HEY, LOOK WHAT I DID

hey everybody,
guess what i finally got around to?

yeah, that's right
after a year and a half of promising and forgetting,
i finally put my photos of russia up online
not only that,
i put up my photos from new york, too

so, if you feel like giving them a look,
you can find them here
picasaweb.google.com/nuyorussia
[btdubs,

'vg' stands for volgograd

'sp' is saint petersburg

'msc' is moscow]

a place to call my own

okay, so here's the end of the cliffhanger i promised:

i come back from work tuesday night [the one before thanksgiving],
i got the mail in one hand, my bag hanging off my shoulder,
and am ready to pass the fuck out, since it's 11 pm by this point
i open the door, flip the light switch...
AND NOTHING HAPPENS
after an under–the–breath '...the fuck?', i try it again
and again, nothing fucking happens
at this point i look around, and the entire apartment is pitch black
my alarm clock's off, the fridge isn't running, the tv box is black
so at this point, it's pretty obvious that the power was turned off
but, it was only in my apartment
at this point i'm really fucking pissed and confused
since there's no reason for this too be happening,
and drop my shit on the floor
at that point, i remembered that there was mail,
so i checked to see if there was anything for me [by way of the hallway light]

in this mail stack, there's a letter from a lawyer,
addressed to some guy who doesn't live there anymore,
listing him as a 'plaintiff' in a law case
i rip the top off it to see what the fuck this was about,
and scan through the letter
in brief, this is what it said:
'hey jackass,
you ran up a HUGE electric bill in winter of 2009
and you never paid it
conedison is pissed the hell off,
since they've been trying to contact you for payment,
and you haven't responded
so they got a lawyer involved [that's me!]
and i've been authorized by a judge to cut your power
so, you can either agree to a payment plan,
pay in full along with my lawyer fee,
or you can live in the dark for the foreseeable future
kthxbai!'

fucking jerk

so, i called my roommate,
who, of course, is in another fucking state
just my luck right?
[for the record, this is normal: she's a flight attendant]
she says she'll call the lawyer guy to get everything straightened out
and apologizes profusely
i slog through it for the night, wake up the next morning,
and get on the train to spend thanksgiving with my family

fast forward five days:
i get a call from my roommate
she says she's called the lawyer guy and talked with him
apparently, it takes a lot more than 'this guy doesn't live here,
i do, i can fucking prove it, now turn my goddamn power back on'
to get these people do anything, we'd have to pay the fees
so this jackass basically gets off with not paying his bill
we get stuck with huge fucking fine,
and the landlord won't do shit about it
[yeah, that guy's a fucking pip]

at first i think i can live with it,
since i only have three weeks left in the city at this point,
and it's really more an inconvenience than anything else
and then i discover that i no longer have hot water:
it only takes one hypothermia–inducing shower to convince me,
'get the fuck out of here now'
so i called up some friends and called in some favors
and, in a move that is completely antithetical to my typical tagg luck,
someone has a spare room i can stay in for the rest of my time in nyc
so i pack up all my stuff, clean the apartment, leave the keys
and got the fuck up out of there

so now, i'm sitting in my new temporary abode,
which is lit, has warm water, and is heated
thank god someone took me in
i can only imagine living there for another three weeks


so, yeah, that was my week in a nutshell
how bout you guys?

a note on hipsters, and other thoughts

you know,
for a city of 8 million+ people,
and the largest metropolitan area in the country
this place doesn't have SHIT open late at night
seryusly
the only place i've found open all night is a starbucks
and a really, REALLY shady 'internet cafe' near my apartment
c'mon new yawk, get it the fuck together
i can do more things at midnight in east lansing than i can here
and that just reflects badly on you

halloween was this past weekend [obviously]
and i have to say, the costumes i saw were kind of disappointing
i contribute that to two different factors:
first, i have to go through fucking williamsburg to get to the city
which means i had to see all the hipster 'costumes' that were out
talk about an unimaginative bunch
second, i spent most of saturday/sunday in the east and west villages
and there's a lot of hipsters/college students/yuppie fuckers there
and they aren't the most original bunch
not in this city, anyway
so there were lots of repeats
lots of stock costumes that were obviously bought in the same store
it was a big ol' clusterfuck of fail

i did, however, see one awesome costume on my travels
[and by travels, i mean across the street from where i live]
i saw a chinese kurt cobain, accompanied by requisite grunge groupie
best part? he was signing nirvana songs while he was walking
and there is nothing funnier than hearing 'lithium' in a thick chinese accent
'i so happy,
cuz today i foun my fwends
dey're in mah head
i so ugly,
dat's okay cuz so are yooou
broke awr mirrows
sunday morning is eveyday
for awl ah care'
i about pissed myself i laughed so hard


and finally,
a note on these fucking hipsters
WILL YOU LOOK AT THESE FUCKING HIPSTERS?
i have to see them every goddamn day on the subway
and i do mean every day, in droves
that's the beauty of going through williamsburg the long way
it just gives them more time to get on
and then i have to go through the lower east to my connection
which means i go through their manhattan haven,
so i get to see even more of them
it's bad enough i have to look at them
with their weird fucking fashion and terrible haircuts
coupled with tedious discussion and 'ironic' music taste
they're like fucking cockroaches, man
i bet if brooklyn got nuked,
these scrawny bastards would start poking up out of the rubble
talking about how 'meta' everything is

i don't care if i sound like a crotchety old man
i make friends with people of all types
and i let people make their own lifestyle choices
there's a guy in this program who's so punk he's actually crusty
and yet, he's a great guy, so i don't give a shit
i know people of all walks of life
but goddamned if there isn't something about them that boils my blood
every time i see one of them reading kerouac or jung or hemingway,
i just wanna reach out and choke a bitch

you how bad they are?
they make me miss emo kids
yeah, fucking emo kids
i would rather deal with people in black nail polish,
overly–done eye makeup with black swooshy hair to match
bitching about their pitiful existences and listening to hawthorne heights
having to suffer through terrible, angsty teenage poetry
and hearing them complain about getting called 'goth'
than deal with these fucking hipsters
maybe it's cuz emos are less assuming, and aren't aloof about it
with them, you just don't understand one person's pain
[you don't know what it's like to be me]
with hipsters, you just don't understand anything
[you don't get irony, do you?/have you ever read anything so meta?]
overly–judgmental lofty pricks

so be warned, droves and droves of people i know who want to come here,

new york isn't at all bread and roses, happiness and joy, grunge and sorrow

there's also fucking hipsters here, too

and you're gonna have to deal with them

and you're gonna hate every fucking second of it

i don't think i'll ever be able to complain about msu hipsters again
they just don't cut it, as far as hipsters go
they're like shallow shells of could–be hipness
at least, armed with the knowledge i now possess,
i can start knocking them down a couple pegs
break enough of their souls to get them to shut the hell up
be warned, e/l hipsters: i come for you

n.y. state of mind

you know,
for a city of people as pissed and in a rush as new york is,
there sure are a lot nonchalantly slow motherfuckers
SERYUSLY
i thought having a quick walking pace would be a boon here
but no, of course not
there's just a metric shit–tonne more slow people to dodge
i just can't win on that front

in other fun new york news
i walked down eighth ave tonight from columbus circle
[i was heading towards the port authority building]
and the whole thing was closed between 42nd and 60th
it was cordoned off by cops,
and there were street sweepers and trucks everywhere
the best part?
there was garbage everywhere
lining both sidewalks, on both sidewalks,
piled up on the corners, and strewn in the street
it was a true trashpocalypse
i'm not sure if that's a normal sunday night thing,
or if this was a particularly bad night
either way, it was certainly a sight

i don't remember if i described in depth where i work or not,
so i will now [since i've been doing it for almost two months]
i work at the education/development department of 1199seiu
so i've been doing a lot with delegate training and upgrading curriculums
[delegates are elected by members to represent them at union meetings,
and they serve as a go–between for the members and management]
i also did some work on the rally we went to last weekend,
along with some other projects including grievance handling,
organizing, and actual delegate training
i work on 42nd st right next to the port authority bus terminal in hell's kitchen
it's a pretty nice building, and it's a great neighborhood
[though too close to times square for my taste]
best part? i work in a corner office [see here and here]
that's right: i'm a BAMF with an awesome office that's bigger than my boss's
can you say upward mobility?


also, as a parting thought
you know what just feels right?
riding the train through brooklyn late at night listening to notorious b.i.g.
it doesn't get much better than that

productivity and galavanting

i was actually productive this weekend
i did all the reading for my classes
i did a little bit of work stuff
and i redid the russian club website [again]
i don't know what i've done with myself,
but i'm not sure i like it

i went up to the bronx today
which means i've now been to the four boroughs that matter
[sorry staten island, no one cares bout chu]
i didn't plan to go there today
but events and books conspired to make me go
goddamn cuny library system doesn't want to work for me
so instead of waiting for the book transfer system,
i just went and got the books myself
i have to say, lehman college has a pretty nice campus
it's actually got trees and grass and shit
go figure

we've finally stumbled upon a place that's open all night
[since nothing else in manhattan seems to be]
granted, it's al all–night starbucks,
but it's better than nothing
and there certainly are some interesting characters there
gotta love people who get coffee at 2 a/m

it rained again today [big surprise, yeah?]
but this time, i just happened to be outside and looking for distraction
so, instead of sitting in bryant park under the trees and reading,
i decided to go for a walk in it
i am happy to report that even in the midst of urban sprawl,
surrounded by douchebags in suits and tourists
[and THOUSANDS of umbrellas]
rain–soaked walks are still as cathartic as ever
though drying off in the hot/humid subway tunnels was a bitch

getting along

i have to say,
the more i wander around the lower east side,
the less impressed i am with it
though that seems to be a more general east–side thing
i've generally liked the upper west, hell's kitchen, chelsea, and greenwich better
more than upper east, alphabet city, lower east,
and whatever the fuck the call the neighborhood east of midtown
i think i'm going to call it 'pretentious–as–shitville'

my classes are really shaping up well
they're all taught by awesome professors,
and even though they all run two–three hours a piece,
i can't say i mind it that much
[i'm also saying that not having to work eight hours before hand yet,
so that might change here in about two weeks]
so far, all the reading has been really interesting,
and we've even taken a field trip
[we went to the african burial ground near city hall]
certainly shaping up to be more exciting than another semester at msu

also, what with this weekend being labor day weekend,
there's a huge west indian parade in crown heights on monday
which i am definitely going to go see
it's supposed to be the best parade in new york,
though i suppose i'll have to wait and see it for myself

i think i had something else i was gonna say
but i'll be damned if i can remember what it was
so i guess that'll have to be it for now