goals.

I’ve decided that while I was happy with “good enough” a few months ago, I’ve become incredibly complacent and have let life just push me along instead of having the take-charge attitude that I clearly had when I first moved to New York.

It’s somewhat depressing. Honestly, I don’t feel like myself some mornings. For example, there are days when I set out to do something, as easy as cleaning my room or responding to a personal email, and I’ll let it go on for days. I don’t know why I put myself into these situations. Clearly, I’m not setting myself up for success.

I need to get working my way back towards being the person that I set out to be when I first moved here: a driven person that actually achieves her goals.

With this in mind, here is what I’ve resolved for myself for 2011:

1. Be more consistent with working out and be healthier in general. To kick start this goal, I’ve signed up for the NYC Half Marathon, taking place on March 20, where I’ll be running with a charity group called Team For Kids. Team for Kids helps create youth programs to combat childhood obesity. To donate to my cause, please visit my page at: http://www.runwithtfk.org/Member/PublicPage/3088
2. Make a concerted effort to actually explore New York City. When I first moved to New York, I would go to different museums, exhibits, concerts, talks, festivals, free comedy shows and discover new corners of the city that I could claim as my own. Basically, I need to get re-excited about living in New York and take advantage of living here beyond going out each weekend. While this can be difficult during the winter, I have to start somewhere. Maybe I can actually start making my videos again.
3. Write out my monthly goals and hold myself accountable. This should be pretty easy, it’s what drove me when I felt really down when I first came to New York. This month, my goals are easy enough: get everything I need framed and hung up in my room, continue working my way out of debt, eat-in at least 4 days a week, and make a concerted effort to achieve my list of work objectives. There is also running. I can’t forget about the running.

Have I set out the unachievable? I don’t think so. Am I just seasonally down!? Possibly. Well, let’s just say that I won’t let myself get caught up in routine and will need to make change for myself if I want it and making sure it turns out for the best — which, in my opinion, is the entire premise of hope.

Let’s get started.

50 reasons to love nyc.

Yes. I am pretty damn euphoric to live in New York City. Thanks for confirming, The Village Voice.

50 Reasons to Be Pretty Damn Euphoric You Live in New York City – New York News – Runnin’ Scared.

too good not to share

As a follow up to my Missed Connection blog post…someone finally wrote me a witty, if not exceedingly geeky and social media-y, missed connection. My life is complete.

a year later.

“So, you moved out here for work?” asked the cab driver this evening.

“Well, no. I just wanted to be in New York,” I said.”So, I moved and then looked for a job that would be good for me. I guess it just worked out.”

I have this conversation almost once a week. Not always with a cab driver, but once I start drumming up a conversation it’s fairly obvious that I’m not from New York City. Maybe it’s because I smile more than the average New Yorker.  That said, I can’t believe how far I’ve come since moving last August.

At this time last year, I was actually kind of homeless. While I was paying rent at an apartment in Murray Hill, I was actually squatting at my friend’s apartment in the East Village while she was post-bar because my living situation in Murray Hill was hardly livable due to two of its intolerable roommates that were lazier than words can describe. Also, my room had no windows! I don’t know why I thought this would be a good idea. It was essentially like living in a closet. When you closed the door… it was pitch black. It was hardly motivational. And I’m afraid of the dark in unfamiliar spaces.

After being homeless(ish) for a month, I eventually found a tiny, tiny sublet in Williamsburg and couldn’t be happier. The apartment didn’t have internet, a phone or a functioning television. Let’s not forget that there was a small closet in the living room that had a toilet in it. It was so strange — I didn’t know apartments were built this way, ever. And it was so small — when my dad came to visit, he pointed out it could fit in our living room at home. But it was all mine, free from distractions and that’s all that mattered.

But, I was still unemployed. So, I started taking a class at NYU in social media, which I paid for using my Americorps stipend, and began to meet the types of people I needed to meet in order to find meaningful work here. In order to keep myself honest and on track, I’d publicly post my goals here on my blog. Not only did it help me stay on track to make sure I’d continue to hit my goals, but also the list of goals became a check list for me to stay motivated that something would actually work out. There were times when I really didn’t think anything would come out in my favor: living in New York, finding and keeping friends, getting a good job, making it through winter (brr!). So setting the goals really helped…as now, a year later, I can honestly say that I made the right decision to move out.

To recap, for goal’s sake:

Friends? check.

Good job? check.

Livable apartment? check.

So while I tell people I “lucked out” when I moved to New York, I can honestly tell you that luck had nothing to do with it. I worked really hard to get what I wanted. I don’t think I’m special in that sense, I just know that if you’re motivated enough you can make things happen.

My next stop? The NBA. Kidding. But, I realize that the only thing setting me back about 80% of the time is just me telling myself  that I can’t do something — I should really startup my goals again to get over it.

Now that isn’t to say my current life is perfect, but it works for me right now. And that’s good enough.

missed connections

As many of my friends know, I’m wildly obsessed with Missed Connections on craigslist — maybe that’s a bit of an understatement. I love Missed Connections.

Please tell me know you are aware of Missed Connections. If you don’t, in an ideal world, it’s for the people who are too shy to approach someone they had a quick interaction with or, alternatively, no interaction at all but felt a ‘connection.’ Hence the name Missed Connections (MC). Make sense? Also, please go RIGHT now and search. What if someone wrote something about you? You could be missing a missed connection!

Anyway, I digress. I’ve been reading MC posts for a few years now and some of them are great, as in, “I was on the 38L, I was in gray — you were stunning.” However, many times it is the emo-iest post with self-deprecating comments, as in “I was the geek wearing a wolf-shirt, socks and sandals whilst reading ‘A Philosophy of Navel Contemplation.’” These are pretty pointless. And, really, you just feel sorry for these fools. Maybe even more pathetic women contact them out of pity. Lastly, there are ANGRY posts. I mean, people are livid. “I thought we were close. You were the only one for me, bitch. And now, now you’ve moved to Liberia with that pathetic excuse for a human. I can’t believe you, slut.” Maybe I left out a few more key angry adult-only type words. Doesn’t matter though — I think those posts are in the wrong section and so I tack those people up to the: maybe-you-should-be-sterilized population (yes, because you’re ruining my missed connections!).

It is my dream to have a ‘missed connection.’ Not that I would actually contact the person. In fact, I probably wouldn’t but just knowing that there was an articulate, shy missed connection post would really make my life. It’s really and truly that simple. Ideally, it would be something incredibly cheesy such as,
“I met you today on the 6 train, I think you’re Indian and you were reading Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. We chatted about how sad it was that he recently passed away and then you joked that since he was fairly reclusive anyway, it wasn’t too difficult to imagine. I can’t imagine not seeing you again but was too afraid to get your number. Want to meet up and chat about ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’?”

I mean, come on! Yes, it’s sappy. Whatever. It’d make my life. I’m judging you for not wanting this for yourself. Who wouldn’t want an admirer from afar?! What if it turned into a comic? I’d feel a bit famous!

As a result, I’ve furthered my craziness and have set up RSS feeds with key terms that I only hope would whittle down the posts to focus more on me: the subway trains I ride, “Indian,” etc. Unfortunately, sadly, no one has ever, ever written about me. One time, in San Francisco, someone wrote about a “cute girl on the 1AX” (the bus I took in the morning). That’s too vague to know! So I can’t chalk it up to a win, since really this is just a game for me and I see it all in a win/lose perspective.

With that, it’s time to share with you with some MC sentences off of my craiglist feeds:

Seeking the beautiful Indian hostess who I did not have the pleasure of being seated by. UWS, 72nd st. BBQ, 6pm tonight. I was the Indian guy with a few friends but no balls. – That will win the ladies over, buddy.

I looked back at you a couple of times and you looked back at me over your Aviator shades. You had on blue sweatpants I believe and a light grey shirt. You’re obviously beautiful and judging by your <Columbia Teachers College> bag, smart — Okay, adorable! He thought she was beautiful even though she was wearing sweatpants AND called her smart. This one is a winner.

I think you’re Indian and I KNOW you’re beautiful!…I’m the average-looking white dude but I promise my personality is gorgeous! – Gag a maggot. Are you kidding me, dude? A gorgeous personality? Fail.

Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t want to be contacted by any of these men. But I still find it hilarious how people describe themselves and the woman they’re seeking. With that, now is definitely not the time to stop frequenting Missed Connections — I’m going to keep reading. And maybe now’s a good time to set up your RSS feeds. Seriously. Go. Now. It’ll change your life.

butter lane review

My friend Sylvia was in town so we decided to go over to my favorite cupcake place, Butter Lane in the East Village, for a quick review of the shop. Everyone there was incredibly friendly and open to letting us tape inside their bakery on the coldest day of the year. Check out the video below!

In short: the Butter Lane cupcakes are the best in New York. At least since I’ve been here, that is. The cake itself is great, you can choose the frosting (which isn’t too sweet) and I love the idea of endless possibilities. I’m sure there’s some permutation that you can share with me to fill me in that the possibilities are not actually endless but let me dream my dream here. If you think there’s a better place, let me know and we can go review it. But until then enjoy this video from Sylvia and me to you.

park slope & furniture

Thought I could abandon ship on the blog, but as it turns out many of you read it and are very adamant about me updating you on my life. Thanks for letting me know and keeping me going on this venture.

I’ve moved again. I’m tired of moving. The last apartment I moved into was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where I was subletting from a man who collected his bonus, quit his job and decided to travel for four months throughout Asia with his girlfriend. As a result, I had to go apartment hunting again in January.

I want to say that the search was difficult and took me weeks, but that would be a total lie. In true geek fashion, I created an RSS feed via craigslist with the requirements I had for an apartment, read through them each night for a week and then emailed the most likely of places. About five wrote me back and I checked them all out the following week but fell in love with this one apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Now, if you don’t know about Park Slope, let me give you a point of reference. It’s quite like the Noe Valley of New York: strollers and brunch places abound. Noe Valley is my favorite part of San Francisco, so it’s no big surprise that I quite enjoy Park Slope. My commute has jumped up to about 40 minutes a day, but that’s fine…at least for now. I’m not moving for another year I’ve decided, so I better get comfortable.

And no, I’m not living alone–I have two roommates who are employed, sanitary and sane. Those were literally my three requirements. I’m not living with crazy, dirty people! I’ve been through that too many times. To name one instance: I lived with a girl in college who ran away from home to be with her gluttonous boyfriend, worked at Wendys and planned on getting pregnant to collect welfare. To name another instance: when I moved to Manhattan when I first got here, one roommate actually had a giant cyst on his face that grew to the size of Texas before he saw a doctor. And people wonder why I moved out of Manhattan…there you go. Now I’m back to having a somewhat regular life.

Speaking of life, I’m on the furniture hunt. Due to all of these really scary billboards all around New York warning against bed bugs, I decided to buy a bed and mattress from Ikea. Now I’m back on the fun RSS hunt through craigslist for all of my other furniture. I just missed out on a cool nightstand today! Don’t worry, I’ll get one soon.

But I am convinced that finding furniture will be much more difficult than finding the apartment. Ikea was, in and of itself, a total nightmare. There are some stores that remind me of human depictions of the “horrible American” that are displayed in many Pixar movies. Pixar randomly hates America. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but it’s true.

Anyway, while Ikea is a Swedish company, I feel like it’s so American — not in the patriotic way, but rather in the obnoxious, loud, annoying American way. Many large people resting on chairs, families yelling at each other, disorganized aisles and, in the check out line, there are candy bars. Candy bars? Why? For the obvious impulse buy when people’s blood sugar is so low from making them haul their own furniture throughout a huge warehouse? Clearly. If a candy bar won’t suffice, please go to the cafeteria for a meatball and a giant cinnamon roll. There’s also a child play area. There may as well be an Ikea theme park.

It’s still so fresh in my mind since I just went yesterday… So is the warehouse man who told me that I shouldn’t ever come to Ikea without a boyfriend, husband or brother. Oh, Roberto, why would I do that when I clearly have you to get everything on the dolly for me? In that sense, aside from this boyfriend comment, all the people at Ikea were incredibly kind and helpful. Maybe because watching a 5’2″ woman maneuver a mattress on a dolly is too funny for words and I looked too pathetic to be ignored.

That said, if you have any ideas on how to get good looking, cost-effective furniture please let me know! I’m open to all suggestions. Just not the one that Roberto had for me. Thanks.

new initiative

As you may know, I got a Flip Camera for Christmas and I’m having a bit of a love affair with it.

I’ve always wanted to be a TV host — it seems like such a cushy job: go to cool places, maybe hear amazing music, interview people and possibly eat delicious food. How can this job be bad?

So, in an ever present quest to work for the Disney Channel, Food Network or the Travel Channel I’ve decided to create video reviews with friends when they’re in town. Please find my first video review of Levain Bakery here:

Obviously, we’re totally nutty in the video and clearly, my name is not Susanna. My friends name is not “Carmen.” However, how Disney Channel is that? And while it’s not perfect quality, it was incredibly fun to make and I’m sure my video skills will get better moving forward.

Plus, it’ll give me more excuses to explore New York and embarrass my friends, which are essentially my two favorite things to do in life.

So go ahead and watch, tell me what you think and thanks for watching!

FYI:

Where we get the cookies:
Levain Bakery – W 74th b/t Amsterdam and Columbus

Where we enjoy the cookies:

Joe The Art of Coffee - 405 W 23 Street

escapade

Yes, ‘escapade’ reminds me of Janet Jackson. I still love that song –  brings me back to when I’d put the tape in my yellow Sony walkman and rollerskate around my backyard.

Anyway, I digress.

Wanted to share a couple of vacations I’ve been on this holiday season. It’s funny, because even though I love New York, a vacation was definitely needed. As Janet would say, ‘come on baby, let’s get away — let’s save our troubles for another date. let me take you on an escapade.’ Some people find meaning in Dylan or Wilco, clearly that is not me…at least not today.

Each vacation was completely different from the other, in spite of both being family visits.

The first was to New Orleans and Mamou (read: extremely rural), Louisiana. New Orleans is beautiful, there is incredible architecture and, okay, I can’t lie: I just drank and ate a lot. What else are you supposed to do on Thanksgiving?

Something that was neat, beyond Bourbon Street, bands and beignets, were the graveyards. In Louisiana, since it’s a swamp ground, buried graves surface after a good rain and so, to remedy this problem, all graves are built up in mausoleum structures. I found this fascinating and took about a million photographs; clearly, I felt like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and took full advantage. Check out the photos for more on the graveyards.

Another thing that was fruitful about visiting Louisiana was reconnecting with family. My nuclear family is very close-knit and, truth be told, I don’t make an effort to stay in touch with my extended family. We are all very spread out, I have family in Texas, Louisiana, Maine, Illinois, Southern California and, of course, India. Whenever I think about my American cousins, it’s generally a lot of memories of when we would spend time playing cards or carrom in India talking about what we missed eating in the US. Or, alternatively, when my parents would leave my sister and me in the South while they went traveling. But, now we’re all adults — it’s very strange. That said, I like these people. I would like to think I’d be friends with them even if I wasn’t related to them, after seeing them in a long while. My parents always discuss how in India, everyone is very closeknit and it’s so odd to them that I don’t have a tighter connection to family. It’s not that I don’t appreciate having family, it’s just that I don’t know them. In that sense, this trip helped a bit in that area — at least I know who I can grab a drink with in Louisiana. That’s good enough for now. (Feel free to check out pictures of me and my cousins at a bar in Mamou, Louisiana as well as the three acres of land inclusive of catfish pond.)

On the complete other side of the family-bonding spectrum, I spent Christmas in Denver with my sister and her family. My nephew is four and my niece is one. As my sister pointed out, every time I go there I always say, “That was fun, but I’m ready to take a break from kids!” I think this is the beauty of being a mawashi (Marathi for maternal auntie). I can come in, sneak cookies to my nephew and niece, play games, pretend to be a spaceman/paleontologist/discoverer/scientist, read children’s books and just be silly for a few days. It’s such a great break. To read about our pierogi making experience, check out my sister’s blog about creating traditions here.

What’s great about going to my sister’s home on Christmas is that my nephew is a huge Santa fan. During the ’08 election, when you’d ask my nephew who he wanted to win for president he would say, “Obama…or…Santa!” I mean, who wouldn’t want Santa for president? He would check the NORAD Web site to track Santa’s journey and then he would make us all hush when “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” came on Pandora. And, yes, he is wearing a three-piece suit in the pictures. It’s his new favorite outfit; he’s quite like the Fonzworth Bentley of Denver.

Another thing I’ve learned is that I clearly need to bone up on my lyrics skills. First, I learned that I don’t know the lyrics to Twinkle, Twinkle. And then, at one point, my niece was crying really hard, so I picked her up and rocked her back and forth. At which point, I couldn’t think of any songs and was stuck singing Beatles tunes. Apparently, Beatles songs are my go-to panic songs. It’s fine. It worked. Phew. Check out my little gallery of pictures of them, also below.

It’s been a really great holiday season this year; I honestly couldn’t have asked for better. Hope you had a wonderful holiday, too.

Photos:

new orleans graveyards

now mamou, la: seriously, a fish pond. land for miles.

cousins!

me and my cousin in the diviest bar ever.

now denver: the kids at the zoo. yes, the girl is wearing a dino costume.

too cute not to share.

the girl and boy in their spaceship

our mad scientist, headlamp ready.

how the girl smiles for pics.

not so excited to shovel snow.

out of order

It’s a totally different ballgame to try and upkeep a blog when you have a job…and then go on vacation for a week. I haven’t been able to find my camera cord (I swear it just gets up and walks away) and so I’ll have to share my vacation photographs at another time. As a result, this post is totally out of order.

So in this moment, can I just share that I love being back at work?

I know I’m still in honeymoon stage, but everyone at the office seems really very intelligent and laid back, but not snobbishly so either. The work itself is fairly familiar, public relations at its best. I think as I get a better handle on the material, then I should be good to go and getting the results I want. Further, I’ll be able to start work-related goals. I know, just what you’ve been waiting for right? You’re riveted, I can tell.

Additionally, I finally found a volunteer organization that will work and I’ve signed up with New York Cares. I think I wrote that I signed up in the past, but the opportunities sign up incredibly quickly and it’s hard to find slots. But, at this rate, I’ve found that I can only realistically volunteer once every two weeks.

Now, I believe my greatest challenge will be to find a new place to live. As you know, I found a sublet in Williamsburg a few months ago and will no longer have said-apartment at the end of January. This means moving for the fourth time in 12 months. It’s exhausting. I’m tired of moving. In March, I moved from San Francisco to my parents house in the suburbs, then from the suburbs to Manhattan, then from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I would like this next move to last at least a year, or ideally two years, at the very least.

But where should I live? Rent is incredibly expensive. I could stay in Williamsburg, it’s a wonderful neighborhood — I like it a lot and it’s very easy to get around. I don’t particularly love being smushed up on the L and 4/5 trains each morning, but morning commute-smush is bound to happen. Additionally, the East Village is amazing. I lived there for a month while living in Manhattan. Actually, I was squatting there. It’s kind of a long story. Regardless, it’s the other place I enjoy. Truthfully, I haven’t really given other areas a chance and I’ve heard that Chelsea, the UES, UWS and other parts of the Village are great places as well. I guess it’s time to find a broker and/or start scanning craigslist again. Oh man, I totally just groaned with bitterness and then took a deep breath. Please let me find a decent place to live.

In short: if you’ve gone through this New York apartment situation or can help in any way in my hunt, please let me know.

The next post promises to provide pictures from my New Orleans vacation. Get excited.