Tag Archives: life

Egg Creams, French Fries, and Cupcakes Comments

New York has food. I have a biological need to fuel myself by regularly ingesting an assortment of nutrients. It was a perfect arrangement.

So, there are these egg creams. Egg creams are supposed to be some kind of big deal in New York. It seems they possess neither egg nor cream. Instead, they are composed of seltzer water and some type of chocolate syrup. I had my first egg cream during my late night stop at the 24-hour Court Square Diner. It was good and it was different from any fountain beverage I’ve had, but I’m not yet convinced that it lives up to the hype.

Let’s talk about French fries.

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Perseus Internship – Act I Comments

I started my internship with The Perseus Books Group last Wednesday, the 13th. Right now I’m working with Google Adwords. I didn’t have much practical experience with Adwords prior, so I’ve been learning a lot as I go.

The most exciting project we’re working to promote right now is the Cathy’s Book application for iPod Touch and iPhone. I’m intensely interested in developing storytelling technology, so I flipped my shit when I found out I would be helping to promote something this cutting edge. For those of you not immersed in the world of alternate reality gaming, the Cathy franchise comes from the brains of Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman of I Love Bees fame. In short, these men are Olympic deities of the alternate reality gaming world. Fans of Bungie’s Halo series, take note.

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Arrival Comments

I’ve arrived. Spent last night in a hostel in Brooklyn. Sleeping in a comfy bed was really great; I got no sleep in my red eye flight from SeaTac.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: everything is huge; everything is open late, so it’s really accommodating for night owls like me; the subways are confusing, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of them.

For my first day in the city, I ate breakfast at a little joint around the corner. Then I did the tourist thing and explored Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Station. Today my mission was to find a comfortable, quiet, quirky, writing-friendly coffee shop like the ones I frequented back in Bellingham. I’m happy to say I found one. I’m writing this post in the Flying Saucer Cafe, where the baristas are friendly and the atmosphere is peaceful and inviting. I’m a huge fan of the cut-out comics pasted on the supports. Plus Ziggy Stardust is playing right now, so I’m pretty sure I found my new home away from home.

Now to find a bite to eat and then off to Central Park.

Moving Anxiety Comments

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Felis catus Comments

I think I’d like to get a cat after I move to NYC. I would name my cat Spot, because Data rules.

I love dogs, but they’re too much work for me right now. They’re like babies that never grow up and move out. Dogs are for when you have families. Cats are like having a really cute friend who always come over to eat your food, use your bathroom, and sleep on your couch. If you’re lucky, there might be cuddling. But don’t get attached. If someone else puts out the tuna, they’re not gonna play favorites. Why should they care about your problems? They have their own lives to worry about. There are things out there they need to try to fit inside and get stuck on top of. I can respect that.

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I Am Not a Novelist Comments

Thanks to my existentialist leanings, I tend to define myself by what I do. Figuring out who I will be in this world means figuring out the actions I wish to take. So who do I choose to be?

It struck me today that I am not interested in being a traditional novelist. I feel like I’ve been struggling with this for years, trying to be something I don’t want to be just because I decided somewhere along the way that novel writing is a more legitimate profession than writing alternative forms of fiction.

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I Love This City Comments

I’ve fallen in love with Bellingham.

I’ve been places. I know people here. I carry membership cards for a food co-op, a coffee shop, a hookah bar, a used bookstore. I recognize pretty waitresses and have favorite bartenders and baristas. I knew when shows are, which local bands are worth seeing, when cheap beer night is. I know street names and intersections. I’ve biked from one end of town to the other. Many times. Yes, I can recommend a good burrito place, a superb Thai restaurant, a nice place to go for a bite at 2 o’clock AM. Strangers recognize me by my florescent jacket. When I bike home from work up a hill I’ve come to respect, sometimes a friendly voice calls to me from her front porch. They know my name.

I’ve fallen in love with this city.

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Action Figure Psychologists Comments

Carissa gave me these killer-cool action figures just because she’s awesome.

Carl Gustav Jung Action Figure
Carl Jung Action Figure

Sigmund Freud Action Figure

Right now they adorn the bookshelf in my living room, right next to a couple dinosaurs.

By the way, Jung comes with a pipe accessory, which Freud assures me is sometimes just a pipe accessory. But we know better.

Lifestyle Changes Comments

First and foremost: finals are done! You can’t see it, but I’m doing a little dance right now. It’s the dance I do when finals are done.

I had a really kickass day today. While exploring a park with Glenn Newcomer, we ran into the bartender who served me and some friends at the Green Frog a couple nights ago (and her beautiful dog, Raja). Less than a half hour later at the same park, I ran into one of my all-time favorite professors with her partner and their super-cute baby. After living here for over two years, this kind of thing finally makes me feel connected.

I don’t think I posted this particular announcement on the ol’ blog yet, so I thought I would mention it: I went full vegetarian (meaning giving up fish too) at the beginning of February. People have been mostly supportive and my sister seems pretty happy that she’s not the only vegetarian in the family. I have gotten the loaded “why” a couple times, but nobody seems to want to argue against “I don’t want to hurt animals.” Does a valid argument even exist against this motivation?

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2 Hrs * 10 Yrs = Mastery Comments

Several months ago I read some words online saying that, with two hours of practice every day for ten years, we can master virtually any skill. Sure, it’s really just a contemporary rewording of the old-as-dirt axiom “practice makes perfect.” But its definite numbers (two hours, ten years) make it seem more concrete, and thus more attainable. Since then, I’ve been trying to decide what I would devote that much of my life to. Fiction writing? Freerunning?

If you’ve been around me at all since I read this, I’ve probably asked you this question: What would you choose to master with two hours every day for ten years? Here’s a bigger question I keep asking myself: why am I not doing this yet? Maybe I just want to be semi-competent at too many things to focus so much time on any one of them. In the words of the great Robert A. Heinlein, “Specialization is for insects.”