Will post more soon!

List of the Day
1) I am really really looking forward to seeing Hugh Jackman in Baz Luhrmann's Australia
2) I got a package full of homemade black and white cookies and brownies from Anita by mail today. Doesn't she know that this is like the WORST gift ever? Especially because they're so delicious!
3) I chatted on gmail video with Bacon and Daniel Stringer and it was, let me tell you, kind of exhilarating (I know, you're thinking how sad)
4) Cathleen and I, the most sarcastic duo on Park Ave. and the most kick-ass interns in our building are going shopping tomorrow, armed with shopping discounts we've amassed through the Asia Society e-mail list serve. Sweeeet.
5) My lips are so chapped. Just think of The Joker's lips (from Batman). Ok they're not THAT bad but they feel that way. I feel incredibly geriatric.
6) I need to catch up on sleep.

On that note, I'm peacing out.

PAYCE!!!

Friends and Autumn in New York

I can't really describe how gorgeous fall in New York city is. The leaves have all changed to red, yellow, and orange and though everyone says its a short-lived phenomenon, it is beautiful nonetheless. The weather is perfect too--comfortably chilly. This is how fall is supposed to be! Its supposed to have pumpkin pie and cornucopia colors! Mmmmmm.... pumpkin pie. This is me, Andrea, and Ann at Central Park. We think that people whose names start with 'A' are way cooler than anyone else. Just kidding. But really.

Andrea, Miguel, and Ann

Good ol' Bethesda Fountain

At the park, there were people practicing parkour. People jumping on park structures, running around. I saw these young children trying to imitate them after they had gone. Their parents were horrified as they witnessed their one son almost crack his head open after falling off a concrete structure.

I am going to do this before I leave!!

Miguel and Mohan

So, you may (or may not) be wondering... what the hell am I doing to keep myself occupied here? Well, too much. Too much. Anyone who knows me knows that food is an essential part of having any kind of fun. So naturally, I've been doing a lot of that.

Hot Pot in Chinatown with (fittingly) China Center folks! (well, ok only 3 of us work at the Center on US-China Relations: Leah, Andrew, and me but we make up the majority anyhow)

left to right: Andrew, me, Alex, Leah, Jason
Side note: Will someone tell me why I always seem to be wearing that same shirt in all my pictures??

If you are craving filling, hot, and spicy Chinese food its gotta be Sichuan hot pot. A boiling pot filled to the brim with red chili peppers was placed in front of us and we went to town-- dumping in spinach, tofu, mushrooms, potatoes, beef, winter melon... good god I can't even recall how much we ordered. The best part about it was that it was so cheap!! Apparently New York prices just don't apply in Chinatown. All of us can speak Mandarin (to varying degrees) but unfortunately Jason's rendition of "Can we have some iced water" left the waitress looking not only confused but perhaps even offended?



The place we went to was called Famous Sichuan (the white banner in the middle) In Chinese its probably translated to something like "Sichuan cuisine outside of Sichuan" (a pretty unsexy English title)

Rogue Wave at Bleecker Street's Le Poisson Rouge

Someone I've gotten to know quite well these few months I've been here isMohan Kanungo who I met through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. Oddly enough, he knows Katelyn as they were both in Key Club together at the same high school. It is a small ass world and I blame facebook.

Anyway, Mohan had tickets to see Rogue Wave for free since the club he worked at, Drom, gets free admission to live shows. Le Poisson Rouge is a really cool venue with décor inspired by 1920’s Paris. Its got fleur de lis patterns on all its red walls and right when you enter, theres a giant fish tank chandelier suspended by metal chains from the ceiling (red fish of course!). They had Jack Daniels specials that night. Hmmm....

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), one of the members of the band got injured and had to cancel. So instead we were treated to a performance of Mini Kiss. Thinking it was just some lame name for a band, we decided to watch it anyway being as we were already there.

We were not expecting an all-midget Kiss tribute band.

The People's History of the United States: Remixed
So, remember Howard Zinn's book "The People's History of the United States"? Its essentially about how the marginalized fought for their rights in American history; African Americans, workers, the urban poor, women, Native Americans, homosexuals and others. It tells a history of the US through their eyes starting with the bloody massacres of the natives when Columbus occupied Hispaniola. It is a depressing book, but it is also a truthful side of history which I believe everyone should know about.
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Hip Hop Theater at NYU decided to put on a show where famous actors and spoken word artists performed the speeches of great orators who led the the fights for greater justice. Among the speeches performed were ones by Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Eugene E. Debs, and Malcolm X.

Of note is Tim Robbins sitting in the 3rd seat from the right. I thought his rendition of Deb's speech was phenomenal. Next to him in the tan jacket is Black Thought from The Roots. It goes without saying that the performances were wonderful. Kudos to Mark, who is a grad student in education at NYU who convinced us all that this was a thing to see. After the show, us girls (me, Andrea, Ann, and Naomi) headed home while the guys (Van, Mark, Miguel, and Mohan) partied with Robbins at the nearby pub. In defense of myself, I didn't know he was going to be there!

Urban Picnics, another Moth Storyslam, and more food

Since Mohan lives where I work (the Upper East Side, where all the rich white people are), he suggested we do an "urban picnic lunch." Here is our spread at Hunter College:

Basically it was leftover Vietnamese noodles, salad, spring rolls, carrots, hummus, homemade pizza, and crackers. A weird combo but great nonetheless.

At "The Bitter End" bar, Mohan tells a story for the Moth Story Slam. The Topic? New Beginnings


Another event I've gone to twice is a Writer's Performance group type deal where aspiring young writers and spoken word artists showcase their talents in front of a small audience. Jhumpa Lahiri started in this group.

Congee Village, in the lower east side has a gaudy las vegas front but it is a haven for New York Chinese people (packed!), features a full bar (lychee martinis!), and most importantly has scrumptious congee. Oh congee...

I went last weekend with Andrea, Mark, Kristine, and Ann and I think we all considered it the biggest accomplishment of the day. Ordered three types of congee plus vegetable and fried squid plates and still the total came out to be $7 a person. I should write a book titled "New York in less than $15 a day." To celebrate that, we went to Chelsea's Karaoke 17 where we drunkenly sang Journey and Kelly Clarkson songs. Loves it.

I've also been seeing my cousin Stephanie (a nice change to seeing her only like twice a year). Pizza with her and her boyfriend Tim and Tim's friend in Murray Hill.

After that, it was to the West Village for some hookah at "Horus." The venue was a little jank, but ehh... couldn't really complain too much. I got a Casablanca beer.

Chester's Visit

So Chester decided to man-up and visit me. We had lots and lots of fun and I won't bore you with the details though the details are all on his site: Chesternet.org
Here are some pictures I stole anyhow because I want them on this blog:

At Central Park

Getting our favorite dessert in C-town

Bacon-infused vodka (I kid you not) Chester had a bacon martini topped off with a Slim Jim twist.

Miscellany

Some fountain dedicated to some Italian-American politician


The annual Polish parade on 5th Ave. This thing was HUGE.

Imposing buildings

RAWR!

Aspen, Maroon Bells, Meditation, Puppy, Painting

Hey beautiful homies! Hope all is going well with you. It's been a while since I contributed so here we go.....

Yesterday I went on a trip just outside of Aspen, Colorado to see the Maroon Bells (photo on the top right). This place is suppose to be the most photographed place in Colorado. Unfortunately I got there to late and the lake had dried out and their were only a few aspens, but it was still so beautiful. In full bloom at the end of September the photo shows what it would look like! One of the top 3 most beautiful things I would have ever seen no doubt!!! It was still beautiful at this time of year without the aspens and the lake.

I just could not get myself into Yoga so I made a goal to explore meditation for the next year. I have started to do a daily meditation practice. I found an awesome one on YouTube called meditation for beginners part 1,2,3. The guy who leads the meditation is so calm and soothing! After meditation I listen to this amazing religious singer named Krishna Das. He's an American singer who does Indian Kirtan style devotional chants. Meditation and Krishna Das have really helped me feel peace, joy, and love inside my body. Also, have increased my love for other people.

Again, decided Dont want children, dont want a husband, dont want a boyfriend, and dont want a dog....all to much responsibility and I have way to many places to go and things to do. But if at some point in my life I go weak in the knees and break I think I want to indulge in a cocker spanial!


Also gotten into painting a bit lately! My computer is broken but once I can download photos I'll show you! I love doing flowers! Its so relaxing to just paint while listening to "1,000 albums to listen to before you die" by using pandora.com.

Butter Bombs

I call these Oatmeal Butter Bomb Cookies. Guaranteed 20000 calories in each one!

I'm going to offload a bunch on Miguel and Mark tonight when they come over to watch The Office

All started when I bought Quaker Oatmeal when I first moved here. When I discovered a local store that carried Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal however.. it was over. What was I going to do with the bin of Quaker Oats? Make oatmeal cookies of course! This was a bad bad idea and I'm now looking to get rid of them as soon as I can.

A Useless Update

I think I ate too much cereal.

Take me on a trip I'd like to go someday.. take me to New York I'd love to see L.A......

Brooklyn Book Festival

Pretty soon the weather will be cold as crap and I will not be a happy camper. But until then, might as well take advantage of the sunshine before it disappears and stays in California.

Last week I hauled my ass to the Brooklyn Book Festival at the Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, also where the Brooklyn Public Library is (left). Booths and booths of book publishers lined the plaza and aside from it being a ridiculously humid/hot day, the turnout was enormous. Storytellers, poets, columnists, and authors gave readings and interviews (what the people on the stairs are watching) and there were over 70 other small programs-- for example:

10:15 a.m. Verbal Catalysts- Urban Word NYC's top teen poets present individual and group poems fresh off their success at the National Teen Poetry Slam in Washington D.C.

or 1:00 p.m. Out of Place- 3 writers on the exciting, disconcerting, and sometimes dangerous experience of being out of place. Featuring David Rakoff, Moustafa Bayoumi, and Rivka Galchen.

At the National Book Foundation booth, one book, "All I Did was Ask" by Terry Gross caught my eye. "It's free," the guy said.
"Sweeeeeet."

United Nations Panel Discussion

On Thursday I had the opportunity to go to the U.N. and watch a panel discussion called "Green Business is Good Business," a discussion put on by the U.S. Mission to the U.N.

I also had a bomb-ass chicken gyro at one of New York's many Halal food stands before I went. Yumm..
Anyway, I'm not going to bore you with the details (even though I did take copious notes) so I'll just say that the whole thing centered around mainly two topics: 1) What are corporations today doing to reduce their carbon footprint and other environmental impacts and 2) What technologies are emerging to help solve the problem of diminishing natural resources?

It was moderated by Brian Dumaine (editorial director of small business in Fortune Magazine) and comprised of Tod Arbogast (Dell's Director of Sustainability), Michael Moran (VP of Goldman Sach's Global Market Institute), Glenn Prickett (Senior VP pf the NGP Conservation International), and Andrew Winston (co-author of Green to Gold). All white men.

All in all, really enjoyed the discussion even though I felt the answers most of them gave were far too general and didn't take into consideration the other 500 million difficulties of obtaining greener supply chains and products.

Film: Yang Ban Xi

Wednesday I went to one of the Asia Society's film events--this time around they're films made about China's cultural revolution. The one I saw was called Yang Ban Xi: The 8 Model Works--basically a film about the campy communist propaganda musicals made in the 1960s which were directed by Mao's wife, Jiang Qing. Traditional Chinese opera was banned because there were far too many capitalist (black) elements-- too many themes privileging the rich, landowning class and not enough praise for the workers, the farmers, and the soldiers. So these popular musicals became the only form of theatrical/filmic entertainment for some years. Really really interesting film.

The Guggenheim and The German American Steuben Parade of NYC

I decided to take advantage of my nifty museum pass yesterday and so went to the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum in the Upper East Side. It was originally called "The Museum of Non-Objective Painting," and aimed to showcase avant-garde art by early modernists. (I just can't escape avant garde no matter where I go) From the street, the building looks like a "white ribbon, curled into a cylindrical stack." The building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1940s who claimed that his museum would make the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art look like a "Protestant barn."
They had a pretty cool Louise Bourgeois exhibit -- a French sculptor, tapestry maker, and avant garde artist who, in a word, was nuts. She had these exhibits called "Cells" which were supposed to be glimpses into her childhood memory from France (unsurprisingly she had a disturbing and traumatic childhood). They were literally wooden doors propped up to encircle a "room" in which she hung old night dresses and undergarments on real pieces of bone among other objects like babies being suffocated by orbs and nonrepresentational objects that look like both phalluses and breasts. Pretty sweet.

Outside on 5th avenue, the party was just getting started with the Steuben Parade of NYC. I have never seen so many German Americans in my life, much less so much German flag waving. There was even a Miss German American competition. The procession was lively and wound its way to Central park. Police blocked off all side streets leading up to 5th. Apparently its quite a big thing. Reminds me of when I met Chris in Germany and I learned all of 2 German words: "excuse me" and "thank you." Quite useful. These old coots to the right are singing some German song about the Rhineland. They were pretty jolly.

I thought this picture (left) was just funny.

Clubbing in Soho: Club 205 and The White Rabbit

New Yorkers start partying late. And by late, I mean meet up time is 12:00-12:30. There is also no end time. Last time when I went clubbing at Stay I didn't get home until 4:30. This time was much the same. I think California should close bars/clubs at 3:00 instead of 2:00. It would make everyone happier.

So we (Van and I) met up with some old Berkeley alum (one or two of which Van knew in college) and we headed down to Soho for some good old fashioned fun. Everyone was super nice and super down to earth. Miguel, featured here, is a photographer who works at the International Photography Center. He also has on a spiffy vest.

Behind him is Mohan, who's working at his cousin's club, Drom, doing event planning and such. There were also a few other people there but I'm lazy and don't feel like describing them. The cool thing is that a lot of them live in Bushwick (yay Bushwick!) so we'll probably be seeing more of them in the future.

Club 205 felt like it was going to burst at the seams because all that techno/house music was seriously hardcore. Although the decor was pretty fantastic-- there was basically literature (poems, quotes, book passages, love advice etc) written all over the walls-- the music after a while was not. So we headed to The White Rabbit, a club that was owned by the cousin of one of the other guys in our group. There, the music was so much better-- hip hop, reggaeton, pop, and dance. I sincerely missed Zowie when they played Paper Planes.

I got the worst come ons last night. The best one: "Hey.... I really like your glasses..."

You can't see in the picture but I am wearing my new shiny red shoes!!

Arrived home exhausted but had a great time.