98, 99, 100. Ready or not, here I come!

Well, This is my 100th post, so you all know what that means.

1. If you ask me a direct question about myself, I will almost always answer it.
2. I abhor telling anyone anything about myself if they don’t ask me a specific question.
3. Prior to last year, I had never broken a bone.
4. I broke someone’s collarbone when I played JV hockey in high school, so I guess karma finally caught up to me.
5. All through college I thought karaoke was completely lame.
6. Now I love it.
7. In high school, my goal was to lose my virginity before I was 16.
8. I was finally successful in the second semester of my freshman year of college, when I was about 2 months shy of my 19th birthday.
9. I worked at Victoria’s Secret for a month as a stock boy.
10. I am a very independent person.
11. That probably has a lot do with why I’m single, and why I usually try to keep myself that way.
12. I am doing absolutely nothing with my college degree in my current job.
13. For the moment, I’m ok with that.
14. I hate getting emotionally close to people
15. I like having a large group of friends so there is always someone I can hang out with.
16. I probably drink a little bit more than I should.
17. I have been to 12 countries (not including the US)
18. I have never been to the following states: New Hampshire, Delaware, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, and Hawaii.
19. I love to drive.
20. However, I do not miss having a car now that I live in the city.
21. I think organized religion is obsolete.
22. I suffer under the delusion that I am an athlete.
23. I hate talking on the phone.
24. At the moment, I am working out (semi) regularly.
25. My dad did everything within his power to raise me as a Yankees fan.
26. I’m a huge Red Sox fan.
27. I feel that by going to a Catholic college where people actually legitimately followed the religion, I missed out on a lot of the sexual opportunities other people get in college.
28. Given the choice, I’d probably still go there knowing what I know now.
29. I choose my battles very carefully.
30. I am not a very detail oriented person.
31. I have the artistic skills of a 4 year old.
32. I have the handwriting of a 2nd grader.
33. I love wearing sunglasses, and try to have the right color for the right weather.
34. At the moment, I only own blue sunglasses.
35. In many ways, I am a feminist.
36. I still think misogynist, racist, and other derogatory jokes are hilarious.
37. I am a very patient individual.
38. I have only been in love once.
39. The longest relationship of my life is only about 3 months.
40. I have hierarchy of the physical features I am most attracted to (hair, eyes, etc.)
41. Rarely does it ever factor in when I’m deciding who I date/hook up with.
42. I am not a politically correct individual.
43. I enjoy offending people.
44. I am the last person on the face of the earth you ever want to go to for sympathy.
45. I’ve smoked pot 3 times.
46. I only got high the first time.
47. I try to limit my vices to alcohol and women.
48. I love to travel.
49. I am at a point where I would only get into a relationship if I thought it had a chance of lasting a long time.
50. At this point, I also think it would be highly impractical for me to get into a relationship.
51. If I died tomorrow, I think I would be content with my life.
52. I have never met anyone famous.
53. I relish the opportunity to experience new things.
54. The aforementioned hatred of talking about myself is kicking in right now.
55. In high school, I had very bad acne.
56. Because of kickass medication, you can’t tell now.
57. I have kissed another male, and let him give me head.
58. I now know for sure that guys don’t do it for me.
59. I love being naked.
60. I feel naked if I don’t have a watch on.
61. I tend to be very thrifty.
62. Everyone once in a while I will splurge on something.
63. I wish I were still a college student.
64. I am a night owl.
65. I have a tendency to be a little arrogant.
66. I love to talk smack.
67. If I’m not making 6 figures by the time I’m 30, I will be very disappointed with myself.
68. In case you couldn’t tell from the previous statement, I am very career driven.
69. Several of the people I’ve met in the city think I’m a college student.
70. I don’t think this is a bad thing.
71. I hate getting dressed up.
72. I own my own tuxedo.
73. I’m a huge sports fan.
74. I’m also quite passionate about music.
75. I’m a rock kid at heart.
76. I have a guitar, but rarely play it.
77. I love to sing.
78. I can’t run for fun.
79. If I’m playing lacrosse or soccer, I can run all day.
80. I think there needs to be a Kleenex box in every room of one’s house/apartment.
81. I have a similar feeling on clocks.
82. I’m completely full of shit.
83. Yet I try to be as honest as possible.
84. Now that I’m this far into this, I’ve discovered I have a difficult time coming up with two thoughts in a row that aren’t related to each other.
85. While not fluent, I know enough French to get by should I go visit France again.
86. I rarely snack.
87. Politically, I tend to be conservative.
88. I’m pretty liberal about almost anything else.
89. I think head is absolutely necessary before sex.
90. I am a firm believer that all favors should be returned.
91. I think at heart, I’m really a romantic.
92. I will always try to act like a tough guy.
93. I am a horrible enabler.
94. I’d rather have the windows open than have the AC on.
95. I am a cold weather person.
96. I fell like the only person in the city that will actually wear shorts when they go out to a bar.
97. I used to have a thing for medieval weaponry
98. I think I’m part of the .1% of New York that doesn’t own an iPod or something equivalent.
99. I’m honestly trying to hold out for a free one from work.
100. I’m really glad this is only done for the 100th post.

The Dead Poet

Best. Bar. Ever.

I went out with a friend of mine last night to one the bar's on the Upper West Side that I've been meaning to check out for a while. Reasons for this include the fact that it is easy for me to get to, it's an Irish pub, it had a 9.2 rating on citysearch, and it's advertised as a sit down and relax place (as opposed to the bars where you have to scream at the person sitting next to you in order to have a conversation). Apparently this place has like drink specials every night, so there's no reason to ever pay more the $4 for a pint, which is a pretty good deal anywhere, and is f-ing amazing in NYC. Also, at least half the time the $4 pints are Guinness. The nights that aren't Guinness, are like Yuengling, so you really can't go wrong. Anyway, we had many pints, and ended the night with shots of Jameson that the bartender bought us. Good times all around.

Anyway, during the course of the evening I realized that I'm doing alright for meeting people in the city, however none of the people I've met know each other. I need to develop a crew. This has also come along with meeting people through the people I've met and realizing that should I have a get together, it would be nice if the people I invited knew each other ahead of time. That just makes for an all round better party. I think I will officially declare this phase 2 of the development of my New York social life.

In case you're all curious, this is my 99th post.

Leftovers

Yeah I know I've used this title before, but I have a tendency to sit down and my computer and forget things, or just take my blog in a completely different direction than I thought I would, and things get left out.

Yesterday I got to Columbus circle, and much to my surprise, discovered the V train on the local track. Upon arrival at 168th, I discovered the E train. Quite odd.

I'm very excited because I'm playing softball tomorrow. Actually, I'm damn near giddy. I can't wait to pack my bag later tonight.

I went to see Dianne Reeves tonight at the River to River festival. It was enjoyable. It wasn't something I'd go see on my own, but it was certainly something I didn't mind tagging along to see.

I am not happy about [adult swim] putting Pee Wee's playhouse on at 11. I just have no interest in watching that. I hate waiting until 11:30 for Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

I finally spoke with my friend Carrie and she/we decided that her being my date for Glee Club reunion probably wasn't such a hot idea. This means I'll probably go back to what was going to be my original plan of a different scandalous date...

I will leave you with a quote from one of my new friends in the city: "well quite simply every woman should own a vibrator. there's no excuse not to"

Oh yeah, she's a keeper.

Cold shower

So, I went to the ND picnic Saturday night. It was a bit rainy for a while, but it eventually cleared up and good times seemed to be had by all. Now thankfully I can go to a few more ND events in the city and recognize a few people. I think one of the most important things I learned was the acquiring a keg in the city is exceeding difficult. The ND club pulled off ('cause they got connections), but it is not an easy task. Granted I'm not planning on throwing any keg parties in the near future, but that's just the near future, or for at least as long as I'm living in my current apartment.

Anyway, Sunday was pretty much a wasted day since I didn't get out of bed until 5 (um, in Queens). Anyway, around 1 Sunday night/Monday morning I decided it was time to wash the 2 days of filth off of myself. I start by turning on the hot water first since it usually takes some time to warms up. Anyway, as I turn it on a few drops come out of the shower head, along with a few gurgles, but then.......nothing. Shit. Let's try the faucet for the hell of it. Yup, same thing. Hmmm....it's 1 am and I'm standing in my underwear. I think I'll just suck it up tonight and do the cold shower since I don't feel like getting dressed and waking up the super at this time and have to deal with his broken English. Needless to say, that wasn't fun, but I didn't feel the need to have the air conditioner on quite as high last night.

Anyway, I wake up in the morning and hope that its fixed. There's been evidence of the water being turned off and on while I've been at work, so I didn’t think it was much of long shot to actually happen. Unfortunately no, still no hot water, so we do the cold shave, which is also crappy, but far more tolerable than a cold shower. (Note that is cold and not cool.) On the way out the building I stop at the super's apartment to inform of the problem, and ever so conveniently, he's not there. I called my roommate who's actually smart enough to keep the super's number in a logical location, and thankfully the problem was fixed by the time I got home, but still. grrrrrrr. Now if only he would fix the toilet and install the smoke detector...

Road to Relevance

So, just shy of my 100th post I have enabled word verification since my blog got hit with a comment spammer. Darn, I find those things annoying but I guess they are a necessary evil, either that or my blog has become relevant enough to spam. (I enjoy my delusions of grandeur, just let me run with it).

It's been pouring all day (or at least most of the times I've tried to go outside today), so I suppose I should feel bad about making the pizza delivery guy bike through it, but realistically, no, I'm a dick, I laugh at others misfortunes. Maybe I'll tip him better, but I'm a pretty good tipper anyway, so that probably won't happen.

The A train was down today when I tried to go to work, so I took the 1 instead. Local trains suck. I've been so spoiled by the express.

My foot is much better today. I'm actually wearing my flip flops now with a nominal amount of pain. If it stops raining this weekend, I'll go get some arch supports for my shoes, since, per Kris they are "like sex."

I was hoping the cast party for the show I helped out with last weekend would occur this weekend, but I haven't heard anything, so I guess that's a no. Thankfully the local ND club is having a bbq this weekend, that is apparently geared towards people new to the city, so I think I will attend that.

Every once in a while I think

No, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen. My foot is much better today, and while I really want to work out, I'm going to do what I think is the intelligent thing, and not do that until my foot is healed, particularly considering the pain I was in Monday night when I tried to sleep. I'm also a lot less bitchy today, which probably has a lot to do with my foot, but probably also has a lot to do with the fact that it is like 10 degrees cooler, and being a cold weather person, just puts me in a better mood.

Also, I stayed awake through the 2.5 hour meeting today. Yay! Hopefully I can repeat tomorrow. I just need to remember to being gum again.

In other good news, I discovered that the deli across the street form my apartment, while quite shady (I always count my change), has the best prices on sandwiches I've seen just about anywhere, and I'm talking country here, not just NYC. They also have a lot of real good sandwiches, like the type that 3 or 4 different types of meets.

Hopefully my foot will be healed by the end of the week. Things seem to be on the right track.

Music: Fall Out Boy.

Foot amputations $1

I think the arch in my left foot has collapsed. This is a problem I've had since I was a kid, but I had never really been sure of the problem, I could just always push on whatever lump there was on the bottom of my foot, and it got fixed (with vary degrees of pain). So, Sunday I wake up and there is the lump on the bottom of my foot. Grr. I try pushing it back in, but its incredibly stubborn/painful so I said meh, and go out and do some shopping for lights I need in my room (the result of this trip was my buy a bike helmet...). I decided to this because usually after walking for a while it goes away, however this seems to be the case on this day. IT does seem better by the end of the day so I hope it fixes itself when I go to bed.

I wake up Monday, and it has not gotten any better. I try to walk it off again with the day's general activities, but it doesn't even improve during the day. Despite the pain in my foot, I try working out. Oddly enough this is the high point of the day as far as minimal pain. This probably has to do with the adrenaline I had in my system, along with the sneakers I was wearing which have some arch support, unlike the sandals I was wearing all day. Because of the obscene temperature and the fact I don’t feel like moving I decide to go to bed early (midnight). (Side note, it's so f-ing hot that while the air coming out of my air conditioner is cold, it is warm by the time it reaches me on my bed. grrr....) I get about 2 hours of sleep before the pain in my foot is too much to take. I dig around a closet and find an ace bandage to try and wrap around my foot to try and pull things back up into place. (Thankfully my roommate likes to be prepared to a nuclear holocaust and has shit like this lying around, while I wouldn’t even consider purchasing a Band-Aid unless I was already bleeding profusely.) This helps, but I need to readjust it every two hours to get circulation i my toes, making for a less than stellar night's sleep (yeah that whole going to be early thing is right out the window).

So today I wear real shoes for some arch support, but the pain doesn't really go away. I also0 discover that I have another 3 hour meeting I have to attend tomorrow, and I'm probably not going to get a good night sleep again. (At least this time I'll have the sense not to go out the night before.) Does anyone else love the irony that this happens like 5 days AFTER my physical? $#%#$@%#$@%@#$%. Oddly enough without my shoes on now, my feet feel the best they've felt in 3 days. Meh, I'll probably call the doctor tomorrow if it still hurts, unless I can find a way it fix this by myself tonight.

Music: BNL = "Brian Wilson," Billy Squeir - "Lonely is the Night," Black Crowes - "Twice as Hard," Bob Segar - "Fire Down Below"

Reunion and allofmp3

So, a few details need to be ironed out, but it looks like my friend Carrie will be my date to reunion. I was quite curious why she wasn't going with Sean since last I heard they were engaged. Apparently however, Carrie has broken off the engagement. I have no details. I tried calling her today and she didn't call back. I left her a message so hopefully she'll call me tomorrow so I can figure what the hell happened between two people I though were pretty damn good for each other (maybe distance finally got to be too much?).

In good news I have discovered the glory that is AllofMP3.com. I downloaded over 80 songs for under $10. And not random crap either, I'm talking AFI, Deep Purple, Fall Out Boy, Foo Fighters, Rush, and U2 to name a few. Let's hear it for shady Russians! The user interface is kind of annoying since you have to do a right click save as for each individual song, but when you're pay less than 10 cents a pop, one really can't complain that much.

Also, I saw "Dead Man's Chest" last night. I enjoyed it. It wasn't anything wow, but it held my interest, told a fun story, etc. The only thing I didn't like was the ending, since they are clearly coming out to do a new movie. I kind of wish they could end it differently so that it could stand on its own a little more, but oh well. I just hope the DVD for this comes out by the time Disney does their discounted DVD sale to its employees.

Doctor, Doctor!

So, with the move to NY, I had to get a new doctor. I really don't care for going to the doctor since I'm not a big fan of "preventative maintenance." That and I think I'm cool with dying at 60. However, in the event I do actually need one, it would be nice to skip the small talk and get to the "what hell is wrong with you" part of the conversation. Anyway, I had stepped on a scale at a friend's house in CT the night after camp, and it said that I was about 184, which was about 10 lbs higher than were I'm comfortable being at, but not surprising considering that I've gone up a waist size in the past 6-12 months. But, it was a bathroom scale, so I suppose its reliability was a little on the questionable side, and I new I was going to the doctor soon so I figured. Anyway, when I got on the in the doctor’s office, it said 169.5. My reaction was WTF? How the hell do I lose wait and increase waist size. I don't understand.

Anyway, I asked around and none of my coworkers seemed to be big fans of their doctors so I was on my own in that front. My roommate suggested one, but it was way downtown, and just generally really inconvenient to get to. So, I took a roll of the dice and used the following criteria: who's close to my office, and whom do I want holding my nuts when I turn my head and cough. I ended up with a woman who is virtually across the street from my office.

The only problem was, at the time of the appointment, I didn't know this. I just knew she was on the same street as my office. At this point in time, I also did not have a grasp of what direction addresses increased and decreased. So I started by walking away from Central Park, since the street I'm on convenient has 60 located after 77, and I assumed the numbers would continue to decrease if I walked in said direction. Of course I had to cross at the intersection of Broadway and Columbus so I needed to walk a good block in the wrong direction before I realized that I went the wrong way. Once said realization was made I turned around and walked in the correct direction. (Now I know how the addresses work at least, it’s kind of like the exit numbers on CT highways.)

Anyway I've also learned that I apparently have high blood pressure, which is new for me. Maybe it means I should not take in 3 times the amount of salt I need during the course of the week. Of course it might also have to do with my power walking to the office and barely making it on time (I also left my book in my cube the first time I tried to leave and I went back for it). Another possibility is that I was just wishing my doctor was a cougar and would jump me, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. Stupid reality. Anyway, I go back in a month to see if it was just a bad day or something. Hopefully it was since I've never had high blood pressure before.

I'll leave you with this final thought:
Gristedes, you can't buy a hot dog made from pork, but you can buy up to 3 different varieties of KY jelly.

A week off

Ok, so it's not really a week off, but instead of going to the theater right after work and not getting home until 1 or later, I actually come home after work and follow my "regular" routine. Unless specifically invited, I don't think I'll be going out this week. I kinda just want to chill and watch TV and just generally waste time.

Some final thoughts on the World Cup. I was rooting for the French in the final. My logic for rooting for them that since I made a meager effort to learn French in high school and college, that I guess I would root for them. That all changed after Zidane decided that he just wanted to kick the shit of the Italians. Then I decided the French were too dirty, and to root for the Italians since the teams I really cared about were done anyway. (Of course, I suppose the Italians were a little dirty too, but whatever, I'm living in the moment, and not the past for this one.) Though I must say, I think this is the first time since Napoleon that anyone French actually went out and kicked some ass instead of just lying down and surrendering, so I suppose that is something.

"...and what counts a special occaision?"

"A Friday."

Sorry for not blogging much. A friend of mine asked me to help out with a play doing set changes and what have you, and consequently I have not gotten home until 1 or later most nights this week, and I haven't even turned on my computer. The name of the play is The Cripple of Inishmaan. It's pretty much a dramady. The whole play seems funny, but then the main character dies in the end. I can't tell what actually happens, since I've never actually seen it, but I have listened to most of it from backstage. For those of you wondering why I'm doing this (other than the fact I was asked) is that this seemed like a good opportunity to get to know people in the city, and actually develop a group of friends instead of having a few individual friends, none of whom actually know each other. That and they're paying me in beer, and let’s be honest, I can be bought for less.

In other news, despite being a short work week, this week sucked (from a work perspective). I made some fantastic efforts to shoot myself in the foot if I ever want to advance my career in this company. The worst probably being dozing off in the meeting I was in yesterday. Apparently people above me (which is pretty much anyone who's not an intern) caught me and had a chat with my supervisor. This in conjunction with other things just made for a craptacular work week. Now these things weren't entirely my fault, though for the most part, yeah, I was the jackass. Way to fuck yourself buddy.

This is definitely one of those weeks I wish I was a college student still, where sleeping in class was pretty common. I think my worse offenses occurred in Theology 100 where I had a tendency to show up a little late; with the first row being the only row open by the time arrived. Combine this with the class being right after lunch, and a professor who tended to repeat at least a third of the lecture he gave the previous class, every time in a class the required attendance, yeah, it was bad. The worst part probably was the fact that I wasn't even subtle about it. I would take my jacket and just but it on the counter/desk-thing and just put my head on it. In the meeting I didn't think I dozed that badly, but apparently I did.

In talking with people who have "grown up" and say they can't party like they used to, I question whether or not this is actually the case. I think they just need to get up at 7 (or earlier) everyday, and actually need to pay attention to what goes on around them. What great irony that we finally have the money to party like we want, but we no longer have the time or schedules that permit it.

I've also discovered that while I do kinda like my job, I just don’t care about my department. Sales and marketing is just not my thing. All I really need is a half hour synopsis on a few different aspects of the industry, and after that my mind is checking out. I like to make things work. I hate selling them. If I'm ever a CEO, sales and marketing will definitely be a part of the company that I delegate responsibilities to so I can do as little as possible with it.

Speaking of growing up, punctuality was never one of my finer qualities, but sometime after graduation, I become ridiculously punctual, to the point where I'm highly annoyed if anyone is more than 30 seconds late. I'm not sure when this happened, but it's kind of annoying since I seem to be the only punctual person I know (or at least that I deal with on a daily basis). This may have something to do with the fact that I don't entirely have a feel on how long it takes to get to one place from another in NYC, so I tend to give myself a little more time than what I probably need.

I had more, but I forgot it, cause it 5:30 on a Friday afternoon, and my mind and body are starting to yell at me for still being in the office. That and I think this entry is probably disjointed enough already.

Reunion Cometh!!!!

I have been waiting to get this in the mail for a few months now, and it finally came, the invitation to the 2006 Glee Club reunion. I have been waiting for this probably since the moment I graduated. I can't wait. The only downside of this is that I'm going to have to plan ahead, which isn't something I'm a big fan of doing. Now, reunion is somewhat of a date event, and knowing that most former clubbers will have one, I should probably get one too, unless we could create a good crew of us going stag, which would be a helluva good time too. I will cash in at least one vacation day, though it would nice to take a second to fly out to Chicago and do some heavy drinking with a at least of a few of the like 30 people I know there. There's also the whole finding a place to sleep while I'm out there. I have a friend in law school at ND, who might be able to put me up, but asking someone about their plans for the end of September in the beginning of July isn't all that useful frequently. Anyway, I am very excited, but I have a lot to figure out. At least I have over a month to figure out all this stuff :-)

Music: 311 - "Greatest Hits '93-'03"

Sure, now its sunny

So, I have returned from a fun filled week of camp. Unfortunately it rained almost every day so we didn’t get to play softball :-(, but oh well. I managed to maximize my responsibility while doing a minimal amount of work by just doing unit coverage, which basically consisted of me sitting at my campsite and reading a book and making sure one got hurt. Speaking of books, I finished Lamb. It was cute and funny. Not really very intellectual, but it held my interest, so I'm not complaining. I have discovered however, that I prefer something a bit more intellectually stimulating. Despite me hating English class all through high school, I think my teachers may have actually gotten through to me, so I now prefer reading people like Nathaniel Hawthorne instead of people like Christopher Moore.

While I am sure the city life is what I need right now, I think someday I will need to move back into the woods. There is very peaceful and soothing about the ambient noise in the woods, which is in contrast to the absolute silence I generally prefer I can only dream about living in the city.

Some of you will really like this. One of our Junior Counselors is and ND trumpet. FYI, the trumpet shirts for this past year were awesome.

That's all I have for the moment. Sorry if you're hoping for more after a week of vacation, but I've been going here for 10 years, so while I love it, there's not a whole lot to report from it. That and I didn't write anything down during the week so anything interesting I might have talked about has already been forgotten.

Music: Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon