A Pool Closes, A Pool Opens, Dollars I have to Make worth... And the Weekend's best Laid Plans.

1. Not having bought groceries last sunday, I have had to eat my breakfast outside. It has been for the most part $1 Nature Valley bars that I buy on my way to work. Except for today, when I went to Starbucks and took one small protein shake from a brand of smoothies I don't remember. It is low in calories.
2. Today, however, I ate bits here and there, perhaps because walking a lot in the middle of the heat makes you hungry and loose energy. Let alone that I had a very busy (and very accomplished) day at work. So I ate a small sandwich at Thalia, an ice cream yogurt, a cereal bar and some chocolate... I guess I am going to have to walk a little less...
   
3. I explored some stores, including Sephora. I experimented with some makeup and I was pleased with what I got. It looked natural but I looked more fresh. I will buy this next friday with my fat check (don't get me wrong, I won't burn all the money, OK?
4. My best female friend and ex-roommate in college, who I will call Swapna (oddly enough, this is the second time I rename someone with the name of someone else I know. But this is the name that I can make a connection with) is coming to New York this coming September. I told her she could stay at my house, something I will tell Jess soon. Swapna's fiancee, "Harshit," might come too, reason for which I need to investigate an accomodation. Swapna comes both for a course of Genetics here, and to look for a job in New York. As much as I love this apartment and I am very pleased with Jess, if Swapna lands on a job and has not married Harshit at that time, I will move with her... That will be in a year though.
5. So anyway... On the job front, things have got much better. I started seeing four clients and I even saw five today. And even in complicated cases, I managed. It boosted my confidence as opposed to last week.
6. On Sunday, I went with Satvic to a Mandir (for those not Indian or familiar with Hinduism or Indian terms, Mandir is synonim of Hindu Temple). It is North Indian and Bengali for the most part, but it is near my house. I am still eager to go to the South Indian Mandir in Jamaica, the Ganesha Temple with the Jeweler, but I will have to talk to her. Or maybe I will go on my own. I am most familiar with South Indian traditions, and my trend of having a bunch of South Indian friends has not changed since I moved to New York. But I will definitely will come back to the mandir near Astoria quite often.
7. But speaking of friends in communities, tomorrow there is a Latino party in Guggenheim. There is also another one on Saturday. I want to go to the one on friday because it is more of a networking event. I was telling The Kid that I don't want to party every single friday and saturday. At 29, I have noticed that doing this in two consecutive days wears me out. Now imagine me doing this every weekend. I need more variety, you know.
8. I will work extra hours three days a week. It will be a welcome gain of extra money, extra experiences, and some other good advantages.
9. Touched base with G. We will see each other next week. I need to touch base with quite a few of my classmates!
10. Yesterday I went to the Y! Gym (I enter for free as a perk of working at the agency where I work). It was WAY BETTER than I expected.
11. I am reading Personal Velocity, by Arthur Miller's daughter (The name escapes). It is a great book!
12. An asshole from my earlier years of highschool was talking about me in Facebook saying that I was planing to get even on everyone. And I am getting even, as the best revenge is living well. I used my real name at the time, and right now I am using my nickname, so there is no way for him or the rest to tell that I am around. I knew this because the only worthy classmate I had pointed me to that forum. That confirms I have no interest in connecting with those people!
13. Ohh! Back on Sunday. I went to Jackson Heights and invested in a deal that was there. So, in that store, I was calling the lady Auntie and she asked me if I was from Afghanistan, which is something people tend to ask when I am in Muslim context, wearing a proper South Asian dress. I tend to get mistaken for a lot of nationalities, but this was the first time I was mistaken as Afghan while in jeans and a shirt (I Usually get things like "Italian" "Israeli," "Egyptian" and the sort. G pointed out the equation: "Saying Auntie + Dark hair + Tall + Fair = Afghan/ Persian." I knew in New York, which has double and triple the diversity than South Carolina, where I lived before coming here, people mistaking me for other as the Latina I am would multiply... Interestingly enough, also more Latinos identify me as one of their own without me having to speak. They speak Spanish to me immediately!
    
14. That's all I have so far... Unless I remember other things.
    

Hopes, Tough Times, and Fast Advances

My first days in New York have been interesting.

Friday: Went to see my first two apartments, both in Astoria (a beautiful area in Queens). I liked the first because my roommate would be a girl, the kitchen was big enough and it had enough closet space. The second one had a very small bedroom and I did not like it. In addition, I went to a job interview. At night, my friend VJ and I were planning to hang out, but I was really tired, and was going to tell VJ I would cancel. He canceled first ad I could not be happier.

Saturday: During the day I saw one apartment in Sunnyside Queens that I loved. I had a very spacious bedroom in front of the room, a decent enough kitchen, a cute little dog, and a guy who would not be there at night because he owned a night club. On my way, Satvic called to invite me to some Gita studies, but it was so unfortunate I was busy.

In the afternoon, I went to eat with my uncle Ant. and my aunt C. to 212 New York. These are people who have been good friends of my family, particularly my father and my uncle. We were laughing, remembering childhood memories and eating a good breakfast food.

After a beauty routine, and buying a few shirts my sister was suggesting, I returned home to become in contact with BB, an old Facebook friend. We met at the Korean Path, where he was staying. We were trying to look for a place to eat and chill out, and we went through much of Times Square with that purpose. I was afraid that I would choose a restaurant that would end up being expensive. We ended up in a restaurant in the 8th avenue, which name I can't remember. When I read the menu, I thought it was expensive, but he replied it was nowhere near as expensive as Dublin or London. Still, even though he asked for the most expensive entry ($30) I settled for the appetizer ($10... Very expensive for an appetizer).
After that, BB and I went back to the hotel and waited for his friend Raj. From them on, we went back to Times Square searching for a bar or club. We even entered to Hard Rock Cafe, but got out immediately. We ended up at the jazz club at the Columbus Circle, but we were in the third to last song. Then I decided to return because I am still staying with Gabby, and I don't have the key to her apartment.

Sunday: This was a bit of a frustrating day to me. I had some rashes in the skin that did not let me move very well. I saw a couple of apartments. One was too far a walk for the train and too small. The other one did not even have a livingroom. Then, the guy of the Sunnyside apartment called me and I said that I needed to meet him before a final decision, so we decided to meet on Monday. At night Bijilash called to invite me to go to the sight-seeing bus with him, but I was too itched, and needed to wake up tomorrow early.

Yesterday and Today: Work went great, and they are willing to give me a work permit if I pass the probation. YAY! In addition, I called the Sunnyside apartment guy twice, and he did not answer. But Jn called and I accepted. When I was going to look for the key, the guy paged me saying that he would not be in the apartment that night and whether we could finalize details tomorrow, but I made up my mind. (Besides, what guarantees me he would be there tomorrow if he could not keep the appointment and would not call me?) So, now I have a beautiful room in Astoria with a female roommate and three trains nearby! At night, I ate at the apartment of my uncle and aunt, and we went to the sun deck... There was a wonderful view of New York. Too bad I did not bring the camera!!!

And also... Ck, a guy I met at the subway called me. It happens that we were going to meet today, and we had to put it for tomorrow. But then he said "I want to have a date with you." ERRR WHAT? I will go, but I would like to warn him that this is not a date, and that I am not ready for dates. I just need to find the appropriate tone and words to be polite. Either I am overprotecting myself or some people go way too fast!

As a sidenote: The adjustment to New York. Gabby advised me to be highly restricted these first few months in order to figure out how much can I save or I have left from rent and basic needs. My awareness of New York being expensive is making me scared. Before you jump on Gabby, this is something I know already, and from time to time the question of whether I will be able to survive New York haunts me like a ghost. Of course, what I desire the most is friends. But still... I feel scared.

Summarizing the last two days. (Two days away from my return to New York)

Okay, after studying yesterday, I went to Damen. This is an avenue here in Chicago that is famous for its artistic scene and its cafes. When I entered to Reckless Records, which is a record shop famous for having a wide selection of Chicago's local underground bands, and other underground music... It downed on me that I might be one of the few, if not the only Hispanic in the shop. I made a deconstruction of the experience in my other blog.

After that, O. T. paged m. OT is a lawyer and a third generation Mexican American whom I met in Livejournal, where we both blog.. This would be the second time this guy and I would hang out together. He lives in Chicago, but it is in my third visit here that we had the chance to meet personally. We ate at Earwax Cafe (which, despite the potentially repeling name, it serves excellent Vegetarian sandwiches), and then, he decided to show me a bit of the city.

We both walked to a bar in Milwakee, which name escapes me. The owner was very friendly and intelligent and we three talked about politics. We were discussing the possibilities of McCain winning, and he came with the theory that McCain might pick Condolezza as his running mate. That would be the ultimate irony, but I think this election has been about ironies and about being a bit more frank about issues that in America are pretty much taboo (institutionalized racism and sexism still alive). I think I will go about this in my other blog.

Back to the bar: different concerts, and as far as bars go, this one looked really nice, albeit too dark for my taste (but maybe lights were not on because it was still daylight). Then, O.T. walked me much of the way through Damen and we stopped in a second bar. At the beginning, I was reluctant and I wanted to go to the lounge besides it, but I felt I was too informally dressed (it was all in the shoes), so we ended up in the bar.

Aside of the fact that smoking is forbidden in the bars (this law has NOT been passed in South Carolina as I write), the bars here in Chicago have ambience. While I still prefer lounges, I have hope in finding bars with it.

Right after that, OT walked me to the station and we talked a lot about many things. He is an awesome guy and I would definitely love to hang out with him again.

Then, I spoke with SJ, one of my long distance buddies I met rather randomly. We have talked for a year and have built quite a good friendship. He placed new pictures in his profile and I went through them... That after he buzzed me to say hi. Tired to type to him, I decided to call and we talked for a while. Sometimes it is much better to hear a friend's voice. It feels more human.

Today was rather boring. I was disappointed because I wanted to get out for the second to last time before going to New York. But at least I could concrete some appointments of people who will show me apartments (mostly in Astoria, a zone in Queens that I love). In addition, I have various hang out propositions. Let's see how it all pans out.