Chinatown, home away from home

In NYC it's very uncool to live or like Chinatown. The people are pushy, there's a ton of tourists, its stinky (on some streets, like a lot). But I love it.

There is a park by my apartment where the elderly gather every weekend to play this crazy old Asian music. It sounds both beautiful and creepy. The giant beauty emporiums full of beauty products to make you look like a doll. The crazy food venders that take up most of the sidewalks.

My favorite vintage store

Wilco

Last night I saw Wilco. They were amazing!

In other news i've been terribly sick. I've had a cough that won't go away and so I've been put on an inhaler. My blood pressure is 'on the high side' so my doctor gave me some herbal remedy and I have to get blood work done. He said my weight/height/heart rate etc is fine but perhaps the stress of moving here, the 11 hour work days and stress of commission is getting to me. NO SHIT. He suggested Yoga and I said Yoga just makes me angry. So yeah, hippy medicine and blood work. More stuff to do. I've gone to a zillion doctors visits since moving here. Most likely because I haven't been in ages.

Also i have too much ear wax I'm told.Hmf. My inhaler cost me 50 bucks, not that I'm bitter about it.....

I also got new glasses for 100 bucks. My insurance paid 100 bucks so it wasn't terrible but damn, its expensive to be healthy in this city.

Apartment Hunting; The Hardest Sport I've Ever Played

Looking at an apartment on the Upper East Side in my Price Range. Fingers Crossed. This place is huge and in my price range. Going downtown to uptown (maybe). Probably not. This apartment is too good to go to me....

My Start

This city makes me tired. It makes me lose the days. Long hours, short days, another week gone.  Weekend are full up errands and appointments. I try and remember a time before and I can't. New York has consumed me. I love it.


One of my few work friends Angela, who went to NYU, moving here by herself from San Diego gave me some great advice without knowing it. She said (paraphrasing);


 "New York is magical. So many people just stop here and live for a few years but I don't think I can ever leave. It's too magical."


It's true, everything else compared seems dull. We are taught by movies and TV shows that New York City is the heart of this county. That everyone's goal should end up in NYC to be considered successful.  I can see why. The city is alive, it  has a pulse the way it moves packed to the brim with people. So many individual stories.




Mine I almost didn't start. I was flown here for an interview, a job I didn't think I could get it, a job that seemed so far away from my life. A job in a different state and in a different city and everything out of my comfort zone.


My future job had a car service pick me up. The driver had a sign with my name on it. I walked up to him and he said "oh you're a women." I looked at him funny not sure if he was kidding. He opened the door for me, got in and started driving. The only other thing he said to me was this,


"I thought Avalon was a funny name for a man, but for this company, the only people I've picked up have been men. You're the first women."


We rode in silence after that. I wasn't sure if i was insulted or happy or excited. I felt like puking.




He dropped me off on the corner, pointed in a direction to walk to since it was Broadway and packed and he refused to pull up to the front. I felt instantly I couldn't do this. Broadway in Soho is a wall of people. Everywhere and anywhere, walking into, around you and running into you. Packed with stores, street venders and foot carts. The ground beneath you vibrates from the Subway underneath. 


Whatamidoingwhatamidoingwhatamidoing. Is all I thought. After 3 phone interviews and one Skye interview I was flown up here, to be interviewed by 4 different people and eat lunch with my future co-workers. It took 4 hours. In between interviews I had a great view of the city and I stared out the window trying to imagine myself living here. I couldn't. I had come all this way and I felt overwhelmed, by everything. 


I knew there was no way I could ever turn this job down. So i promised myself if I got it, I would go. And i did. So here I am. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Take a chance. On myself, on this job, on living so far from everything I know.


And I'm so glad I did.

Crystal palace, ground zero and saint Paul's cathedral

Homesickness= Looking through old photos and feeling sad.

Siblings

Teariffic

Almost every other day I stop here. Amazing tea. All kinds too, Matcha with Aloe, black tea, Bubble Tea. I love it!

The Grey Dog

4th of July

Last year on the fourth of July, independence day, i spent at my old roommates parents house. I was with my sister, her daughter (my niece Felicity), my ex, a few former friends and we watched the fireworks. Felicity could barely talk, she wasn't even two but they had a finding Nemo towel hanging off the balcony and she walked over every once and a while and said "Nemo." It was so cute it makes my heart hurt just thinking about it.



A recent photo before i moved.

The only thing American i did today was eat a hotdog, some mac and cheese, and bought a dress at forever21.



I couldn't do much. I just paid rent, haven't made a lot of commission (or any) and everything is so much money. EVERYTHING. Plus, I have an ex who is making me payback every gift he ever bought me or he's going to take me to court. Over what? Well it's over my rent for the last three months of our old lease he'd promised he'd take over back in Florida. Where our rent split was 250, yes that's right, 250. A little different then the 1,300 my rent is now. For June, July and August it would be 750 bucks, still less then what i pay per month. So even though he promised he wouldn't mind just paying it, he decided to still make me pay back every gift he gave me. So i got to mail him a check this week. Love really does make everyone an asshole doesn't it?