Where The Hell Am I?: NYC

Showing posts with label NYC. Show all posts

Sunday, September 11, 2011

September 11th: 10 Years Ago

Here I am in Omaha, Nebraska unable to get back to sleep. I just read a really good 9/11 blog post by Patti Digh, "remember". She writes well about what it was like for her that day. She also talks about how polarized and hateful things are in the US right now. However, she brings it home to what matters: living your life now to the fullest.

I'll admit that I've been avoiding watching TV and the coverage on the 9/11 anniversary.

I wasn't in the USA when the attacks happened. I had just moved to a university near Daegu, South Korea for a new job as a visiting professor. I had my little Daewoo Tico, and I was driving around that evening while listening to military radio. I can't recall which US morning radio show it was, but it was fun to drive around a new place in a foreign country while listening to an American radio show.

Then they broke into their broadcast and said a plane had hit one of the World Trade towers in NYC. I was hoping it was some horrible accident, but the World Trade had been attacked before. Then a second plane hit the other tower. Like everyone following what was going on, I knew my country was under attack. I turned my car around and headed back to my apartment. At some point, I heard that the Pentagon had also been attacked and that there was another plane that went down somewhere in Pennsylvania.

I'd just moved, so I didn't have a TV. Good for me that South Korea is a well-wired country. I simply walked across the road to a PC-bang (Internet cafe), logged in and kept up with the news. Also, that Internet cafe also had a big screen TV and switched news covering what was happening. I was at this cafe when the towers collapsed. I stayed there until dawn just keeping up with the news. It really was just overwhelming, and I felt helpless. So many lives were lost. I cancelled my classes for that day.

Last week, on Labor Day I left the wonder that is NYC to move back to the SF Bay Area. I miss NYC already, but I know that I need to live somewhere that I not only love but where there are people that I love and have deep connections to.

Today, I'll be doing exactly what I did when I heard about the attacks: driving. It's a propos.

I still hurt and probably will always hurt for those who lost their lives in those attacks. I also hurt for the family and friends they left behind. Peace be with you all.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

An Intervention ;)

I'm getting back into the swing of the American holiday cycles. Since I've been back, I celebrated Memorial Day with a friend from college by staying on the Avalon area of the Jersey Shore and ended up in the emergency room (no need to worry, it was major but diabetes-related, so nothing new). I didn't celebrate the 4th, outside of just enjoying having some time alone. I was staying with a friend who was off on vacation and I was enjoying the benefits of just being alone. However, being near Valley Forge, PA meant I saw some great fireworks and didn't have to go very far. This was Labor Day weekend. Between work and resuming my search for work, I planned to lay low again.

However, I'm officially living in Manhattan now, and work is only one part of life. A good friend whom I went to both college and law school with had a different idea on how I'd spend my weekend. I'll admit that more often than probably is good, I like being alone. Out of habit and, I'm sure, because coping habits I developed as an only child, I just don't like going out much when things get stressful. It makes sense within the context of my life. I've had to cope with stress alone. I also find that people can be more trouble than not when you're stressed out. With having life-rocking events like my parents dying five weeks apart, I'm most comfortable coping with retreating, getting centered and, eventually, reemerging.

Right now, things are stressful: new city; new job (well, more accurately lots of freelancing); new apartment which means new neighbors and a new neighborhood to adjust to; and just a lot of searching and little tweaks adjusting to make.

What's missing there? The social element and sometimes an intervention is necessary. Thanks to my friend's peer pressure, I gave in and decided to attend a party thrown for her. I took the train up to Westchester county instead, and spent part of my Labor Day weekend with my friend, her husband and their friends. I've got to say being new to a big city like NYC, it was nice to be around people I've known for years while meeting new people too. It's out of character for me to change course, but I'm glad I did.

So those of you with solitary friends? Give them a bit of a nudge from time to time. They might not say it, but they'll appreciate it.

(I've really got to go in and fix the HTML code on this blog, but, again, I'm too busy to worry about tweaking the code right now. Just ignore the "read more" link.)

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Michael Jackson's Birthday Celebration in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, NY)

Oh, fun!

I've been busy adjusting to life in NYC. It's all been pretty normal with the typical worries associated being in a new place. But today I went over to Brooklyn to attend Michael Jackson's 51st Birthday Celebration. The event was put together by Spike Lee (whom, as a side note, I met years ago when I was a hard working student at UCLA Campus Events and we'd invited him to speak.)

It was a fun event. I wasn't sure if I was going to go for a few personal reasons, but after a phone call and just realizing that I could just go home if it wasn't my cup of tea, I headed to Brooklyn. I'm glad I did. It was a lot of fun. What's exciting is Spike would like to try to make this a yearly event. That would be even more fun to make this a yearly event.

I recorded some video with my little digital camera, so check it out.

Wanna Be Starting Something:

Electric Slide Going Viral (being done simultaneously in a few spots at the same time) song playing - Get On The Floor:

Man in the Mirror (the last song of the day):
(Again, ignore the "read more" tag...it leads you to nowhere).

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Friday, May 29, 2009

Kyung and the Dressless

Kyung and the Dressless

Okay, it's not because she's Korean, but it doesn't hurt ;) I got an email from Daily Candy on this custom dress shop and I just think it's a grand idea. When I was in Asia, I had a few things made for me. It's great to have something made just for you.

It seems they have a few standard patterns. Then you pick the fabric. After a couple of weeks, your dress is ready.

Now, honestly, the end results of their dresses I didn't think were so great. However, if you've got a strong sense of what works on you and what doesn't you can go here, pick something and have your own custom made frock.

Yes, it's much cheaper and probably quicker if you know how to sew, but I don't. This will have to do ;)

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

NYC Mugged | Exploring all the Best Coffee in New York City

via nycmugged.com

This is a great discovery. Thanks to today's Thrillist NY newsletter: http://www.thrillist.com/maps/nycmugged. With looking for work and going into NYC for interviews, it's a guarantee that I'll seek out a coffee bar/cafe with wi-fi to park, plug-in and surf the want ads. Since Starbucks has wifi, and I've got Boingo wireless. I just plug in the zip code of where I am and let my Blackberry tell me where to go.

However, I'm feeling like I ought to give the smaller and independent spots a chance. I just don't know where they are, and I'm always ending up somewhere that's new to me. That's exciting but that also means I just don't know the layout. The trick is finding out where the hell they are.

This is where NYC Mugged can help a newb. For me, getting coffee or tea is a waste of money if I don't have wifi and a place to plug in the laptop. I'm hoping this will guide me to those spots. If you're not tethered to your laptop like I am, you'll have more of a range. This is a great idea.

So onward with more caffeinated wi-fi Internet surfing!

Posted via web from Regina's posterous

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It's on...

My view of the Empire State Building last night from the spot where I board the bus to Philadelphia.

Good morning from the east coast. I've been here for just under one week. Man, I'm already tired. It's not in a bad "I wanna go home way," but in a really good way.

There are some things that are pretty similar to what I left behind in South Korea. The most obvious thing is the ease of transport. In California, the idea of taking buses or trains to connect to nearby cities is pretty much unheard of. You have to get in your car and blow pollutants into the air and, if you don't have a car, well, you're out of luck.

It's not impossible. You can do it. I've heard the stories of friends who decided to take the Greyhound bus from San Francisco to L.A. or vice versa. It ends up that you're on the bus with ex-cons, drug addicts and goodness knows who else. So while you CAN do it, your average person doesn't WANT to do it. In contrast, in the US northeast you can be on the bus from Philadelphia to Manhattan with a drug addict, but that drug addict had to pay at least $10 to get on the bus and is probably heading into university or to work.

The prices for the trains are much steeper in the States. The train ride on Amtrak from Philadelphia to New York ranges from $45 to, get this, $143! Now the rates shift based on the class you choose and the time, but a similar hour and 45 minute train ride on Korea's KTX, their high-speed trains, are comparable at the basic level. It's around 44,000 won, so that's about the same. However, the first class rate maxes out at around 65,000 won. The prices compare for the bus system, but the coverage doesn't. In Korea, the intercity bus system is exhaustive. And this is just a link to one bus system. There is another. You can get on an express bus to get you anywhere in South Korea from Seoul. A two hour bus ride from Seoul is about the same in terms of price, so that's good. But the sheer coverage of where you can get to is truly overwhelming until you're used to it.

This transition is going to be interesting, at least to me, and I'm going to want to share it. From that perspective, this is officially now an east coast/NYC blog with a Korea blog past ;) There are so many little interesting and different things I'm seeing.

Just watching the famous demeanor of New Yorkers is entertaining. I was in the Lexington and 53rd St station. I know this because it's the same station I went to for my job interview last week. I was going back to exchange the umbrella I bought during last Thursday's deluge. One lady needed a refund or a replacement Metro card. She went to a booth where they weren't equipped to do that. Based on her reaction, you would have thought they'd called her every name in the book. I thought it was a bit odd to loose your cool over something like that.

I factor in the pain in the butt aspects of transactions these days and expect that I'm going to get a bit of a run around. That's simply because it's too expensive to keep staff standing in multiple spots to give you a refund. It was the late afternoon and the trains were definitely going to be running for many hours more. Her choice to verbally abuse the folks there just seemed excessive. Plus, unless provoked, I really am a firm believer of being nice and saying "please" and "thank you." I'm noticing what a huge anomaly that is in Manhattan. Now don't get me wrong. I've also not been in a city where the men have been hold open for me almost constantly. So some New Yorkers might be snappish but they'll help you get through the door.

I think yesterday was a bit of a challenge for me because I'd booked myself on a real early bus leaving out of Philadelphia, so I got moving around 4:30am to catch the train to 30th Street Station. From there, I realized I needed to print up my resume. I wasted both time and money taking care of that. BTW, if they offer the laptop docking station at Kinkos aka FedEx Office -don't do it. Just give them your USB flash drive. They actually charge you to doc your laptop and print. That's just such a greedy level of stupid to me that I won't do it.

After printing, I was off. I got my resume in to one recruiting agency, chit-chatted a bit, got their recommendations for lunch and headed out. I got to the lobby and *snap* the heel on my right ankle boot just collapsed. These are a great pair of boots that I got when I was in Paris. I can probably get them fixed, but that lead to a complete detour.

Good for me that I was right at Union Square and had passed a big shoe store on the way to this agency. They were having a sale: buy one get the other at half-price. Okay, I can work with that. I found a great pair of Steve Madden flats and a nice pair of black patent leather square-toed pumps with a strap. Both shoes are cute but reserved enough for interviews. Plus, I only had one pair of brown shoes suitable for interviews and needed another pair. So the boot collapse made me do something I was going to have to do anyway. It's just I'd not planned it and it ended up sucking a good 45 to 60 minutes of my day away. I could have bought shoes out here in Philly's lovely western suburbs! Believe me, the King of Prussia mall is no joke. But there are also tons of other stores like Ross nearby too.

I didn't get out of the shoe store until lunch. Inside, there was another cranky New Yorker who just couldn't wait until the cashier was done with me and went on and on about needed quarters for the meter. Good for me that I had four quarters in my wallet. Helping her out was the way to get her to hush and say "thank you". Granted, it was to me, but I just wanted her to bring down the anxiety level. Four quarters isn't worth getting everyone around you all riled up. Really, you know the deal, so grab a roll of quarters at the bank and keep them in your change purse. After that, armed with a cute pair of shoes, I got to prance through the farmer's market at Union Square and have a great lunch. However, after that, my spirits just plummeted.

I think it's because I'm starting my job search in earnest now and, as much as I love Manhattan, even for me, it's an assault to the senses, which is exciting but it's also overwhelming when you're feeling anxious. Let's be honest, searching for work under the best of circumstances is stressful. I was okay after lunch for a bit. I got to a Starbucks to leech their wifi and figure out which recruiting office I was closest to. It ends up one was just a five or so minute walk away, so that was the one. The receptionist was just not nice and that threw me into a funk. I think actually having a plan, with resumes in hand and winding my way around brought it home that I'm really doing this. Dealing with a shrew reminded me that it's really on me to hustle and do my best because the random person just might not give two cents about me. I've had it in my head since I was about 15 or 16 that I wanted to move to NYC, so the reality that I'm actually doing it made me made me a bit overwhelmed.

Good for me that there are Episcopalian churches all over the city. When I was in Seoul, I attended Seoul Anglican Cathedral regularly. When I got to San Francisco, I switched to Grace Cathedral. Yesterday, I needed to decompress and saw a church with the Episcopalian flag and was just so relieved. I went into Saint Thomas Church on 5th Avenue. It was relaxing, for a moment, but the tourists with the flashing cameras drove me away. I then decided to walk to the 5:30pm networking party I had scheduled rather than take the subway and found Saint Bartholomew's Church on Park and 53rd. I went in, grabbed a prayer book, relaxed and just collected my thoughts. I came out in a much better mood.

So just imagine me, your relocating blogger rushing into NYC's Episcopal churches to recharge. I seriously needed it yesterday. I got to my networking event in good spirits and ready to go. I was a bit amused by how serious folks were. I think one distinguishing thing about me is I really do want to smile and enjoy every possible moment, so I get put off by the folks so driven that they forget to enjoy the ride. I met some good folks, and I hope they feel the same. Maybe one or more of those connections can turn into work for me or vice versa.

Anyway, it's views like the one I snapped a pic of last night that remind me that I'm on the right track. Now that things are getting interesting, I've got a feeling I'll be updating a lot more. Stay tuned.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

New York, NY: Jazz in the City

I'm absolutely exhausted from the Mayercraft. I arrived at LaGuardia airport just before 5pm. And surprise, surprise. I ended up sitting next to a couple from Korea who are vacation here. Of course, they nearly fell over to hear me ask them if they were Korean in Korean, but it ended up being a fun conversation. Having packed way too much, as usual, I wasn't going to lug my two suitcases via NYC mass transit. Instead, I Super Shuttled it (yes, I made that a verb...deal with it.)

Lucky me as I had the privilege to meet and speak to Mizan Nunes while we were en route to our destinations. My intention was to head to S-Mac for dinner, but I got there to see them moving furniture around rather than serving food. Awwwww, bummer. Instead, I got New York pizza by the slice and that was just dreamy.

Eventually, I made my way over to the Zinc Bar because I'm so partied out from the Mayercraft that doing anything but sipping a cocktail and listening to music is simply beyond me. I walked in in the middle of Deb Silver's set and ordered a cocktail. Her voice is simply melodic and her style is classy. I realized that, yes, I was indeed back in New York. Now I realize I'm no music expert, but I know what I like and I liked her. I liked what I heard so much that I bought her CDs and I can't wait to get them on my iPod.

Her vocals were accompained by Ron Affif who jammed later with his trio and other amazing musicians. It was great talking to him because he's traveled to Korea to perform. However, when it got to the point that one would do a lengthy jazz solo while I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I realized it is indeed time for me to turn in and get some sleep.

With that said, that's exactly what I'll do. Over and out.