warning label please!

now that i've moved out of willie-b and left my beloved maxim gym, it's time to find a new gym. (remember new years resolution to say "bye bye" to poochie?) for the past two weeks, iwas doing a whirlwind tour of the different New York Sports Club gyms. 76th & york, 96th, soho, long island. . . my favorite is soho. . .only one floor and every weight machine that i want. long hours. overall, i like NYSC but feel that it's a bit too impersonal and corporate. . .the only complaint is that a lot of the trainers aren't in such great shape (some are even, dare i say, overweight?) and i wonder how good they can be if they can't practice what they preach.

i'm now sampling the new york health & raquet club gyms in the city since i got a free one-week pass. have only made it to the 77th st and astor place location. . overall i feel that it's a bit too chi-chi for me, i mean, the 77th st location plays classical music in the locker room. although it's older, i actually prefer the UES location. they have most of the weight machines i'm accustomed to using.

had a very "V" moment tho. was using the leg press which happens to be my favorite weight machine at the moment. doing warm ups and realize that the lock/release lever was a lot more complicated than the simple turn of the handle. to release, you have to pull up and to lock you have to push the level to the left and down. now, try that while trying to support 225 lbs with quickly fatiguing legs. luckily, the cute trainer jumped in to help me a few times. but it was still embarassing to not be able to lock the machine myself. . .totally made me lose my rhythm.

new years resolutions

so last year (please let's not even review that), i had a long long list of new years resolutions. . of which i may have met one or two of!

there's two philosophies i could have about this.

-if you reach for the stars, if you fall you'll still land on the moon (thanks cuz)

-keep it simple and achievable. e.g. drink more water (thanks cassanova)

well, i'm going for the middle ground this year.

so here they are:

1. stop commuting.
it's crazy to live in NYC and have a car unless you are fabulously rich. i miss my daily subway rides, stopping at the bodega to pick up snacks and energy drinks, meeting up with my girlfriends at a moment's notice for happy hour. i hate alternate side parking, parking tickets, etc.

2. settle into my new apartment.
for reasons which i may go into at a later point, i am still without my own place. i wistfully look at pictures of my new pad like i would a long lost lover. i am aching to move, to decorate and make it my home, to cook in my own kitchen, to throw dinner parties, to watch dvd's or just read trashy magazines in comfort.

3. to embrace singlehood.
that doesn't mean a swinging, crazy life ala sex in the city. . .rather, it means to focus on building my own life, furthering my career, and pursuing my interests instead of dating and romantic involvements.

curse the parking gods

i jinxed myself. got a parking ticket. . guess two days parking in a "no parking zone" was pushing my luck. . .

unexpected pick up

Q2 and i got a quick bite and drink at the bar next door- like literally next door, or i should say literally across the street, as in i walk five steps and i'm at the bar. . . it's a beautiful thing. in any case, we it's a cozp spot, dark and very european pub feeling. i order cava and venison sausage. Q2 orders cauliflower soup and salmon.

we're engrossed in conversation- the kind that only women can immerse themselves in.

there's a group of three elderly people, two men and a woman, sitting at the table to my right. occasionally i see one of the men staring at us.

while Q2 and i are polishing off our dinners, the group prepares to leave. the man that had been staring stops and introduces himself.

old staring man (OSM): i am looking for two pretty women and you two seem to fit the bill.

we stare at the man with both suspicion and surprise.

OSM: you see, i'm part of this organization called X and we are looking for pretty women to help advance our cause.

we continue to stare, now blankly, at OSM.

OSM: our case is that we believe every person can be a better self. not that you can't be better if you aren't pretty. . . in any case, here's my card. if you are interested in helping us with our cause, please give me a call.

V: hmm, alright. thanks.

Q2: yep. thanks.

i'm pretty amazed, (1) that a man that is old enough to be my grandfather would try to pick up two young women and (2) that he would try to use a charitable (?) organization to do so. . gotta give OSM some credit for his balls.

rules shmules

the first day that i stayed with Q2 i was daunted by the parking situation in the LES. fearful of getting a parking ticket, i diligently moved my car every hour until 7pm.

this is not goin to be fun!

almost every street had restricted parking- no parking from 8-5pm M-F, parking for 2 hours everyday except sunday, no parking from midngiht to 3AM on Tuesday, thursday, and saturday, etc etc etc.

the days have progressed, i've become more accustomed to parking. . then suddenly, i had an epiphany.

no one follows parking rules!!!

the stretch on orchard with the "no parking 8-5pm, M-F"?

completely disregarded!!!

when in rome. . .

channeling george costanza

ever seen the seinfeld episode where george takes a nap under his desk? has his little pillow and alarm set up? that was me yesterday around 2pm.

i had participated in inventory two days in a row. which means getting up at 4'ish AM, leaving the apartment by 4:45, and working a 5:30AM to noon shift. adding to the brutality of this schedule was having to move my things from my old apartment to storage on monday afternoon and preparing and attending a bridal show on tuesday night.

yesterday afternoon, there was too little time to trek back to the city and back so i opted to hang around for a couple hours before i began preparing for the show. my plan was to shop for new sneakers and check out clearance sales, but i was simply too exhausted to be in a shopping mood. so i decided to head back to my office and attempt to take a nap. i locked the door, balled up my puffy green coat for a makeshift pillow, turned off the light, and laid down. unfortunately, there was too much noise and i was too cold to fall asleep.

instead, i went up to chat with some associates, helped deal with some customer issues (obviously, not being in uniform does not deter our customers for asking you for help!), and had lunch. by the time that was over, it was time to prepare for the show. it was a successful event and we got a lot of leads. unfortunatetly, i had to return to the office to drop off the merchandise before heading home because (1) i didn't want to leave it in my car and invite someone to break in and (2) i didn't have the energy to drag it up four flights of stairs. consequently, i didn't get back to q2's until 10:30 and fell asleep shortly after.

mapping the city by foot

one of the upsides of my current state of homelessness is that i've gotten to reside and somewhat explore different neighborhoods in nyc. east harlem, upper east side, and now the lower east side. Q2 has been gracious enough to let me take over a good chunk of her living room.

one major downside of my current state of homelessness is difficulty keeping up with my gym routine. in any case, i broke down and got a 2 week trial membership at a gym. i had planned my sunday perfectly. wake up at 7. have my protein shake. jog to the gym. do weights for an hour and jog back. have an hour to get ready for work and an hour to get there.

unfortunately i didn't wake until 7:45 a.m. so i decided to go for a run instead. i suited up, got my nano and nike arm band ready, and went for a run. my route- west on canal and north along broadway. i ran from the lower east side, through china town, through soho, and to union square and back. all the streets, subway stops, shops, and sites that i had frequented throughout the past year and change had always seemed like scattered and separate entities. but by foot, all of it started connecting. . i finally was able to see it in north-south-east-west perspective.

i'll have to continue running and exploring the city. i have been scared to run with my bad knees and have gotten bored with cardio, but right now, my knees are feelin pretty good (being iced now) and the run was exhilirating! what a great way to get to know the city!!!

a moving comedy of errors

spent the better part of new years eve helping the boy move back into his old apartment. saturday morning i woke up around 9am and headed to east harlem to meet the boy at his old place. he had dunkin donuts breakfast and coffee (yum!) waiting by the time i arrived at 10.

the boy suggested that i double park the car while we loaded the car up with his things. the process took a good hour. i helped pack up odds and ends, then we began the task of bringing everything into the elevator, then outside, then into the car. while i've been inbetween apartments, i had left my prized money tree in his care. the boy placed the plant on the floor of the passenger seat. while we began to load the other items, he moved the plant to the top of the car. . . when the wind began to blow and i saw the plant shake precariously, i decided to place the plant on top of the trunk to shield it partially from the wind. once we moved almost everything, one final burst of wind came and the plant fell to the ground, strike one. . . luckily the container did not shatter and the plant survived. once we rescued it, i noticed that there was a parking ticket on the windshield. $115 for double parking. strike two.

that was the first trip. the second trip during which we got the majority of the remaining items was much smoother. i stayed in the car while the boy loaded to prevent a second ticket. after this was done, i headed to the grocery store to buy food for the evenings festivies. . . i was sticking to a surprisingly simple menu since it was such a small crowd- just two other couples- empanadas, fruit, cookies, and sparkling white wine with juice. company was expected to show after 8pm, so we had a good 8 hours to get everything together.

by the time i arrived at the boy's apartment, he was already waiting there. we began bringing all the bags upstairs. after that, we had to run out to pick up some odds and ends. turns out the apartment was having drainage problems in the bathroom & kitchen sink as well as some electrical issues. after we got back from CVS, we tacked the task of cleaning and organizing.

around 5, the apartment was looking pretty good. i wanted to shower and get dressed so i could spend the rest of the time cooking and relaxing. i noticed that the kitchen sink had been leaking so the boy decided to look into it. all of a sudden i heard a huge crash that startled me. the light fixture in the kitchen fell and broke into a g'zillion pieces, strike three!!! shards of glass were everywhere!!! both of us cut ourselves on the glass. at that point, i had to just laugh at all the things that had gone wrong during the day.

we were still able to finish tidying up and snacks were prepared by 8. our first guests did not show until 9, so we had time to rest for a bit. we snacked, drank champagne cocktails, and played jenga until countdown time. it was a lovely evening. . . .despite the eventful and laborious day, i had a wonderful time setting up the boy's apartment and spending the day and winding down with a few good friends, a perfect day and way to end 2006.

happy new year!!!