I've been fairly busy for the past week.  Well, I don't know if 'busy' is the best word, but I've been fairly active.  I'm spending a lot more time in Manhattan than I have in the past, both out of necessity and for leisure. Althought the leisure is probably a necessity as well.  I feel like I'm finally starting to take advantage of the fact that I live in New York.  Lots to do and see.  costs a lot too though.  We are very, very poor.  but for the most part, it's been a blast.  though an obscenely expensive blast.  like a space-shuttle-launch kind of blast.  moving on...

    I started two new jobs last week, and they seem to be going well.  It's hard to tell though, since I just started.  But overall, I'm just trying to relax.  Which I can usually do, until I'm sitting at my first job, an internship, and I start thinking about the fact that I'm there for 21 hours a week and don't get paid.  BUt it's the experience that matters. Yes, the valuable skills and connections I'll undoubtedly make. Please?

    My second job is witing historical signs for the Department of Parks and Recreations.  the biggest plus so far is its location.  It's right next to the Central Park Zoo, so I can stand by the window and watch all sorts of creatures.  I have a great view of the sea lions from the stairwell in the building, and when I look out the windows I see nothing but trees.  Very rare in the city.  So that makes it pretty cool.  After work on Friday, I was scheduled to meet Jen to celebrate her 24 years of living, and I had no real plans or timetable so I just walked leisurely all the way from East 64th street to West 75.  Not really that long a walk, but faily substantial. About half an hour.  i usually hate walking and prefer to avoid it, so that was a big deal for me. But it was really pleasant. A beautiful day, and no stinky streets to wade through, unlike most of the areas of NYC in the summer.  And I've never really spent any substantial time in Central Park.  Not a bad place.  And the job seems cool.  i'm getting a kick out of the thought that my signs will be hanging all over the city, in every borough.  I'm trying to pick high traffic areas so more people will see them.  And everyone who works for Parks and Recreations apparently is required to have some sort of nickname. It's sort of weird. But everyone has a name tag with their nickname on it.  "Yolo," "Chama," "Lebowski," etc.  They have some sort of significance to the particular people I'm told.  It's kind of quirky, but I think it makes the atmosphere a little less serious.  So whatever.

    I've also been spending a lot less time watching TV.  Now that Survivor is over, I'm not sure what to do with myself.  Luckily, they're replaying all the episodes starting this friday.  But I've actually been doing a lot of reading and writing.  And even a little 'rithmetic.  Bills to be paid, you now.  I'm almost done with On the Road, and I've got a ever-growing list of books I need/want to read.  And I've started to write more.  Not here, but things that I might be able to be proud of someday.  The other night I was actually inspired to write.  That hasn't happened in a while, but I was going to sleep around 2am, and just decided to sit down and write, and stayed up till about 4, writing about 2100 words.  Granted, much of it is crap, but it's a start.  And this weekend I had a lot of while talking to people, they brought up a lot of things I'd discussed in the stuff I wrote.  And I didn't even bring it up. So I suddenly feel like somewhere there's something relevant in what I wrote.  they trick of course is to follow through, something I've had a good amount of difficulty doing in the past.   I'm not exactly sure what I'm writing about though, I may have to figure that out first.   But it's not the sort of thing I'd post here.
    What else is going on.  Had some people over last night. PFC Kathy's ex-boyfriend from Ireland was here. He seemed like a nice fellow.  Fergal be his name.  Talked to him at length about Shepard's Pie, blood pudding, and bird's nest soup.  Irish stuff. He brought a bottle of Bushnell's Irish whiskey. He drank about half of it.  I was talking to Kathy in my room last night when roommate Dylan came in and informed us that Fergal was at that moment puking on our stoop.  Of course everyone was saying "what kind of Irishman is he?"  Still he did drink half the bottle, so that's not too shabby I guess.  Th funny thing is, from what I'm told, he was just really nonchalant about it. He just starting convulsing, blew some chunks, then resumed casual conversation.  It reminded me of the time we were in this DC club and Jed threw up in his hand, tossed it, nobody noticed, and we just carried on.  One thing's for sure- vomit always makes for funny stories.
    Speaking of Dylan, he and I talked at length about the Onion, and how much we both enjoy and value the music and movie reviews they have. Sure, the whole thing is uproariously funny, but I really think they have some of the best reviewers in there.  They can be mean and nasty, but not in a smarmy, overly-hip way.  They can, for example, talk about a Hanson record, and take two sentences to poke a little, fun, but spend the rest of the review talking about what's good and bad about it, if you happen to like that kind of music.  So it's intelligent and usefull. It's funny and insightfull, and I really think it's some of the best short reviews you'll find.  My first day of grad school, we had to tell the class what sort of stuff we read and what reviewers we liked, and the only thin I came up with was the reviewers in the onion.  I got a lot of "Uh-huh" head nods I think.  Fuckers.

    So even though I was up till five am (the people were gone by 4, but I stayed up folding my laundry and watching the Martin Lawrence movie Bluestreak for some odd reason) I still managed to get up around 11 today.  Though I slept fitfully all night, because I was afraid I'd sleep too late.  So in a good chunk of my dreaming, I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, but not too soundly asleep.  Anyway, I had to get up because Jen, PFC Caryn and I were going to the Mets-Phillies this afternoon at Shea Stadium.  I'm suffering from this disorder where for some reason, I think it will take me about 30-40 minutes to get anywhere in New York, no matter where I am or where I'm going.  I don't know what's going on with that.  Even though it usually takes me about 25 minutes to get from the East Village to Central Park, I think i can get to Central Park from Brooklyn in 30 minutes.  I was late for work on Friday, by the way. First day too. But my boss didn't show up till aroun 9:30. Anyhow, Jen and I left my the aparment late, got to caryn's late, and got to the game late.  the Phils lost3-0.  blast.  But it was interesting.
    I've seen more of Jen in the past month than I did in the previous four I think.  that's been nice.  She's very dependable.  Jed and I were talking about that the other day, when he didn't show up for her birthday.  Jen might not often spearhead any movement or event, but you can always count on her to be there.  Like a rock, baby.  More than any of us, anyway.  Caryn has also proven to be a good, true friend.  So it was good to spend the day with them.   I was feeling sort of poopy all day though.  We in my family get really cranky when we get tired.  And my team lost.  So I was feeling mopey.  Poor me.  Somebody call the Wah-mbulance.  Sorry bout that.  And for all this.  Trust me. It will get better.  Though this was really long.  And not very good. And I'm not helping by dragging it out in this stream-of- consciousness rant either.  But for as much as I wrote, you'd think there'd be a few more interesting tidbits. But I'm too deliberately vague these days to write anything juicy.  Wany juicy? the most I can offer is that Kathy's friend Fergal left yesterday, and today she and Jed have resumed friendly relations.  It's about 11:50 pm now, and she came over a little bit ago, so I suppose it'd be more accurate to say that they are in the process of resuming friendly relations.

I think in my last entry i mentioned something about Kathy thinking about starting her own online journal.  Here's a bit you might find in there-
"Greg is such a dick."
Maybe not. It's tough to tell what she might think. Women.
 

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