ngthatsme

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      29 Oct 2007

      New apartment

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      I've had a pretty hectic weekend, and a pretty hectic week apartment hunting. Luckily it's been fairly quiet at work, so I actually took time off during the day to go see places. I've decided to go it alone, rather than flatshare. Oddly enough, at first this thought was a little scary, as I've never lived completely by myself, but now I realise it's just part of a 'progression' and what better time to do it than now. New city, new work environment, new lifestyle.

      So I'm writing this sitting in my new apartment. I found a place on the Upper East side of Manhattan, on 85th Street. It's a really nice area, close to Central Park and the FDR bike path on the east side near the river. There aren't that many cool bars in this part of town, but I figure if I want cool I can always venture down to the East Village where it's all happening and that's only a short train ride away. I've got more space here, and more greenery.

      This weekend feels like I've just been throwing money away. I've forgotten how much stuff you need to buy/do when starting an apartment from scratch. The first thing I did was call a locksmith and change the locks. Then I bought a bunch of cleaning products. Just your essentials - mop, bucket, sponges, clothes, towels, and sprays etc. And today I did the obligatory trip to IKEA to get some plates, pots/pans, glasses and cutlery. I also picked out a sofa, TV stand, coffee table. I'm getting quite a kick out of decorating my place. It's a blank canvas and I can turn it into whatever I want.

      Here are a couple of pics:

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      Although it's a studio, it's a reasonably big studio. The length of the main living space, not including the kitchen and bathroom is 209 inches. So I plan to partition the room somehow - half for my bedroom and half for the lounge, maybe using some plants or a bookshelf.

      Media_http4bpblogspot_ahywt

      Straight ahead where the light is, is the bathroom. It's at the end of what I guess you could call a VERY short hallway. If you're standing in the 'hallway' facing the bathroom, there are storage cupboards to the left and the front door is to the right.

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      20 Oct 2007

      Boston

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      I'm on my way to Boston sitting at the back of a very crowded bus. Now
      that I've got this blackberry I'm hopefully going to be able to do a
      few more live posts.

      There was also the option of flying or taking the train but they all
      take roughly the same amount of time (by the time you check in and out
      of the airport) but the bus is heaps cheaper, only $15 each way, and
      you get the added bonus of scenery.

      Its fall here (autumn) and the blend of colours in the leaves look
      amazing. You have to see it to believe it but it's a lovely mix of
      rasberry pink, orange, yellow, shades of lime green, peach and red
      and there isn't much brown like you see in oz. It's really pretty. I'm
      a little bummed I don't have my big camera to take some photos as its
      arriving with the rest of my stuff but I'll try to get some shots with
      the compact later.

      Oh I should say I'm heading to Boston to spend the weekend with Andy
      and Dave from Precis who are here on a training course. I'm really
      glad to soon be seeing some familiar faces.

      In other news, I've been going mad on the house hunting. Took Friday
      morning off work to go see a couple of places with a real estate agent
      as I wanted to explore the option of living alone. It was an awful
      experience. The weather is pretty humid at the moment and we spent the
      morning walking round the city going from place to place. And a lot of
      these places are what you call 'walk ups' ie older buildings with no
      lifts. After 6 flights of narrow winding stairs in the stinking heat I
      didn't even care about seeing the rooms. Screw it. Then on my way back
      to work the heavens opened and it bucketed down with rain. I got
      drenched from head to toe but couldn't bring myself to buy an umbrella
      from the opportunistic salesmen who seemed to emerge like rats out of
      nowhere. Then my day got even better when I discovered there wasn't a
      hand dryer at work to dry me out. So for the rest of the day I sat in
      my wet clothes feeling pretty sorry for myself.

      So that didn't really go that well but an email I got last night gave
      me a little hope. One of the shared houses I saw got in touch to offer
      me a room! Only problem is, it's not available till December 1st so I
      need to sort some accom out for november...Will keep you posted.

      I've got to go now as my thumbs are seriously beginning to cramp up
      typing this...

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      17 Oct 2007

      Max Brenner

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      If you love chocolate then Max Brenner is the place for you. In addition to making scrumptious desserts, their main courses also pass some serious muster.

      I caught up with my cousin Elaine who was here on business last Saturday for the feast you see below... we modestly ordered one banana chocolate crepe between us (note the beaker of chocolate sauce - omg) and still couldn't finish it. There were literally chunks of soft melted chocolate throughout the crepe...

      I'm guessing at this moment you're now either craving chocolate to the extreme, or feeling extremely ill.

      Before...

      Media_http4bpblogspot_nymqa

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      After... yummo

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      17 Oct 2007

      Brooklyn

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      Tonight I ventured over to Williamsburg in Brooklyn and really fell in love with the place. It was refreshing. Kind of like Manhattan on a smaller scale. Less noise, narrower streets, and smaller buildings. The people seemed more laid back, friendly, in less of a hurry and slightly alternative. There were some really funky, artsy bars too.

      I think I might make this my home :)

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      16 Oct 2007

      Housing woes - part III

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      Can it get any worse?

      1 room for you.... free??..... BARTER!!!....read carefully (Greenwich Village)
      Reply to: hous-446669302@craigslist.org
      Date: 2007-10-11, 10:06PM EDT

      This is an edit of the original post: I've gotten 5 replies so far, I will get back to all of you, don't feel bad if I haven't gotten back to you in a day or two. So, my roommate is moving out. I would normally ask the new roommate to pony up 1st and last month, that's 3000. This time, I wonder if a hot, adventuros woman wants to take over. I can afford to pay for the apartment myself and I am totally normal, but I wonder if said woman wants to negotiate a better deal than the mentioned rent.

      I am 5'10, 150, 31, pyshically active, handsome, totally normal and safe, I just work long hours and am too busy with training to meet quality women.

      What can you offer? Best offer wins! If there are no good offers I'll get a roommate and save some money.

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      16 Oct 2007

      Housing woes - part II

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      I found my perfect house - NOT! check it out...

      $1200 Quiet Bdrm Avail 4 Female in Clean, Comfortable, Clothing Optional Apt (Downtown)

      Reply to: hous-450044062@craigslist.org
      Date: 2007-10-15, 6:27PM EDT

      Fun, friendly nudist couple has a quiet bedroom available in our clean, newly furnished apartment.

      If you enjoy being able to feel completely safe and comfortable being naked in your own home or being able to go to the bathroom at night without covering up, then we have the perfect place for you.

      We are a kind and considerate couple in our mid-thirties. Unlike many of the roommate situations available in NYC, we don’t impose any rules on how you live, other than everyone being considerate of each other. We want you to feel completely at home, so feel free to have guests over whenever you want, keep whatever hours you'd like, smoke in your room if you want (we’re 420 friendly), and basically do as you please.

      NB - '420 friendly' is quite a common term here. It means they're stoner friendly. I think the history of the term is that back in day some high school kids used to meet after school at 4:20pm to smoke weed, or something along those lines.

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      15 Oct 2007

      Housing woes

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      Apartment hunting here in NY is proving a little more difficult than in London!

      It seems that most people who are looking for flatmates are under the age of 25, and either own a cat (I'm allergic) or live on the 5th floor of a building with no elevator. On that last point, I'm not lazy, but there's no way I'm carrying my bike up and down 5 flights of stairs everyday.

      Many places also advertise 'converted rooms', ie rooms/areas which have been created by partitioning a larger space with curtains, rails or bookshelves etc. but it's hard to determine this until you actually go check out a place. And apparently, if you don't like make-do partitions, you can choose to build a temporary wall...it's something building companies will put up for you in about 3hrs and from that point on you 'rent' the wall. To do this they don't actually knock anything down. I think it's more just bits of plasterboard attached to railings/bars for support with foam cushioning in between to make it a little more soundproof. Weird stuff.

      The hunt continues...

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      14 Oct 2007

      Introducing the bPhone

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      I've just turned my BlackBerry into an iPhone, thanks to RogerMJ's awesome BB skin!

      If you're as excited as me about this you can find the download here. Be careful to check if your BB's software version is compatible. Mine wasn't, but I did it anyway (haha! couldn't help myself!) and I had to resort to several restarts and battery pulls before it decided to work again. However, it hasn't crashed on me since, and let's pray it stays that way, oherwise work isn't going to be very happy with me.

      I've got the BlackBerry Pearl 8100. Here's the result. I think it looks pretty awesome!

      Media_http4bpblogspot_adncg

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      13 Oct 2007

      Do NOT buy Pantene Style

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      Media_http4bpblogspot_fjhcc
      I'm feeling pretty disgruntled right now. Call me a whinging customer but I want to spread the word, a rather BAD word, about Pantene Style.

      Frankly, this product SUCKS.

      About a week and a half ago, I woke up finding that my hair had gone all 'fly-away'. This in itself is weird, as it's probably only happened one other time in my whole life. I didn't really have any product with me, as most of my things are still somewhere over the Atlantic ocean, so I did an emergency run out to the shops. I must have spent a good 10 minutes browsing the hair aisle. There were just so many brands and products to choose from - mousses, waxes, sprays, creams, fudges, pastes, gels and different combinations these. Nightmare.

      In the end I settled upon 'Pantene Style Texturize - Moussing Foam Wax'. How it can be both a mousse and a wax I'm not entirely sure, but Pantene shampoo and conditioners are pretty good so I thought I couldn't really go wrong.

      As it was my first time using the product, I thought 'I'll take it slow', and just applied a reasonably small amount. I'm talking something around the size of a golf ball (keep in mind it's a mousse/foam).

      The description on the bottle says for 'flowing, lightweight texture for medium to long hair', for 'lightness and stylability'. THIS IS COMPLETE AND UTTER BS! Instead, my hair's gone all disgusting - sticky, hard, stiff, AND worst of all I've washed it 5 times and the crap just won't come out!! It's starting to really annoy me - grrrrr.

      Does anyone know what I can do to get this sticky mess out of my hair? Can I use lemon juice or something or will that make my hair go green? HELPPPPPP!

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      9 Oct 2007

      Cheese steaks...

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      I'm hoping there's no such thing as a 'JFK injection'. Some of you may know what I'm on about, if you've heard of the 'Heathrow injection'? If not, here's a definition:

      Heathrow injection: A metaphor for the weight one inevitably gains when one migrates to London for an extended stay. It is attributable to the face-paced lifestyle that leads one to eating mostly take-away and fast foods.

      Source: Urban Dictionary
      http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=heathrow+injection

      Well New York definitely comes with a fast paced lifestyle. Food is also significantly cheaper than in London, comes in larger portions, and hot dog stalls are pretty much on every street corner - during the day and night!

      I think I'm doomed.

      Let me present to you, the classic hot dog stall:

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      With the aroma of freshly cooked onions and sizzling meat, you try walking past it. At US$1.50 a dog, the change in your pocket is just begging to be spent.. Actually, on second thoughts, I'd recommend skipping the dogs (they're about 90% water) and going for the Italian sausages. They're a little bit more expensive but trust me, they really satisfy.


      And this is probably why I'm feeling slightly ill right now:

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      Behold, my first Philly Cheese Steak, from Johnny Rockets. This is your all American diner people. I'm talking black and white checkered tiled floors and waitresses with white paper sailor hats. On entry be prepared to be assaulted by the sounds of the Village People. Yeah, let's all go stay at the Y.

      And let's not forget Nathan's famous Hot Dog & fries:

      Media_http1bpblogspot_yaapz

      I did a post on these delicious babies a while back, so enough said for now.
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  • ngthatsme

    Sometimes geek, sometimes chic. I'm a third culture kid - born in Malaysia, grew up in Australia, worked in London and am now in NYC. I love traveling to places strange and unknown and having unforgettable random adventures.

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