Week 9: Neighborhoods

This post is going to be either interesting or dull. So, we'll see...

I lived in DC for almost 8 years. While I explored lots of neighborhoods, I kept to ones that I knew the most. I kinda wish that I visited more because there are a bunch that I found out later while I lived there. Penn Quarter was one of those; there are some restaurants around there that I wanted to try. Then, there's U Street that I also wanted to explore. I used to take the bus from Union Station to my place, and that was the route that was taken and I kept making note of places that I wanted to go but never did.

Here in NYC, there are so many more neighborhoods than DC, especially if you get into outside of Manhattan, which I've never explored before. Basically, I know Times Square/Theatre District, Gramercy/Kips Bay, and Herald Square/Garment District. I'm getting into the West Village/Chelsea area as well as the Flatiron.

On Saturday night, my friend, Sally, and I went and saw Cock (or Cockfight the play) at the Duke on 42nd. It was really interesting. Unfortunately, my attention went elsewhere a couple of times during the 105 minute play. There was an adorable service Golden Retriever that was across from us; the play was set in a round. He just napped the entire time but he would pop his head up and got a pet from his owner. He was just a cutie. Then, there was this guy who was sitting diagonal from us:



Jon Hamm was with Jennifer Westfeldt, who's gorgeous. I didn't watch "Mad Men" at the start but got into it in the later seasons. So, my first thing that I connect Jon with is "Gilmore Girls." LOL. Anyways, they were on a date so we didn't want to bother them afterwards. Just made eye contact, smile & nodded which they replied in kind.

So, that took place in a familiar area, Times Square, specifically 42nd Street which was swarmed with tourists. I can managed. I'm used to it.

Now, after Sally headed back to Jersey, my next destination was a bar in the East Village called Blackbird, which was once known as Lakeside Lounge. The East Village... not someplace that I'm familiar with. At. All. However, with GPS on my phone, I can totally find 162 Avenue B, right? Well, apparently not, if my phone died on the L Train over there.

I knew that it was on Avenue B, between 10th and 11th, but I walked up and down Avenue B and just couldn't find the place. I don't know if there was a sign or if I just couldn't find the sign. Either way, my jaunt through the East Village at 10:30 at night was not fulfilling. I ended up speed-walking pass Tompkins Square Park and hightailed it to 1st Avenue, which it like the safe border to me.

How sad am I? I promise that I will give the East Village another shot but this time, in the daylight. Yes, I'm able to walk from Bowery Electric to my place at 1 in the morning. Yes, I'm able to spend the night in Penn Station. Yes, I'm able to stand in line at 3 am for SNL stand-by tickets. But I can't wander the East Village for less that 24 minutes at 10:30 at night. I'm so used to neighborhoods that I know, but hopefully, the longer than I live here, the more neighborhoods that I will get familiar with.

Week 8: I Make The "Best" Choices

I know that in 20+ years from now, my kid's going to want to do something like do a cross-country roadtrip and I'm going to say "No" and then they'll be like "But mom, you did something like that & didn't even tell Lolo and Lola!"

In the past, the things that I've done without telling my parents (or not tell them until waaaaayyyy after the fact):

- wandered around Paris looking for authentic French ice cream
- flew to Boston to visit friends
- drove to Scranton, PA, three times for Office-related events (don't judge...)
- drove to Hershey, PA, for Spring Awakening tour
- flew to San Francisco for Idiot's Pre-Broadway run (again, don't judge...)
- drove to State College to see Idiot tour (see above)
- went to New York for many one day trips, including that one time I missed my 1:15 am bus back to DC so I spent the night in Penn Station (a nice police officer checked up on me every hour since I was to nicely dressed to be an actual homeless person)

Besides the first point, all the rest happened during & after college. I'm an explorer. I like to travel. I like having experiences; many that I know that if I didn't I would regret.

At my high school, soccer was our major sport (we didn't have a football team while I was there; crazy since this was Florida). My senior team, our boys' team was in the regional finals, IIRC, and I really wanted to go, but I had ballet class that night. I went back and forth for a long time but I decided to go to ballet class. They lost. I hadn't missed a soccer game the entire season until that game, and now, I regret not going. So, yeah... I'll take any experience that comes my way (well, within reason...)

So, the past 7 days, I got some experiences... maybe not the best choices, in hindsight, but they were experiences.

I wasn't feeling quite well on Tuesday morning but I had gotten a screening pass to "The Bourne Legacy" for Tuesday night. Now, I know that the camera movements in all the Bourne movies are all over the place and it makes me dizzy, but I really wanted to see the movie and, quite frankly, not pay for it. (See previous post). Because it's a screening, a good seat is not guaranteed and while I ended up not being in the very front, I really wish that I was further back. I had a throbbing headache about 1/3 in the movie and just had to stare at the floor at some really jittery parts. At the end, I had to just sit in my seat for a while so I can manage to wobble out of there.

Was that a good choice to go to the screening? No, but at least I saw the movie for free. Heh...

Wednesday comes along and Bowery Electric had a weekly showcase called "Old Soul Revival," which Johnny announced that he was doing a couple of songs at.



Anyways, as the Twitpic shows, he planned on going on at 10:45. When I got there at 10:30, the set list posted outside said he was going on at 11:05. I thought "Okay. I get to hear more music. That's cool." Then 11:05 came & went. As well as 11:45. And 12:05. While most of the sets were like 3 or 4 songs, the musician right before Johnny played 10 songs. Ten long songs. Three of which he brought "special guests" on stage to play alongside him. After the 5th song, I thought maybe it was planned that he was going to have a longer set than the others, but when I looked at the sound guy, he was confused & looking over his set list, so I guess he didn't know how many songs the guy was doing either. Anyways, at around 12:50, Johnny finally plays.

I really wasn't planning on staying out past 1 am but the place was so crowded that it would have taken forever to get out anyways. I finally left around 1:15 & after missing the bus and not having enough cash for a cab, I ended up walking about 25 blocks home. Summer nights are still humid & I felt blah when I got home at around 1:45.

Was that a good choice to go to Bowery Electric? Possibly... if I left earlier. Much earlier.

Many major cities around the US have Restaurant Week (one in the summer & one in the winter) and New York isn't an exception. I took advantage of it when I lived in DC & ate at some fancy places that I couldn't afford otherwise. Basically, participating restaurants have a fixed price meal for lunch, dinner or both during the "week" (some last longer than an actual week). The price varies each year but it's usually between $22 and $25 for lunch and $30 and $38 for dinner. Last year for NYC Restaurant Week, I went to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, which was excellent. On Friday, I decided to go to Porter House, which is on the 4th floor of the Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle. Didn't realize it until I got there that their Restaurant Week menu was basically their Park View Lunch menu that they have all the time. Oh well. The food was still delish & knowing that I could have the meal again for $24, just makes me wanna go again. And the view overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park was just so pretty.

Was that a good choice to go to Porter House? Definitely.

On Saturday, I went to the New York Comedy Club which is actually across the street from me to see my friend, Jennifer Eolin, do some stand-up. She's a very funny lady & I had a nice time. Comedy clubs are a new experience to me. Previously, I've been to Second City in Chicago, DC Improv in DC, and UCB & Gotham Comedy Club in NYC. I've also seen John Oliver do his stand-up. Anyways, Jennifer is getting back into the groove and if you have time, go to check her out. She has a new webseries called "The Tutorialists" and she has some upcoming stand-up dates as well.

Was that a good choice to go to the New York Comedy Club? Yup. Especially to see a friend do her thang.

Sunday, I caught up with one of my college friends, Matt. We decided to meet up at Rockwood before dinner. I'm pretty indecisive when it comes to food and since neither of us knew the area, we wandered a bit until we came across a small Greek restaurant called Souvlaki GR on Stanton St. The food was very tasty. Definitely going there again the next time I go to Rockwood. Afterward dinner, we went to Stage 1. We saw Jonny Grave play & he was quite good; there were about 6 people in the room at that point & I felt kinda sad that he didn't have more people hearing his music. We left after Jonny was done & got some dessert at the cafe at the corner. Then headed back to see Anna Krantz play. Loved her! She's British so most of her gigs are back in London but I hope that I get to see her again when she plays in NY.

Was that a good choice to hit up Rockwood? Certainly. I caught up with a friend, found a nice Greek restaurant & discover new musicians.

Last night (Monday night), I went to Birdland for Frank & Friends, which was a little cabaret of Frank Wildhorn's songs sung by Laura Osnes, Stark Sands, Constantine Maroulis and Melissa van der Schyff. The place was packed and for good reason because everyone blew the roof off. Such talented people. I want Melissa in another show soon. I've never heard Constantine sing but he was good. Tweeted Laura afterwards & got a lovely reply back. I was only able to talk to Stark afterwards; he's so nice & classy.

Here's "You Can Do Better Than Me" from Bonnie & Clyde, which Stark sang. The actual song is a duet with Ted & Clyde called "You Can Do Better Than Him," but since Stark was singing it solo, thus the change. Heh.



Was that a good choice to go to Birdland? I would say so, but my wallet at the end of the night wasn't really happy. Actually, my wallet wasn't happy at any of the places that I went. Oops.

So, looking back at my week, I really took in New York living... I guess. I could go on with this if I won that 302 million Megaball. This week, I plan on doing more low-key/cheaper things. Let's see if that works and if I continue to make the "best" choices.

Week 6 & 7: Mo Money, Less Problems

I got so busy getting into the groove of things that I skipped last week's post ergo the doubling-up on this week's post.

Now, I know that Biggie said "Mo Money, More Problems" but it's the other way for me. Heck, I've been playing the Powerball more now than I've ever before. Even scratch-offs. I even got carded when I bought one in Florida. Yes, carded. I turn 26 next month. Legal age for lotto is 18. I didn't even get carded when I was 18. But thanks, Publix lotto lady, for making me feel younger.

Anyways, the current Powerball is 212 million. So, that's 100 million without tax? (I really don't know.) What would you do with all that money? Honestly, first thing for me would be giving my parents possibly half of it. They can retire. They can pay off the houses & condos that they own (they thought real estate was the goo investment). They can build the house in the Philippines that they always wanted. They can settle all their debts. It'll be fantastic.

For me, I'll pay off all my credit cards. I'll update/renovate my aunt's apartment. I'll invest in a production. I'll donate to charities. And the rest goes into savings. Yup. That's exactly what I'll do. Even if it's just that first point, I will be happy.

Those credit cards are the bane of my existence. I was perfectly fine & happy with my one credit card that I always paid off but then something happened between my junior and senior year of college and I got three more & I've been struggling to pay them off since. If you can imagine the interest rates on them... blergh.

So, yeah. Sorry, Biggie, more money means less problems for me.

Re-capping the past two weeks.

My aunt & I traveld to Florida two Fridays ago. We took a SuperShuttle which picked us around 4 yet we didn't get to the airport until at least 6. We were the first ones to get picked up and then we went to 4 other stops in the Gramercy/Kips Bay area. However, the last stop was all the way in the Financial District. Really?! And we were all going to LaGuardia. I didn't understand the reasoning. Luckily (or unfortunately) our plane was delayed an hour so we didn't miss it. There were other f-ups at the airport but I must point out a cool thing: the Delta waiting area in Terminal D (IIRC) had iPads everywhere that you can access for free. And if you're there long enough & you wanted food, you could order from the iPad with your credit card & they would bring it to you in 15 minutes or less. The lady next to me was eating a really good looking pesto pasta dish.

We arrived in Florida around 11:30pm and didn't get home until after midnight.

Nothing really excited happened on Saturday besides my dad's birthday party with tons of people I have no clue who they are and they, apparently, didn't know me.

On Sunday, we went to a Mass at Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine in Orlando. It was a Filipino Mass for a Feast that I'm not remembering; it was mostly in Tagalog. Afterwards, I met up with two of my oldest friends, Cristy & Shannon, at the outlet mall next door. Besides theme parks, Orlando is full of outlet malls. We mostly window-shopped & caught up since I haven't seen either of them in years; we communicate through text, Twitter & Facebook. Yes, we're those types of people now, but we plan on more physical meet-ups. Smiley face.

On Monday, I met up with another one of my oldest friends, Renae. She, unfortunately, recently lost her younger brother in a car accident. I really wished that I could have attended his funeral. I remember him fondly and I know that he could have done so many things. She is in bright spirits & keeping busy; she misses him, of course, but she's pulling through. Please keep her & her family in your thoughts & prayers, if you could.

My aunt & I went back up here to New York early Tuesday morning. SuperShuttle still did a crazy route through midtown & the theatre district. I might just suggest taking a taxi next time.

Wednesday, I saw RENT off-Broadway for the second time. I saw it once with the original Off-Broadway cast. Since then, a majority of the leads changed and with Taylor Trensch on for Mark, I decided that I wanted to see it with the new leads before it closed on September 9th. I enjoyed it more the second time around.

Nothing excited happened Thursday to Saturday besides the fact we bought a new AC! And I'm in love with it. I've named it Dimitri. I have a strange tendency to name objects. It's actually silly and childish, but whatever. Heh.

On Sunday, I met up with some friends and went to Rockwood to see Johnny play again. He had a lovely new hat. Heh.



Monday was unmemorable (It really was; I can't remember what I did that day.) And next week, I'll talk about Tuesday because it goes so nicely with tonight's happenings.

Catch y'all on the flip side!