This morning I woke up not-so-early to go to Central Park and skate a lap. My dad called me about 15 minutes before I finished and told me to meet him in Brooklyn. We were planning to go to this Mexican place he liked. I finished up and proceeded to get off one stop before the stop I was supposed to get off. I was supposed to get off at the stop where my old high school was, but I totally forgot which one it was. I looked at a map and just skated in the most obvious direction I could (towards the bridge!). My dad told me to meet him in front of Juniors. I called him and apparently he hit traffic, but he asked me to wait at (diagonally across Juniors) in front of Applebees. I ended up waiting forever for him. But he was actually waiting for me also! Behind some maintainance truck. Man, the city has a LOT of big trucks.
We at at a place called Mexicali. It's across the street from a Trader Joe's. They were ok. They had a good amount of tables with people, and they seemed understaffed. It took us 15 minutes just from ordering the drinks to receiving them. Dad got a burrito. I got the lunch #9, which was a chicken taco, beef tostada and a cheese.... tamale? It was cheese rolled in a tortilla with some tomato sauce over it, and then some more cheese on it. And it came with rice and beans.
We went to chinatown afterwards. I got some.. er.. Pineapple Cake. I swear it's more interesting than it sounds. It's like a Taiwaneese pastry treat. It's really small and comes packaged. It was a dollar a package! I bought one. They're translated into English as Phoenix... something.. pastry. Hahahaha. Then my dad went to the bakery and he bought me an iced milk tea. A bit too sweet. No, it was too sweet.
+2
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day 22
So I had to wake up early(er) today to get ready for my first day working for the Human Rights Campaign. I chugged down the leftover mug of tea I had from yesterday as I was waiting for the bathroom. Today I would be pit against the likes of Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition. Phew.
Wore some comfy everyday clothes, filled up a waterbottle, packed my paperwork and fished for my passport. Arrived just on time because I managed to catch a local train (been taking the subway all my life, and I still can't say I know exactly how it works, but oh well, who can?) The office was just as hot as yesterday, and I sweat just as much, even though I wasn't wearing my stuffy suit. We were pulled aside one by one to have us recite our raps. I didn't do so great. Once all our paperwork was filled out and everybody recited their raps, we became a human conveyor belt and practiced greeting people. Keep a smile, stay positive, and wave big.
We started with announcements, updates on current campaigns, with cute little messages (apparently you need cup your hands around your mouth and announce "OH WAY OH WAY OH WAYYYYY" [in descending pitch] and we had a "public service announcement" where someone in the room drank a big gulp of water, meaning that we should stay hydrated throughout the day.). Then we broke up into groups according to experience, some people headed out to do canvassing, others stuck around to help the newbies. I got paired up with another newbie David and our rap-training-person was Nicki. David had it down except for a couple word changes. We need to have it down exactly. It's "someone", not "somebody". It's "contribute right now", not "contribute". I started getting it, but then I got pulled aside and I was told that there weren't enough trainers today and that I should come back on Thursday. -sigh- Oh well.
So I went home and finished counting coins. I finally finished and I have about $316 rolled and give or take $7ish for the unrolled stuff. Not bad. I want to treat myself to a new longboard. Get a sickkkk symmetrical drop through board. I've been debating on whether I want flexy or stiff, but I've decided to go with stiff. Though flexy is nice, my current board is pretty stiff and I think they're more versatile. Flexy boards can't do downhill as well, but they can take up to 30mph, and I don't really think I'll be going past that speed... but just in case. It's a tossup between Sayshun Compass and Rayne Vendetta. More hype around Vendetta, I haven't really heard much about Compass, but it looks amazing. They're both really similar except that Vendetta is a little bigger and has more torsional flex.
Soooo I guess I'm going to make some ramen, drink some tea, skate to the bank, feed my bank account and...... I don't know, skate some more, hopefully.
The tea was steeped way too long and was suuuuper bitter. A little brown sugar did just as little to ameliorate the taste. Oh, tannins, why do you invade my cup so?
+3
Wore some comfy everyday clothes, filled up a waterbottle, packed my paperwork and fished for my passport. Arrived just on time because I managed to catch a local train (been taking the subway all my life, and I still can't say I know exactly how it works, but oh well, who can?) The office was just as hot as yesterday, and I sweat just as much, even though I wasn't wearing my stuffy suit. We were pulled aside one by one to have us recite our raps. I didn't do so great. Once all our paperwork was filled out and everybody recited their raps, we became a human conveyor belt and practiced greeting people. Keep a smile, stay positive, and wave big.
We started with announcements, updates on current campaigns, with cute little messages (apparently you need cup your hands around your mouth and announce "OH WAY OH WAY OH WAYYYYY" [in descending pitch] and we had a "public service announcement" where someone in the room drank a big gulp of water, meaning that we should stay hydrated throughout the day.). Then we broke up into groups according to experience, some people headed out to do canvassing, others stuck around to help the newbies. I got paired up with another newbie David and our rap-training-person was Nicki. David had it down except for a couple word changes. We need to have it down exactly. It's "someone", not "somebody". It's "contribute right now", not "contribute". I started getting it, but then I got pulled aside and I was told that there weren't enough trainers today and that I should come back on Thursday. -sigh- Oh well.
So I went home and finished counting coins. I finally finished and I have about $316 rolled and give or take $7ish for the unrolled stuff. Not bad. I want to treat myself to a new longboard. Get a sickkkk symmetrical drop through board. I've been debating on whether I want flexy or stiff, but I've decided to go with stiff. Though flexy is nice, my current board is pretty stiff and I think they're more versatile. Flexy boards can't do downhill as well, but they can take up to 30mph, and I don't really think I'll be going past that speed... but just in case. It's a tossup between Sayshun Compass and Rayne Vendetta. More hype around Vendetta, I haven't really heard much about Compass, but it looks amazing. They're both really similar except that Vendetta is a little bigger and has more torsional flex.
Soooo I guess I'm going to make some ramen, drink some tea, skate to the bank, feed my bank account and...... I don't know, skate some more, hopefully.
The tea was steeped way too long and was suuuuper bitter. A little brown sugar did just as little to ameliorate the taste. Oh, tannins, why do you invade my cup so?
+3
Monday, June 21, 2010
Day 21
Today is Go Skateboarding Day!
I brewed a pot of Barry's Irish in the morning, but only ended up drinking half a mug. I made a couple phone calls in the morning. Called my aunt in Cape Cod to tell her that I was going to go visit next week because I still don't have a job. Called Kristin to confirm going to her house this weekend. Called Bank of America to see if they accepted loose change deposits. They didn't. Then I called The Fund for Public Interest around 3PM, and I got an impromptu interview at 6PM. I didn't have time to go for a real skate, but I did skate to Bank of America to grab some coin rolls. Skated home and counted $210 worth of quarters. Showered, put on my suit and went to the NY Fund for Public Interest office.
It was one of those really really REALLY old apartment buildings where you went into the door and ascended a looooooooong stairway; it was complete with uneven stairs and a flickering light. Pretty eerie. I had to get to the 3rd floor and I was sweating balls by the time I made it up there. They had 2 window fans going and all the windows open but it was sweltering in that place.
They are an organization that pairs up with other organizations to do street canvassing for grassroots stuff. It's pretty cool, they are currently doing two projects, one with Environment New York and one with the Human Rights Campaign. Currently, companies want to drill for natural gasses at the New York water shed, where NYC's water supply comes from. NYC has some of the nation's best drinking water and drilling would really risk contaminating that. Haliburton drilled in Pennsylvania, and they spilled all these toxic chemicals into the water and contaminated the water in Pittsburgh(?) for a week and a half. They have some good momentum behind it because of the opposition with drilling right now.
The other thing they're doing is fighting for equality in the workplace. It's legal in 29 states to fire someone for being gay. Obviously, a person's employment should be based on their skills, not gender, race, sexual orientation or sexual identity.
Filled out an initial application and was called second to interview. Interview went well, and I was offered an "Observation Day". I got a packet with W-2 forms and a rap for the Human Rights Campaign, which is the speech thing I need to memorize to give to passersby to educate them and to persuade them to become contributing partners.
...Basically it's like street telemarketing, but the good kind.
+2
I brewed a pot of Barry's Irish in the morning, but only ended up drinking half a mug. I made a couple phone calls in the morning. Called my aunt in Cape Cod to tell her that I was going to go visit next week because I still don't have a job. Called Kristin to confirm going to her house this weekend. Called Bank of America to see if they accepted loose change deposits. They didn't. Then I called The Fund for Public Interest around 3PM, and I got an impromptu interview at 6PM. I didn't have time to go for a real skate, but I did skate to Bank of America to grab some coin rolls. Skated home and counted $210 worth of quarters. Showered, put on my suit and went to the NY Fund for Public Interest office.
It was one of those really really REALLY old apartment buildings where you went into the door and ascended a looooooooong stairway; it was complete with uneven stairs and a flickering light. Pretty eerie. I had to get to the 3rd floor and I was sweating balls by the time I made it up there. They had 2 window fans going and all the windows open but it was sweltering in that place.
They are an organization that pairs up with other organizations to do street canvassing for grassroots stuff. It's pretty cool, they are currently doing two projects, one with Environment New York and one with the Human Rights Campaign. Currently, companies want to drill for natural gasses at the New York water shed, where NYC's water supply comes from. NYC has some of the nation's best drinking water and drilling would really risk contaminating that. Haliburton drilled in Pennsylvania, and they spilled all these toxic chemicals into the water and contaminated the water in Pittsburgh(?) for a week and a half. They have some good momentum behind it because of the opposition with drilling right now.
The other thing they're doing is fighting for equality in the workplace. It's legal in 29 states to fire someone for being gay. Obviously, a person's employment should be based on their skills, not gender, race, sexual orientation or sexual identity.
Filled out an initial application and was called second to interview. Interview went well, and I was offered an "Observation Day". I got a packet with W-2 forms and a rap for the Human Rights Campaign, which is the speech thing I need to memorize to give to passersby to educate them and to persuade them to become contributing partners.
...Basically it's like street telemarketing, but the good kind.
+2
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Day 20
Today was father's day.
I had a pot (2 cups) of Stash English Breakfast at some breakfast place that was ok.
We went to see Karate Kid in the early evening. I grabbed the half-bottle of Duane Reade Sweet Tea left from yesterday on the way out. The movie was ok. It was a typical kungfu movie, but in mostly English. It had all the stereotypical kungfu effects, the chalk dust, camera angles to fool the audience into thinking someone really got hit... I thought it was like a chick-flick... for boys.
We went to dinner at a Mexican place afterwards and I tried the green habanero sauce by El Yucateco and I downed 3 cups of water and finally extinguished my tongue with a couple smears of sour cream when my entree (finally) came. It wasn't painful, just a lot of heat as soon as I swallowed my water. Luckinly the sour cream neutralized it and I was able to enjoy my dinner. I had flan for dessert and it was good, it had a sort of coconutty flavor.
I think I've developed a sinus infection over the last couple of days.
+3
I had a pot (2 cups) of Stash English Breakfast at some breakfast place that was ok.
We went to see Karate Kid in the early evening. I grabbed the half-bottle of Duane Reade Sweet Tea left from yesterday on the way out. The movie was ok. It was a typical kungfu movie, but in mostly English. It had all the stereotypical kungfu effects, the chalk dust, camera angles to fool the audience into thinking someone really got hit... I thought it was like a chick-flick... for boys.
We went to dinner at a Mexican place afterwards and I tried the green habanero sauce by El Yucateco and I downed 3 cups of water and finally extinguished my tongue with a couple smears of sour cream when my entree (finally) came. It wasn't painful, just a lot of heat as soon as I swallowed my water. Luckinly the sour cream neutralized it and I was able to enjoy my dinner. I had flan for dessert and it was good, it had a sort of coconutty flavor.
I think I've developed a sinus infection over the last couple of days.
+3
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Day 19
Woke up around noon and made a big pot of Barry's Irish. Had a mug before we went out to breakfast. We went to Elephant Castle and...THEY HAD MY WALLET!!! They said they thought they had it and were surprised it was there for a week and one of the waitstaff that's (extra) friendly with us was talking about how he didnt know where we lived and wanted to bring it back haha the people there are great!! While I was there I ordered green tea. They gave me a pot of Tazo Zen. It was interesting, it was like peppermint green. When we went home the doorman learned that we weren't Japanese, haha. I finished up the second mug of Barry's Irish and then my mom and I went to work out at the 6th Ave gym (we usually go to 13th st). There, my mom got solicited by a personal trainer, and I had a weird feeling so I checked with the front desk if it was under their policy for trainers to do that. It was, and I was just interested because the ones at the other gym are courteous and don't really just say "Hey, I can teach you how to work out right." ...Assuming there's a "wrong" way, other than poor form, which my mother was not guilty of. Oh well. After that we bought a bottle of Duane Reade's brand of sweet tea, I only drank half. The rest is sitting in the fridge.
+7
+7
Friday, June 18, 2010
Day 18
My mom's boyfriend bought this bottled tea from a bodega somewhere and he thinks its "damn good". I resisted drinking any for a long time, but there were 2 half-finished bottles in the fridge this morning, and now I'm working on the second one. The brand is New York Homestyle Iced Tea. I'm drinking the pineapple flavor, but at one time we also had ginseng and honey. It's a good flavor, tangy and tea-y(?), more so than any other packaged tea I've had. Compared to this brand, Arizona and Pom teas are weakk.
Here's their site:
http://www.multivitaminenergy.com/
So they have other drinks and 5 flavors of tea... hmmm. Maybe I'll have to try them all.
With dinner I had half a bottle of Snapple's Pomegranate Raspberry Red Tea. Pretty bad compared to NYHIT.... Snapple tea isn't the best, but the older teas arent too bad. This one just had some juicy and artificial sweetener taste. I like Snapple's lemon tea, peach tea, lime green, and their black and white tea line.
+3
Here's their site:
http://www.multivitaminenergy.com/
So they have other drinks and 5 flavors of tea... hmmm. Maybe I'll have to try them all.
With dinner I had half a bottle of Snapple's Pomegranate Raspberry Red Tea. Pretty bad compared to NYHIT.... Snapple tea isn't the best, but the older teas arent too bad. This one just had some juicy and artificial sweetener taste. I like Snapple's lemon tea, peach tea, lime green, and their black and white tea line.
+3
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day 17
Started the day talking to my mom trying to retrace the location of my wallet. We've determined that it's most likely in the apartment. I only looked in the regular places, I haven't scoured yet. My mom left me a metrocard and a little cash for until I find it. I miss it :( My mom ended up calling me later and leaving me a message saying that she took the metrocard to work lol, but gave me some weird instructions on where to find another one.
I finished the mug of leftover tropical green from yesterday, and there is a whole other mug still in the pot that I just poured out. I realized that I was being really lazy and not washing my mug in between cups and there were was lime pulp and a bit of black tea leaf residue (the powdery stuff) on the bottom. Maybe it's a mind game but I have a stomachache now :( Needless to say, I washed the cup before I poured in the next mug.
EDIT: 2:13PM
I forgot to mention about my interview experience yesterday, I got blisters. I took some pictures for you all to see. The walk to Pier 1 is like, 2 blocks away. I go down my block, around the corner, and diagonally across. It took all of 15 minutes to walk there, in short heels. I bought these shoes for my group interview with Apple, and they seemed pretty comfortable. But the second time I wear them, they give me blisters. On BOTH feet. I really started to feel pain on the walk home. It was a warmer day, and earlier in the day, so that could have been factors in it. I skipped my workout and skate because I didn't want my feet to protest and decide to hurt me any more. My parents decided to go to a fancy-ish restaurant for dinner and I couldn't wear flops so I bandaided them up, put some socks over them, and hobbled over to Gene's a block away. I think I probably walked like someone with a hip injury or something. They're looking better today, a little less fluidy. The pictures are from today.
I finished the mug of leftover tropical green from yesterday, and there is a whole other mug still in the pot that I just poured out. I realized that I was being really lazy and not washing my mug in between cups and there were was lime pulp and a bit of black tea leaf residue (the powdery stuff) on the bottom. Maybe it's a mind game but I have a stomachache now :( Needless to say, I washed the cup before I poured in the next mug.
EDIT: 2:13PM
I forgot to mention about my interview experience yesterday, I got blisters. I took some pictures for you all to see. The walk to Pier 1 is like, 2 blocks away. I go down my block, around the corner, and diagonally across. It took all of 15 minutes to walk there, in short heels. I bought these shoes for my group interview with Apple, and they seemed pretty comfortable. But the second time I wear them, they give me blisters. On BOTH feet. I really started to feel pain on the walk home. It was a warmer day, and earlier in the day, so that could have been factors in it. I skipped my workout and skate because I didn't want my feet to protest and decide to hurt me any more. My parents decided to go to a fancy-ish restaurant for dinner and I couldn't wear flops so I bandaided them up, put some socks over them, and hobbled over to Gene's a block away. I think I probably walked like someone with a hip injury or something. They're looking better today, a little less fluidy. The pictures are from today.
The culprits.
The heel is already wearing.
Right foot. It's that patch of flabby looking skin.
Left foot. Same Spot.
Both feet. Suspicious lumps on my right foot...
+3
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