So you think you're in the middle of the ocean?

They're re-painting the new digs so I'm still at Amy's. The walls which were gold and spattered with purple (Maxx colors) are now the standard white that come with any new place. Smells like paint. Noxious.

1. Do you believe in love? Why or why not? I do. But it's fleeting. I think that it ebbs and flows with everyone.
2. What is beauty? Something that makes you think. You can see the beauty in a rubik's cube, or a line from Gabriel Garcia Lorca.
3. Where did you grow up? Do you think that environment significantly influenced who you are today? How and why? Midland/Odessa area. Yes, in some ways I feel it influenced me. When I moved to the Dallas area, I was astounded by having trees and narrow streets and huge houses. I think where I grew up I learned to appreciate the small things.
4. Describe your most memorable dream (night dream, not aspiration). What, if anything, do you think it means? Watching a parade. I don't have any clue, it was really long and really colorful, and people were smiling and laughing. It was a very surprising dream.
5. What are the top five things you need to be happy/content? to be content? I've always been envious of the guy from the Twilight Zone that survived the apocalypse and was left with all the books...until his glasses broke. There's always been a part of me that would just be content to be surrounded by books. As for the other four, I could give a stock answer (friends, chocolate, sunlight) but I just feel that the happiest I could be is just spending an enormous amount of time reading.

7. Who is your favorite author? Douglas Coupland with a bullet. Michael Chabon, Johnathan Lethem, John Steinbeck, Bret Easton Ellis. The writers which I can connect with.
8. What material possessions would you have the hardest time giving up? My Hahoe mask. I've carried it from Denton, to Big Spring to NYC.
9. Do you think prostitution is immoral/wrong? Why or why not? No. I don't feel that it's wrong. People make their own choices regardless of society or religious constraints. I think those choices are their's alone, and I wouldn't feel right passing judgment.
10. Which do you feel is more important - art or science? Science. I feel that science is the proof in the pudding. Art inspires emotion, but I feel that science is what really drives civilization forward.
11. What constitutes a work of art? Anything and everything that provokes you on more than one level. Amoebas under a microscope could be seen as art.
12. Who is your favorite artist? Rene Magritte. Surrealism always wins me over.
13. What do you tell yourself to make yourself feel better when you're bummed? Everything always gets better.
14. Describe your most satisfying sexual experience (not limited to intercourse).
Being with someone that you know that you love.
15. Is living by a code of ethics important to you? If so, what are those ethics? I do. Don't ask me why. I have a certain system set up in my brain.
16. Do you think evil exists? If so, what constitutes evil? Evil is the root of everything. Just like science, the passion to commit crimes and murder and take candy from children is another thing that drives society forward. Native Son- Richard Wright is a prime example.
17. What is the best gift you've ever received? Why was it so perfect? I still say Hahoe mask. Because it's the sentiment behind it. It's like a real turning point in my life having it around.

19. What are you most afraid of? Thinking that I'll be 40 years old and still trying to get dates. I call it at that age.
20. Are you religious? If so, what religion do you subscribe to, and why? If not, what religion do you feel is most similar to your beliefs?Ha, subscribe to. I still feel that Judaism is probably the most satisfying (to me) to relate to the Western idea of God. Christianity has watered itself down to t-shirt sales and lines of people wanting to stand near Joel Olsteen. No thanks.
21. What are you most ashamed of? Shying away from opportunities.
22. If you could erase one event from your past, what would it be, and why? Nothing. I think it's all important.
23. What does it mean to be "pure"? Innocence.
24. What are your favorite websites? nytimes.com, gothamist.com, wikipedia.org, achewood.com
25. What story do you tell the most often? Tell me. How I moved to Denton on a whim. Putting your finger on a map and just moving is gratifying. I had no clue about North Texas, no idea where Denton or what Denton was even. I just hauled all my stuff into a minivan and the next day I'm in Denton.
27. What relatively obscure thing do you know EVERYTHING (or almost everything) about, and why does it interest you? Music history. I have a knack for knowing dates, people- anything to do with music. It just clicks with me.
28. How do you feel about pornography? What separates porn from "erotica"? Erotica is what you do when you try to make pornography into art. When you want to provoke another emotion besides lust.
29. What is the most disturbing thing you've ever seen on film? Amy brought this up the other day- Silent Hill. Her and Jane kept their eyes covered while I watched the horror. It was graphic. Needlessly graphic.
30. Is ignorance bliss? Absolutely.

I saw the Statue of Liberty from a very long distance. I know it usually equates freedom, but all I could think about was Ghostbusters.

I've finally gotten a close concept of the train layout.
I'm no expert or scientist like Ryan and Amy when it comes to catching them in the perfect place and hoisting themselves from one case of stairs to the next in order for a shorter ride, but I can get from Williamsburg to Madison Square Garden in about 30 min.
My new place isn't too far, only two or three more stops from Amy/Ryan's place on the L. It's in a rent controlled building on the first floor. Share with some Rutgers students -one, a painter who studies organic chemistry, another Chinese acrobat who at the time is in China with her family and performing, and last an experimental musician with a ton of electronic drum kits. They're all really nice, a bit granola around the edges, but still great people. We're actually having a bbq (the place has a backyard) when everything gets a bit mellow after school starts and people find their way.
Work is work. Border's is like this social experiment -take a bunch of people not from NYC and let them sell books to a lot of other people not from NYC. We do a lot of tourists and students, mostly from Europe. It's actually a time that I really like my job.
Rundown on what I've learned:
drink (beer)= $6
single mixed drink = $12
double mixed drink = never will know.
cab ride anywhere = $10-$30
Craigslist = Everyone uses it for everything.
hot dog- $2.00
part-time job = everyone has one, no matter what profession. Accountant/Dog Groomer. It happens.
iced coffee @ Gimme! Coffee= $1.95.
VitaminWater = Hell of all sorts of popular.
boogers = you don't know what's in your nose, ever.
shoes = buy trainers. No one cares if they match anything, buy fucking bright ass white Nikes and wear dark suits all the time.
homeless people = don't bother you really.
thugged out dudes = don't bother you really.

Got to stand next to Brian Posehn as a clueless bill handler handed him a show bill for a comedy show that was happening at the same time he was taping the Comedy Central show. Priceless.

Excuse me, your friend is throwing up. You need to do something about it.

Man.
Some guy took a shit in a bag on the train, or shat in the bag and then carried it onto the train, or just had a bag of shit with him just in case, but man, I've never seen a car empty so quick. He was looking around all sad eyed, thinking outside of the box.
"I'm not a slave to the toilet like you rich coffee drinking scum. No. I shit in this big yellow bag, because I'm not a conformist."

I have another appointment to see an apartment tomorrow morning, not too far from Amy (which is the ideal setup) but I'm ready just to say okay, let's just do this. It doesn't sound like a bad place at all, within price range, utilities, etc. I spend most of my time at work, I have no furniture. I only know a handful of people (except I ran into a guy checking out at work today who was in Baird's Dylan class) so it's not like I'm going to get things on a lot.

People wonder why I don't have an accent when they find out I'm from Texas.

Big City Nights

I stepped in what I think was sewer water. Probably not, because a guy let his schnauzer drink from it, but still there was something that floated by.

Already viewed two places to move into. One is real close to Amy and Ryan- and really really close to the J train. Like, near enough that it rattles things sitting near the window. It was a one bedroom that I'd have to share with TWO OTHER DUDES. No. Can't. Plus, we sort of all agree for the price that he wanted I'd be paying his rent too. Shady.

The second place was in Prospect Park, near Park Slope and the brownstones that looked as if Theo was walking out and into the street to eat a Popsicle. It's also the neighborhood they used for early SNL backdrops. Fourth floor, great space- but I'm just a candidate. There were other people there to see the room as well. I'll hear back tomorrow.

Work starts on Friday so I'm sort of in limbo. Just riding the trains and walking to
gimme! coffee in the mornings. It's only a few blocks up.

I need directions to the hospital.

Denton, you made me remember that I have a drinking problem. Not so much as a problem, but one of those everything-happens-at-once-and-it's-almost-too-much-to handle problems.

I've been in Denton since Thursday afternoon, and it's a bit like that scene in What Dreams May Come when Robin William's realizes everything that surrounds him right then are memories and things from his past life. It's a homecoming. I feel great about little d in ways I still can't feel about where I grew up. Someone once told me that they couldn't see me living anywhere else but Denton, and sometimes I wonder how much truth is in that.
I miss a lot about being here, but at the same time, I'm moving to NYC tomorrow morning.

After graduation and having to take 1,000,000 photos with professors ( both Armintor, Cheliah, Simpkins, Baird) and getting my letters of recommendation from them I realized that out of the entire College of Arts- English graduating class, Christian and I were the only two Creative Writing majors. That seemed strange to me.

I don't feel like I've made a lot of bad decisions in my life. I was telling Brian at Lou's when I started playing music it was because of Motley' Crue's Girls, Girls, Girls video, and we seriously had to laugh, and then cry, and then drink.
I know that the heaviest things are happening right now though. It's been a summer that has really defined things to come. I try not to think about how people move to escape things. I only think about moving forward, not backward. I'm not escaping to NYC, I think I'm trying to break back into a life that I once lived, but try to do it better this time.

New York now leads the world's great cities in the number of people around whom you shouldn't make a sudden move.

I have exactly a week before my plane touches ground again at LaGuardia, and I'm packing like crazy.
What to take? I know that my parents will send a number of boxes of random things over the next few months, but what do I need now?
Drew is somewhat of a help. Steena just tells me it's too humid to think about questions. Amy, God bless Amy Kessler. That's all I can say about her.

I've been searching around for blogs about people moving to NYC for the first, time, how it went, what to expect etc. Metafilter has helped a lot.
But I mean, it doesn't go into too much detail. I think maybe I should start one. I mean an offshoot of this one. Thoughts?

That's what you call a saucy banana.