Sunday, April 26, 2009
Can you give me directions...to your heart?
Matt and Kim... I still need a new pair of glasses. After that errant crowd surfer decided to kick me in the face...
So yesterday I think, was the first hot day of forever. Winter never seemed so good.
Our trip down to PA wasn't bad until we turned onto the New Jersey Turnpike. 3 hours of stifling traffic due to a wreck... 3 hours stuck on the New Jersey Turnpike. It boded well for me as I finished the New School Lit Magazine I had picked up and started The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. So far so good. I didn't really give it a chance the first time I picked it up, but I think there's something that Junot Diaz has, in the same vein why Nicholson Baker is so popular.
- I need to start packing for the move back to Bushwick, t-minus one month.
- Costa Rica trip plan. Gotta get planning.
- GRE Studying still going in full force.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Cause tonight Im gonna take that ride, across the river to the Jersey side...
I find myself a lot more in New Jersey these days.
The stigma behind New Jersey reminds me of the stigma between Texas and Oklahoma. Analogy: New York is to New Jersey as Texas is to Oklahoma.
I remember a time when I drove to see Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers show in Norman, OK. Making the 2 1/2 drive you don't really notice much- there's not much difference between one highway to the next. The landscape doesn't really change much either, still mostly flat, the occasional gathering of rolling hills, real Zane Grey stuff if you catch my drift.
But for numerous reasons, Oklahoma and Texas are worlds apart, just as New Jersey and New York are worlds apart. A simple imaginary line, just an etching on some 200 year old map and now you have a cultural clash you can equate with the Britons and the Gauls.
True, neither is as picturesque as the other wants it to be: New York is the place of high rise apartments, crowded streets and the exercise in opportunity where New Jersey is treated as a bastard step-child of modern America. Which I feel is not so. This isn't denying the half-baked New Yorker in me (I say half-baked because it will only be a full two years come August), but New Jersey, you don't deserve it. You got all the best parts that New York lacks, and you're closer to us than any Westchester or Orange Counties burg may be. Plus, you're the epitome of American youth culture.
Forget the big cities, you want youth culture, you have to look at Orange County, California or Livingston, New Jersey. You're not going to hit the middle of the mark any more than these two places. They scream Hollister. They scream American Apparel. They scream bands like 3oh!3 and The Metro. It's Valley Girl-mallesque all over.
Yes, Tom Petty, Free Fallin' at it's best.
So, New Jersey, don't take it so hard. You're all right by me.
The stigma behind New Jersey reminds me of the stigma between Texas and Oklahoma. Analogy: New York is to New Jersey as Texas is to Oklahoma.
I remember a time when I drove to see Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers show in Norman, OK. Making the 2 1/2 drive you don't really notice much- there's not much difference between one highway to the next. The landscape doesn't really change much either, still mostly flat, the occasional gathering of rolling hills, real Zane Grey stuff if you catch my drift.
But for numerous reasons, Oklahoma and Texas are worlds apart, just as New Jersey and New York are worlds apart. A simple imaginary line, just an etching on some 200 year old map and now you have a cultural clash you can equate with the Britons and the Gauls.
True, neither is as picturesque as the other wants it to be: New York is the place of high rise apartments, crowded streets and the exercise in opportunity where New Jersey is treated as a bastard step-child of modern America. Which I feel is not so. This isn't denying the half-baked New Yorker in me (I say half-baked because it will only be a full two years come August), but New Jersey, you don't deserve it. You got all the best parts that New York lacks, and you're closer to us than any Westchester or Orange Counties burg may be. Plus, you're the epitome of American youth culture.
Forget the big cities, you want youth culture, you have to look at Orange County, California or Livingston, New Jersey. You're not going to hit the middle of the mark any more than these two places. They scream Hollister. They scream American Apparel. They scream bands like 3oh!3 and The Metro. It's Valley Girl-mallesque all over.
Yes, Tom Petty, Free Fallin' at it's best.
So, New Jersey, don't take it so hard. You're all right by me.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Abstract expressionism is so mid-to-late eighties.
I haven't updated since my birthday- age 28 is a busy time in one's life.
- L Magazine Reading- I attended the first in a series of L Magazine readings Thursday at The Slipper Room. It's been a long time since I've gone to any readings or any part of any reading series so it was good. Really helps getting into the swing of things. I'm not going to be critcal of the stories themselves- sorry. I'm not in that mindframe right now (that equals not enough coffee).
- The dreaded GRE- This is what you take when you're unhappy with your job and you need to get out. It sort of feels like a get rich quick scheme, like this is the test to prove that your ready to actually have a life and not just stew in the post-undergraduate world until you climb the corporate ladder. I'm applying to a few schools outside of NYC, on in NYC, and hopefully get into Toulouse, which is back in Denton. So, Anomaly, equivocal, erudite, lucid, opaque, precipitate, prodigal, enigma, fervid, placate,zeal, and assuage. These are only 12 of the words I need to incorporate into my vocabulary.
- L Magazine Reading- I attended the first in a series of L Magazine readings Thursday at The Slipper Room. It's been a long time since I've gone to any readings or any part of any reading series so it was good. Really helps getting into the swing of things. I'm not going to be critcal of the stories themselves- sorry. I'm not in that mindframe right now (that equals not enough coffee).
- The dreaded GRE- This is what you take when you're unhappy with your job and you need to get out. It sort of feels like a get rich quick scheme, like this is the test to prove that your ready to actually have a life and not just stew in the post-undergraduate world until you climb the corporate ladder. I'm applying to a few schools outside of NYC, on in NYC, and hopefully get into Toulouse, which is back in Denton. So, Anomaly, equivocal, erudite, lucid, opaque, precipitate, prodigal, enigma, fervid, placate,zeal, and assuage. These are only 12 of the words I need to incorporate into my vocabulary.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Oh, you are totally underestimating the never-say-die scrappiness of a survivor.
Returning from the success of my brother's wedding (it was nothing short of Cowboys boots made of pure chocolate and champagne dreams)I realized that the week sped past to my birthday today.
Everyone knows that people like Rodney King and Dr. Demento were born today, but did you know that the Club Alpin Francais was founded today? If you don't believe me find someone who does believe me (or you can simply look it up).
So, pop a cork, cut into a nice Pittsburgh rare, and remember that I am two years away from being 30.
Everyone knows that people like Rodney King and Dr. Demento were born today, but did you know that the Club Alpin Francais was founded today? If you don't believe me find someone who does believe me (or you can simply look it up).
So, pop a cork, cut into a nice Pittsburgh rare, and remember that I am two years away from being 30.
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