New York, New York

I have finally made it, end destination New York. Things are still rather hectic though as I am here, but most of my material possessions are not. I have no bed, no chair, no dishes or utensils, and no food. I am almost homeless, with the one exception being that I have an unfurnished apartment. As a matter of fact I am stealing this internet connection off of one of my less than technologically inclined neighbors who doesn’t know what a password is. It’s a sub-par connection though, as it doesn’t have enough power to allow me to post this, so your actual reading may come several days delayed. I do have photographs of my abode, and they will follow.

Well, what can I say, except that it has all been a bit anti-climatic. I sat around my parents house for several weeks being bored out of my mind, thinking that when I got to New York that I would get busy. Now I sit here, waiting for all of my stuff, but this time without the World Cup to keep me entertained. My two large bags of luggage are sitting on the floor in the next room, and I am sitting on the floor of my kitchen, the only place where I can get any sort of signal. Aw, such a comfy wall.

I don’t think that I am going to get much done in the way of job searching until next week, as it is 4th of July weekend and many people will be out of town, and I will be fixing up my place. I really hope that I can find a job soon, as much for the fact that I won’t be so bored as for the fact that I need the money. I did get into the city yesterday to hit up the old Bed Bath and Beyond, as everyone needs a luxe bathmat and shower curtain. Ok, I am now talking about bathmats and shower curtains, I think it’s time to end this post.

Change is coming

Well, Tuesday is the big day.

At 11am I will be taking off from KCI aiport on my way to my new apartment in New York City, whereupon I will be taking a cab loaded with my luggage of jeans, shirts, socks, underwear and my computer to a 3 story brick house in the Ditmars area of Astoria, Queens. Hopefully my broker will be there with my keys, or else I will be sitting there waiting on the sidewalk for her to show up, my luggage acting as a very nice makeshift chair. I have no furniture, so the following day I will be making a trip to IKEA to find me some not so quality, cheap modern furniture and a mattress where I can lay my tired body. Hopefullly on Friday my 6 boxes of misc. items plus two boxes of computer parts will arrive without any major holes in them, and I will be able to assemble some sort of a home between those brick walls, a place where I will dwell.

It's funny that the word dwell has become such a critical one for me in this transitional stage of my life. I spent all of last semester studying the meaning and implications of the word and now I get a chance to put my knowledge of the word to use in a different way. Instead of designing a house with an unlimited budget and scope, I will now be focused on a very limited budget with just as great of a scope. I see this as a space that will be me for the next several years, and one that I will need to feel comfortable in. I'm not talking a pre-Brad Pitt encountering Edward Norton style of determining whether or not this rug best describes me as a person, but a space that will allow me to be creative and confident in my life. It is intimidating moving to a city of 12 million, and if I have my own little corner of it in which I can draw strength from, then perhaps that will give me the extra push that I need. I still have no job, and this something that has constantly been at the back of my mind, as I will only have about 3 months of rent saved up before I have to find another channel of funds. If this place can help me to consolidate my mind and motivations, and give me a little bit of luck then hopefully good things will be in store for me.

Now I must go pack, as time is of the essence.

Downtime

Well, I got back from NYC about a week and a half ago after a fairly productive time up there. I found an apartment in Queens, a semi-sublevel studio that is really nice and close to the subway. I don't have any pictures, but before I move in I will snap some so that people can see what it looks like. The kitchen is quite nice, all new, modern appliances with clean, white cupboards and stainless door pulls. The official move-in date is July 1, but my landlord said that I could move in anytime after the 20th of June because the girl who lives there now will be out by then. He told me that he had over 30 calls on the apartment and for what I am getting it really is a steal.

Last week was a rather pitiful week for me. I picked up a nasty intestinal bug that put me out for about a week and all I could really do was lay on my couch and watch tv. Fortunately, there has been NBA finals, World Cup soccer, and lots of trashy MTV/VH1 shows to keep me mildly entertained.

Even though I am getting better now, I am still not really doing all that much. Most of my friends are either out of town or working, so it has been quite different than hanging out at school. If I was ever bored I could always go up to studio and there would always be something to work on or someone to see, but now that time has passed. No longer will I be able to see a lot of the good friends that I have made over the past 5 years, as we are all going our seperate ways to New York, Portland, Dallas, LA and beyond. But I guess that is life. We grow up, move on, and make new friends. Well, work friends anyways, I am not sure if I will ever make as good of friends as I have made in studio. Only time will tell.