Walking around NYC is the best!

It feels good to be back in L.A., and with my friends Jenn and Daniel again.

Looking out the window into the nighttime lights of L.A. on the plane ride here definitely felt different than the first time a few months ago coming from Asia. Going back to New York and having been able to spend some quality time there really helped me feel like my old self again. The past month just flew by and it was good to be back in the pace and comforts of home. I feel like I learned so much more about a lot of my friends too, which I didn't think was possible even after more than a decade of friendship. Overall, returning home after three years and being able to celebrate my 30th birthday there was an absolute dream, and I feel excited about whatever it is that's to come next.

Most of my friends live in Brooklyn, so I basically couched surf between Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, and Downtown Brooklyn. Being able to walk from place to place was nice because I hadn't ever really explored that part of the borough much by foot, so I was able to get a better sense on how the neighborhoods are. I also got to go to Astoria again to crash at my friends Susy and Ricky's place, which was a good reason to go check out my old neighborhood.

Since I'm perpetually broke, I ended up meeting up with friends and eating in Chinatown a lot. I've never appreciated that area of town so much, and can't wait to go back and discover some new places. Eating chicken over rice a countless number of times was also great, because man I always can't help but salivate every time I pass by a halal food cart on the streets of NY. I also had a lot of $1 pizza, which always hits the spot as well.

Getting a cellphone again in NYC was also pretty helpful, and I also learned that so much has technologically changed within the past three years. Everyone I know seems to prefer texting over email now, which is odd because I never thought email would be on the road to becoming obsolete. I myself prefer writing emails on my computer any day, and find it difficult to correspond and communicate by phone because typing away on the small keyboard just doesn't seem practical. On my last day in NYC, I met up with my favorite college professor again and he mentioned that he always prefers to stay in touch by email as well, so it's nice to know that there are others out there like me.

But now I'm back in sunny L.A. and ready to keep moving forward with my life. My next step is to find a job here... anyone know of places that are hiring?

i threw a moving-out party last night to celebrate my last few weeks in prospect heights. i'm really going to miss this apartment and having people over, it's been a lot of fun and i've had some great memories here.

it's funny looking at my empty apartment the next morning and trying to remember how it felt the night before, filled with friends and noise. now all i see is just stale food, empty bottles and a big mess to clean up. thankfully my sister hung around and helped me this morning.

i had a very small dinner party at my place this past weekend.

all my guests were asked to bring in a homemade dish or booze, and to my pleasant surprise, almost everybody opted to bring a homemade dish instead of liquor. how awesome is that?

suffice it to say, the food was almost as amazing as the company. i had such a fun time and was very grateful to be surrounded by so many of my amazing friends.

enjoy the pics below.

ps- my favorite pictures are of my old roommate from dumbo, takeshi, having a white-caste ham

burger for the first time in his life. he's from japan and has been in new york studying film for the past year and i was honored to witness such a milestone in his life!

i:

1. am in dire need of a haircut
2. need some intimacy
3. was happy this morning, walking through the fresh snow in brooklyn while stoned and blasting salt-n-pepa's "push-it" on my ipod --- which randomly started to play as i walked up the stairs and exited the clinton-washington subway station
4. feel very blah about shit
5. saw debbie harry aka BLONDIE the other day on prince street in soho
6. wish that i could fall sleep

it's funny because i think about stuff to blog about throughout the day, but when i get home --- i never remember any of it. my memory is shot to hell.

one thing i will write about are my morning commutes to work. all i can say is, what the fuck? i swear, there are so many idiots who don't know how the hell to act on the damn subway. one thing that drives me bonkers is when two people are standing in front of the doors of the subway cart, and when the doors open and close, they just fucking stand there and don't move when you try to get on or off. because of these two idiots, everyone has to squeeze in between this tiny space --- and this is all during morning rush hour. why stand in front of the doors if you got on the train in brooklyn and you're getting off at bryant park? makes absolutely no sense. if you're getting off in a stop or two, that's fine --- but to stand there and put up with people squeezing in between your stupid ass for 25 minutes? that my friend, makes you a god damn idiot.

one more thing about the subway --- why the hell do people lay really bad farts on crowded subways? like, seriously? you couldn't take a shit before you left your house or just squeeze your asshole shut until you got off the train? that is just unpleasant for everyone.

blah. nyc subways are dirty, annoying, and sometimes just one big underground urinal, but i still love it. nothing beats nyc subways.

aside from that rant, work is the same --- busy as always. the apt is good as well. i've been having people over constantly and usually just cook for them. i now love cooking. my favorite game to play on a daily basis is, "what the hell can i make for dinner with the shit in my cupboard?" and i'm not talking about chef boyardee (which i love but it's so bad for you) or hungry man tv dinners (which i love but it's so bad for you), but actual cooking! that means i chop up fresh produce, season stuff to taste with fresh pepper and sea salt, use white wine to cook, and have to actually work for my meals. i never really started cooking until now because all the past apartments i lived in had disgusting and shitty ass kitchens. my kitchen now is still even pretty small and nothing fancy, but all the appliances work and there aren't roaches watching me cook as they chill in my dishes --- i feel so spoiled.

i also have no tv or internet, so i don't have much else to do when i'm home. all my guests are forced to sit together and have an actual conversation without any distractions. i know, cruel right? but hey, i don't plan to get a tv or maybe even internet anytime soon and would rather have great conversation any day. my guests just have to deal with it.

these are the two photos on my refrigerator being help up by my new school university magnet.

everything else in my life is just blah.

btw --- can you believe i was ever that small?

omg, i randomly have 3 bars of wireless internet --- so excited.

i moved into my brooklyn apartment last weekend and have been trying to settle in, yay! my room is a lot smaller than i remembered, but i fucking LOVE my new apt. my roommate and i are going to make this a nice pad. i work for an epicurean magazine and he works at one of the best furniture/design magazines --- we have to make it work here somehow. i still haven't returned my friend's camera ever since i borrowed it for wisconsin, so i plan to take advantage of it and take some pics of my new place. i will post them soon.

my roommate and i were apparently wrong about our neighborhood and we live in prospect heights, not clinton-hill. does anyone else live around here? let's chill. i started wandering the area and i love all the brownstones and old-school architecture here. i walk a block and will stumble onto the most beautiful church that looks like it was built a hundred years ago.

as for the actual layout of the apt, it's a two bedroom that also has a small office room. my roommate and i are not sure what we're going to do with that room, but i'm adamant on not making that room into just storage space --- we must take full advantage and make that room awesome somehow. all the rooms are on the small side, but the apt itself is very spacious and clean. the building is somewhat new so i love the hardwood floors and we're also kind of tucked away from the street --- it's nice to have some seclusion and privacy from the rest of the world.

aside from my new apartment, things are pretty blah. i was on vacation this past week and have to go back to work tomorrow, i'm kind of sad about that. i'm scared to open my inbox tomorrow morning to see the countless emails that await me --- i guess back it's back to real life.

speaking of real life, i've come to the conclusion that i am fucking sick of dating and trying to meet guys. whatever happens will happen. i'm going to stop thinking about how lonely i am and focus all that energy on other shit i could be doing. yeah, i'm lonely as fuck and would love some companionship, but i am not going to keep making myself feel like an idiot with the people i meet. i'm not going to waste my time anymore. blah.