RIP

One of my best friends passed away this week after losing his battle with cancer. I am at a loss for words, and I start crying over anything and everything. I hope he knows how much I loved him and that he will always be close to my heart.

I recently reactivated my Facebook account (shocker of shockers, I know), and I wanted to post the following to his page. However, apparently there is a 1000 character limit to Wall Posts. I just need to memorialize these words.

Roddy, I hope you are noraebanging your heart out with a stone bowl bibimbap and a Midori sour at your side.

***

"In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night... You--only you--will have stars that can laugh!" - "The Little Prince"

Roddy, you always knew how to make me laugh. You were always there for me through everything. I only hope you knew how much you've meant to me all of these years. I remember all of the times we shared - the 10PM trip in the Rodmobile to Gibney's, your green shirt for the pink v. green tournament (yes, I'm still green with envy), Skee-Ball match-ups...a lot of them, when we freaked out at seeing that guy with the Carlton face shirt at APW (and then you got me a Carlton face shirt for Christmas!!!), picking up Joolie at the bus stop (me: "hey, isn't that Joolie?" and then you drove around the block for us to pick her up) and getting bubble tea, the epic hooky meal at Jean-Georges and all of the shenanigans that followed, last minute road-tripping to DC and making the executive decision to stop off at AC on the way up, the picnic in Washington Square Park that led to said road-tripping, our first night at Izu when we closed that place down after singing "Umbrella" (how many times did we shut it down afterwards? too many to count), how we refused to call it Karaoke Kave/Cave after it changed its name from Izu, going to dim sum...which turned into a 5-destinations-food-stop at dim sum, Baohaus, Doughnut Plant, Quickly, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine, going to BAM to watch "The Way We Were" with Robert Redford's in person interview (and racing NASCAR arcade games and playing Skee-Ball at Chuck E. Cheese's while we waited), how you drew "the flowchart" (with such accuracy and precision), clown-car-ing it in the photobooth on RDO and standing in a Hess gas station parking lot for 2 hours, how you were as excited as I was about New Kids on the Block floor seats at MSG (and how you confirmed that my touching Joey's jacket = yes, I touched Joey), White Castle in the parking lot like fugitives (yes, I know you loved it, and that's why we were both thankful to find I liked their mozz. sticks because that meant I wouldn't pull a face every time we wanted to find food at 2AM...which was often), talking until 4AM about anything and everything (um, yes, you do have work in 4 hours...and didn't I just pull a 16 hour day? "oh well"), countless nights at Izu, Verlaine and WRL (not to mention Bon Chon, Artichoke, Amy Ruth's, Cha-An, etc.)...I'll miss everything.

But most of all, Roddy, I'll miss you. I miss you so much already. I look to the stars, knowing you're smiling down on us.

Love to you and your family.

***

May peace be with you, Roddy.

I blessed the rains down in (South) Africa.

South Africa was awesome.

Getting off work at 6:12PM today was awesome.

My life is pretty much awesome. (First time I've said that non-sarcastically in a while.)

Taking Another Bite

Of the Big Apple, that is.

This is my last week at the firm (woohoo!). In September, I'll be going in-house here in NYC. That's right - not moving back to California in the near future, it seems. I'm really psyched for this in-house gig because it seems like it could be a great change in lifestyle and lowered stress levels. I was very close to writing off lawyering altogether, but my new job seems like a perfect compromise of seeing how lawyering is like in another (hopefully more positive) setting.

Oh, and another intrinsically HUGE positive: no. more. billable. hours. YAY!

NB: I'm taking a few weeks off between jobs, and I am going to SOUTH AFRICA. Ahhhh!!! Very random and impulsive choice - booked my flight on Friday of last week, and I fly out next week. I'm waiting for my safari to confirm, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll be safari-ing, using my Fairmont hotel vouchers that I won on a few nights at the Fairmont lodge in SA, and heading to Cape Town. I also have a full day's layover in Dubai. Needless to say, this trip is costing me a small fortune, but leaving big law life is surely worth the celebration, no?

I love the smell of [____] in the morning!

Where [_____] = "Daria" on DVD!!

Step 1: Acquire "Daria" on DVD when it came out.
Step 2: Determine years of cat-sitting-on-top-of-VCR/DVD-player have resulted in killing said VCR/DVD player.
Step 3: Purchase NEW VCR/DVD player.
Step 4: Set up aforementioned new VCR/DVD player.
Step 5: SEE ABOVE!!

yay.com/lahlahlaaaahlahlah.html

*heart*

I *heart* my new apartment. :)

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid. I was in SoCal for a friend's wedding last weekend (gorgeous wedding, gorgeous bride!), and I couldn't help myself - I went to Disneyland!

It was a lot of fun, and I totally took pictures with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and MICKEY! I also am now the (proud?) owner of a pair of plushie ear clips with Minnie bows.



Yes, I am a grown, mature and responsible adult.

:D

Nico and I are movin' on up...

Movin' on up to the West Side!

And, while my rent is a chunk more than $1600, I'm quite pleased with my new place. AND I still save $700+ on my rent!

yay.com!

Oh! And I ordered DARIA ON DVD!!!!

yay.com x 2!!! :)

oh. em. gee.

I just gave my 60 days' notice on my apartment. OH. EM. GEEEEE. So my plan is to move to another apartment (likely to a less swanky zip code) in order to save more money. Like....a SIGNIFICANT amount of more money. My budget will now be $1600, hoping to get a 1BR but okay with a studio, take a cat, and not in the UES or Midtown East (hoping for UWS or Midtown West). Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

To flee or not to flee...that is the question.

So I have a week of vacation that is as yet unplanned. Week 1 of the vacay has already been allocated to California. Week 2, however, is completely open to interpretation.

I've been thinking of a few things:
1) Fleeting trip to Peru (with main goal of seeing Machu Picchu) with the following itinerary: Fly into Cuzco/tour Cuzco (depart Sunday night/arrive Monday - Day 1), Machu Picchu (Day 2), Fly into Lima/Lima (Day 3), tour more Lima (Day 4), Lima/return to NYC (Friday night/arrive Saturday - Day 5). Yes, I have Fairmont/Swissotel hotel vouchers for Lima (hence the Lima-ness at the end there). I'd probably book a package for the Cuzco/Machu Picchu portion because that would be easiest in terms of hotel and getting my butt up that mountain. Total cost of flights (NYC --> Cuzco --> Lima --> NYC), hotel and Machu Picchu package, give or take a couple hundred, ~$2100.

2) Cruise. I know I know...a total cop-out. There's something to be said about having everything figured out for you and eating as much as you want, whenever you want, then going to lie on a deck with a book. Based on my available dates, it'd be a five day cruise from NYC up the Canadian coast to visit St. John and Halifax (never been to either). I've solicited cruise bids from this website and they are quoting ~$1070 for a balcony stateroom for just me, not inclusive of tips, etc.

3) Round trip to somewhere random, tropical, and not necessarily high on my list of must-see/must-do, but suitable for an escapist approach (e.g., Costa Rica, the Bahamas, etc.). Considering I've been to Belize and Fiji (not to mention the Omani beaches), I'm not sure if I need another beach vacation. Then again, there's something to be said about lying on a beach with a book - similar to the cruise escape idea. It does sound nice...and would be pretty affordable. I'm seeing under $1000 or so for flight and hotel, 5 days/4 nights.

4) Do nothing?

*shudder*

Pretend I didn't say that.

5) I'm open to suggestions. Anything from the night of June 13 to the night of June 19. Any ideas?

Nico has something to say.

And I'm thinking of creating a blog for him to say it.

Um...categorize this under "cat lady"...?

Epic Timing

My Blackberry died. (See immediately previous post.)

Is it possible to curse an electronic mobile device?

Blackberry: 10 Things I Hate About You

This week I went to a free creative writing workshop to see if I wanted to start taking classes with this program. It was pretty good, and I ended up writing a short blurb on our favorite modern technological leash: the Blackberry. The prompt was to write for five minutes about something uncommon that you hate. I'm sure many of you will understand.

"The red blinking light of my Blackberry haunts me. It's funny to think that the Blackberry did not exist ten years ago - at least, it didn't exist in my world. Now this electronic manacle is constantly and without question always there. Movie theater? There. My brother's graduation? There. On a date? There - along with me, furtively typing in a bathroom stall. How can one two-and-a-half inch by three-and-a-half inch device bring so much pain? The red light blinks. It could just be another administrative announcement - or it could be the end of my life."

Meh.

I got the shaft at work. Nice to feel so (un)appreciated.