. For Jordan's part of the journey (which I'm sure he'll blog about one day) it starts off at South Station, where there is a bus depot, T stop and train station all nicely laid out in what would be best described as a Grand Central station fashion or even close to Main Street Terminal in downtown Vancouver. Needless to say, its clean, organized and well-laid out with signs, gate numbers and escalators etc.

Enter NYC, the Lucky Star bus as well as the Fung Wah bus snails across the Manhattan bridge and you enter Chinatown, only to realise that when they told you its the Chinatown bus, it literally means the Chinatown bus, right smack in the middle of Chinatown. You get off the bus and you're greeted by the sights, sounds and smells of what is Chinatown NY - the largest Chinatown in North America. It seems no one speaks English here and there is no such thing as a clean street - not even 1 square inch. Of course, once you find the person you're meeting here (ie. me) getting home is another feat in itself.

You drag your rollerboard down uneven pavements, through crowds shopping and chattering asian aunties and uncles. You drag yourself and your luggage down the stairs into the Subway station where it reeks of raw, wet fish from the market above. Ahhh..the smells of a wet market are really the signs which let you know you're in Chinatown once you arrive in the subway station. Then its the jostling to get into the subway itself while an old chinese man plays the "er hu" and fills the station with its piercing acoustics.

Chinatown in NY is not for the faint hearted.

And I'm slowly becoming accustomed to NY's loudness, especially since I'm in Chinatown every other weekend either going to Boston or receiving Jordan who's coming here. (but really, NY is loud, too loud if you ask me) Today, I attempted to go grocery shopping at Dynasty Supermarket for the 2nd time. The 1st time was, well, culture shock for me. I was with my Dad and it was my 1st week in NY - overwhelmed by the city itself and then being lost in the largest Chinatown in North America, my experience grocery shopping was not a good one. Being used to the large and very clean TNT in Vancouver - Dynasty was a let-down. I admit, I took TNT supermarket for granted big time. I couldn't even find a decent packet milk tea! And such a limited selection of snacks, condiments and drinks. But my 2nd attempt today, proved to be a little more successful.


I found: Lipton's packet milk tea and MILO!!!! I felt like I hit the jackpot! Milo! I can have my milo in the mornings now! I happily picked up some other groceries and was on my way home. So, Chinatown isn't so bad really...it just takes a little getting used to and being familiar with wet-market smells.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Shopping 101 in NYC

No, unfortunately, I'm not referring to the type of shopping that involves insane amounts of clothes, bags, shoes and lovely trinkets (although that is extremely satisfying in this city as my girlfriend and I found out on Friday in SoHo - Vita 24k gold plated, snakeskin bracelets! SCORE!!!)

The shopping I'm referring to is the grocery shopping and houseware shopping which is seemingly almost impossible here in NYC. First of all, my room mates are I ventured to go grocery shopping this weekend - BIG MISTAKE. Never, even venture Whole Foods or Trader Joe's on the weekend & weekday evenings. The lines go on forever, literally, snaking around the grocery store. Furthermore, the prices are ridiculous here! Whole Foods has a wonderful selection of organic food but whose prices are WAAAY beyond the student budget! What happened to good 'ole Save-On Foods and Safeway?! Apparently, suburban supermarkets are non-existent in Manhattan (let alone decent Chinese supermarkets! The ones in Chinatown here are ghetto and so lacking in variety...I MISS TNT!)

Secondly, IKEA is house & home mothership is not even in Manhattan! And its $99 to deliver! IKEA is about 40mins away in New Jersey - and seeing that I don't have a car - this poses as a problem because everything I want and need, which is within my budget, is there. And I have to resort to buying my necessities from Bed, Bath & Beyond which clearly isn't as cheap as $1.99 tableware. So, my apartment is still fairly empty but slowly but surely I'm trying to making it look like a home - since I know my room mates aren't going to.

Today, I bought a dust buster, shoe rack, Brita water pitcher and casserole dish. I'm trying to save as much as possible for my trip to IKEA with Jordan when he's here one weekend and we can rent a zipcar! (which is cheaper than $99 deliver btw...)

I can't wait to have my own place...!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I have cable!

Bright and early at 9:30am the cable guy came to install cable for my pretty, white Samsung 23" LCD! At last!!! I have tv in my room because my roomies have turned the living room into a library/study hall - so no go for putting the tv there or getting a couch. The apartment is still pretty empty and I plan to make a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond this weekend to get some more stuff for the place.

Now, on with the rest of the day...its Thursday - so its gonna be a busy one!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

You know you go to Parsons when: (these are the ones i relate to)

  • Nobody stands out, because everybody stands out.
  • Even the janitors wear skinny jeans
  • You go to Utrecht (the art supplies store) at least 3 times a week.
  • People automatically assume youre going into fashion..because they don't know Parsons does anything else.
  • You've walked up 9 flights of stairs carrying a toolbox and or portfolio that weighs more than you
  • You've been uncomfortably close to atlast 10 people at a time in the elevator.
  • You're not fat...because parsons doesn't accept fat people. That's actually a good thing because you have to wait long enought to squeeze into an elevator in the first place.
  • You have cut yourself at least once with wire, olfa, exacto, or maybe even bristol board.
  • If you commute to school...too bad..because teachers don't have sympathy at the New School. The only school where attendance absolutely matters & you get kicked out for being absent 3 times (even when you're in grad school)
  • Over 70% of the student population is female...the rest mostly gay...and very few lesbians...that's a lot of unhappy women..which is why they keep 'em so busy.
  • Your room looks like Utrecht vomited.
  • If you registration starts at 8 am, all the classes you want will be full by 8:15, and your schedule won't work. Oh, you want core classes? Too bad.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Baaawston

I'm in Boston y'all. See ya after the weekend.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

damn i miss my car...

After living in NYC for approximately 2 weeks or so, I would never dream of driving or owning a car in this city. Parking rates are exhorbitant. Traffic is insane and manouvering around the city is suicide. The ridiculous amounts of noise pollution generated from the incessant honkings of taxi cabs and cars can drive one mad - although I believe most New Yorkers are either deaf or have mastered the art of tuning out traffic sounds such as ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, taxi honks, subways and loud pedestrains. Everything here is loud, Loud, LOUD!

I live close by to a hospital/medical centre - so the sound of ambulances has become a natural occurence in my neighbourhood. Around my school, right on 5th and around Union Square, taxis and cars alike insist of using their horns on every living or non-living moving object. I bet you they even honk the pigeons.

However, this morning, I found myself wishing I drove a car. The inconceivable amount of supplies I have to carry to school is bordering on refugee status (if that is at all PC in this day and age) Today, I had to lug my school bag (which by the way is in no way large enough t hold everything for risk of breaking my beloved bag's straps), my portfolio which is 18x24" and a plastic bag of textile textbooks (with fabric swatches) which were far too heavy to put into my school bag. (It DID NOT HELP when the plastic bag chose to rip 100metres into the subway..##%Y%U@*!)

To make matters worse - the subway was taking a million years to arrive, with more and more people streaming in by the dozens only to make the subway station 5 times hotter and muggier than it normally is. I gave up - I decided to take a cab. But in the typical Murphy's Law fashion - there were no cabs to be had. By this time, I had bumped into 2 fellow school mates of mine and we decided it might be best to walk to school, bag, portfolio & broken plastic bag in tow. I wasn't the only one with a ripped bag - nor was I the only one who looked like a fool walking down Union Square looking like a homeless fella without a shopping cart. Thankfully, the rain which was pouring earlier had stopped...for now.

I made it to school in time, in tact and utterly unglamourously, with all my stuff and a very sweaty polo t-shirt. I was not alone. Some poor girl in my class got caught in a subway stall from Jersey because the SWAT team decided to hold it up for no apparent reason, well, not really, the reason was it is 9/11 today. I vowed I'd get myself a bigger school bag, with the capacity to hold all my textbooks and notebooks. I happily picked up a art box today to keep all my art supplies - paints, markers, pencils, palettes, brushes, rulers, etc rather than stuffing it into my school bag at risk of staining it.

Why the hell do we need to carry so much sh*t? I am a Fashion Marketing student, not Design damnit! Don't let me even begin to harp on how much I have spent purchasing the supplies and the amount of running around New York finding art shops that sell a Liquid Expresso pen specified by my prof! Sigh. The madness continues.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

he's here!

NYC Weekend Highlights: Jordan bussed down for a visit - we spent the glorious weekend eating, sleeping, walking, sweating in the subway and checking out Times Square, 5th Ave & The new Apple Store.

*suds*

i loaded up the dishwasher, put the dishwashing liquid in...
came back a few minutes later to find suds coming out of the machine!
omg...i spent the next hour or so cleaning up the kitchen floor and the dishwasher with my room-mates! the result: my aching back.

note to self & all those who are blur like me: never put non-dishwasher safe dishwashing liquid into a dishwasher (even if it says dishwashing liquid) and READ THE MANUAL BEFORE USE!

Friday, September 7, 2007

We're the luckiest girls ever!



Backstage at Fashion Week in the coveted Bryant Park tents!
Our professor arranged a trip to Fashion Week to get a tour of the tents, no promises were made about catching a show because admittance is invitation only. However, the IMG PR & Operations guy who was giving us our tour managed to get us in for the Chaiken show and we even got to fill the seats of the no-shows! I sat on the 3rd row and caught all the action! It was sooo exciting and I truly felt so previledged and blessed. Not to mention, the instant cool-factor when you step out of the tents into Bryant Park where hopefuls gather to see if they can catch a way in or a sneak peek at famous so-and-sos coming out along with the papparazzi tailing behind.

After the show, we hung around to snap our own photos to capture the moment and then managed to slip backstage with the help of a photographer who was trying to pick all 5 of us up at the same time. Nevertheless, we followed the models out of the tent into the park and parted ways. I went home to get on my hands & knees to clean up my apartment to make way for my boyfriend's arrival. How glamourous.

jackpot!!!

Good God - I am truly blessed.

Yesterday I managed to get into the 3pm Fashion Industry Makreting class AND score a chance to go to NY's most coveted Fashion Week. My prof is taking our class to the tents at Bryant Park today - although I'm not sure what show we're seeing exactly - Nevertheless, its an awesome opportunity and I'm stressing as to what to wear as I type this! Whoppeeee!!!

Photos to come soon and Jordan's coming to NYC today! *YAY*

Thursday, September 6, 2007

how the hell do i get into Fashion Week?!

apparently, its like finding the Holy Grail.
New York Fashion Week opens today and i have no idea how to go see one of the shows?!
perhaps, i could resort to just hanging around the tents...
getting into a show is one of the hardest things, unless you know someone or you're in the industry. which is why i'm in Parsons - so i can get into these things...*argh*

Monday, September 3, 2007

"Ga-lang Guni"

So i head downstairs to do my laundry and as i'm exiting to go back upstairs, lo & behold i spot a spanking new IKEA BILLY bookcase in birchwood sittin by the recycling / garbage area. Immediately, my Singaporean "kiasu/cheapo/cheap-ass" instincts kick in and i scurry upstairs to inform my roommate of the delightful teasure of trash i've discovered. She jumps up from her desk and hurries downstairs with me to attempt to lug it to our apartment. Thankfully, living on the mezzanine floor is a blessing in this case and having elevators in the building are a bonus! We lug it out of the garbage area into the elevator and to our apartment, where now it sits happily in the corner of our dining / study area ready to be filled.

Ahh..there's nothing like free furniture. One less piece to buy! YAY!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Labour Day Long Weekend

The long weekend is here and thus far, I've had an eventful one. Met up with a couple of friends for some meals, did some art supplies shopping and went to the Mac Store on 5th Ave.
Most eventful was the MoMA PS:1 Warm Up i went to with an ex-JC schoolmate and some newly made friends. Here's an excerpt from the website as to what it really is:

"Warm Up is P.S.1's critically acclaimed music series and has become one of the most anticipated summer events. The series is housed within the architectural installation created by the winner of the annual P.S.1 and MoMA organized Young Architects Program . Together, the music, architecture and exhibition program provide a unique multi-sensory experience for music fans, artists, and families alike."

PS:1 involved much of the following: walking around aimlessly in Queens, lining up for beer, seeing house appliances get mutilated in the name of art, live funky music bands, trying to find a decent diner in Queens, getting lost whilst trying to find the after-party in Queens' industrial area, Manhattan's skyline by night & taking the New York Water Taxi. Not too shabby for my 1st official long weekend in NYC huh?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

toilet troubles

I am officially the problem solver of the apartment - i fixed the internet, (well, actually Jordan fixed the internet but I fixed by proxy) i dealt with the phone company so now we can get a phone line and most recently, i fixed the toilet. i've also been know to perform feats of strength (ie. opening mayo jars, lifting beds and moving desks...) *thank you sifu for all that strength training* hahaha! Those Korean girls really need to eat some MEAT.

yay! internet!

it's 8:30am and i'm waiting for my PIN from the school to be sent via email so i can register for my classes this Fall....so are the other 300 people in the AAS programs as well. so today is the glorious day when the whole world of new students at AAS register, i'm wondering if the school servers can handle it...the last thing we need is a major crash in the system *touch wood*

good news is: the furniture is finally coming today! so i'm going to be home for most of the time to ensure the furniture gets placed properly. last night, i had a heck of a time with the internet but thankfully all it needed was a call to my very, own, very personal IT support over in Boston and all is well with the wireless in my apartment! *thanks baby!* i still need to settle with the telephone jack issue though...there are none in the apartment! so i need to figure out how to get those installed...

yesterday was another day filled with advising appointments, socializing orientations, international students orientation and a campus tour. discovered several canadians, mostly east coasters though. no singaporeans as yet, although i did hear there was 1 malaysian from the UK but i don't think she's in the Fashion program.

i'm happy to report that my area is very convenient, littered with grocery stores, restaurants, delis, bagel shops, pharmacies, dry cleaners, banks etc. the subway is less than a 3 minute walk from my front door and there are bus stops all along the street. its supposed to be an up and coming area, it feels very Yaletownish but at the same time, it also feels like a University town too and you gotta love 'em squirrels..hahaha!

and i just received this email:
Dear AAS Students,I understand that you have not received your alt-pin for registration yet. No students have been emailed alt-pins yet; you are not the only one. All students will be emailed the alt-pin list by 9:30am. We apologize for the delay.

its undergrad all over again...

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Pooped

So no furniture yet. But I met my room mates - they are both korean and aimable. They brought everything though...rice cooker, pots, pans - all in 2 suitcases! I on the otherhand, sheepishly lugged in 3 suitcases of nothing but clothes, accessories and shoes. Much to my roomies amazement. Hahahaha. In true fashion style. Hee.

I forsee our apartment being furnitureless in the living and dining room - my roomies aren't going to be around for more than a year so investing in furniture isn't worth their while. But we still need a place to eat! I'm looking into renting furniture possibly or at least a large coffee table and some throw cushions.

Went shopping today. Note to self: make reservations for car rentals. No IKEA or Target today cos, no car :( So Bed, Bath and Beyond it is to purchase only the basics. I'm leaving the rest to my trip to Jersey. Ventured to Chinatown as well - I was overwhelmed by how huge it is! It felt nothing like North America - it felt like I was in Asia! Everything and everyone was asian, chattering of foreign tongues and Chinese characters on all the store signs - it was like Hong Kong all over again! Note to self: bring all visitors to Chinatown! but not on weekends... After getting lost - we eventually found the absolute necessity of all Asians - an Asian supermarket. (Thank God for Google maps on my phone!) My respects and gratitude go out to TNT - Deluxe and Dynasty Supermarkets are nothing compared to TNT back home! TNT I MISS U! Even managed to steal a drink at a cool bubble tea spot! ;)

Orientation tomorrow. I'm pooped.

Hello New York City!

This blog is a chronicle of a new chapter in my life for family, friends and anyone else who cares: My little life in large Mahanttan - being away from home for the first-time, attempting to feed myself and educate myself on Big Apple living and lifestyles.

Finally, I'm here.We arrived late last night and went to the deli across the street to buy some food.After our showers, we settled into our lovely Marriot hotel room on Lexington.
It is an old hotel and very much a beautiful one too, with an old world, black and white art deco feel. Our beds are soft and fluffy, typical of all Marriots.

This morning, we went to collect the keys to my apartment. After a line-up and photo-taking Aftering lining up for keys and photo-taking for ID - we went to scope out the apartment. Its located in the East Village about a 15-20minute walk to school. The building is old, but everything inside it is brand new! The smell of fresh paint permeated the rooms and I was relieved to find air-conditioners in every room!


bedroom
kitchen
living/dining
bathroom

After checking out the apartment, we decided to take a walk to find my school. The streets are lined with old brick buildings, small stores, rod-iron fire escapes, very much like how you see it on television. It is hot and extremely humid. We're working up a sweat just walking! We find 5th Ave in Downtown, after going through Union Square and several weekend markets to look for an AT&T to activate my new NY cell phone - and eventually find my school, not before stopping by H&M and Coach and walking by many familiar US stores like J.Crew, Banana Republic, Kenneth Cole, Juicy Couture etc! And this is just 5th Ave downtown!! Not even close to mid-town or uptown! Geeee....


Lunch is at a pasta and pizzeria. Yum yum....

Took a subway back to Lexington (trains are ACed but stations aren't!) and retreaed from the heat and humidity. I signed online to set up my phone with iTunes and registered with AT&T. After an hour of trouble shooting - I finally did it. And then it was off to dinner with my Dad's friends at Picholine and then back to the hotel to watch some National Georgraphic, as we are doing now!