Adjusting

I still haven't taken any pictures. There really hasn't been much time to come home, get my camera, then go out again...plus I hate looking like a tourist. But, in the meantime, here's a bit of what my life here is like.

It's musical. As I type, there's a group of teenagers walking down the road singing a really bad hip hop sing-along as if it were an irish bar song. Along those lines, people act in public as if it were the privacy of their own home. I used to just think that people who talk to themselves on the street are crazy...not so much. Here, you get the sense that the street is their home, although sometimes it does feel like a competition to see who can be the craziest. Since home is boring, there are no yards to be private in, and you can never get a moment alone, you might as well talk to yourself. It's kind of like the sidewalk or the subway is your living room.

Black people don't talk on their cellphones here the way they do in CA - the talk directly into the mic then hold the phone about a foot from your ear maneuver. Just an observation, no conjectures as to why.

I rarely see my roommates and that's kinda wierd; I always saw jon and mike. Although there are only three guys in our apartment, ours in the "home base." The guys/gals on level two and three all all really good friends with my roommates so they always come down to our place because of the TV and cable. I like that. But, no one ever wants to go out during the weeknight because they all work so late. I've been putting in nine hour day's but I start at 9:30 or 10 so it's not as intense as their 6 or 7 start time (that means they have to leave earlier). Hopefully this weekend some of them will be around to go places.

Work is pretty fun. I do menial shit. Mainly I've been put in charge of putting together the boxes and route packets for the various bus route leaders that will begin their journey's to McAllen, TX in a week or so. After a few days of bitch work they realized that I'm not an idiot so I have a few other things to do now. That's kinda nice. Unlike the construction work I do, I can't just see what I have to do and be on my own for a while...well, I do, but when my boss is giving me a task I have to anticipate later problems and ask for the solutions, so I disturb him as little as possible later. It's pretty intense right now with all the last minute problems being taken care of, which to me equals fun. Everyone in the office is really fun - that's it for that aspect.

Tonight after work i went to a place that has half price drinks every weeknight from 4-8. It also had an outdoor patio which is weird in my neck of the woods...ya know, 'cause you'll get shot. This place is on the Upper Westside. There is about a five block strip of Amsterdam that has a shitload of cool bars. I had a couple of drinks on the patio and just got to sit and watch people be weird. There was this old man who walked so slow (because of ailments, not like the crazy pink guy in santa cruz) that he was having significant conversations with people as he walked past the sidewalk seating. I also noticed a lot of Jewish folks - redundant I guess because, after all, it's New York. One super Jewish guy got caught by his wife as he was looking down the shirt of a hot Latina while walking by her table. That was awesome.

Hey! Do you know what the difference between a jewish baby and a normal white baby is?... The jewish baby is obviously jewish - that's not really a joke - they have jewish noses as infants.

Other than that I haven't explored much of NYC. Went to try to see David Sidaris (sp?) last night in Union Square, but it was a packed house. This weekend, if I'm not busy working I'll get to do touristy shit.

I feel that I am naturally an introvert, but this place makes me realize how moderately introverted I am. I find myself going to this particular coffee shop that's really close to my house on the way to and from work, only because the girls who work there are really nice and talk to me. It's not that GIRLS are talking to me, but that ANYONE is talking to me. I sit in there and just absorb the niceness.