My Life

The past few days I've been having and existential meltdown/life crisis. I feel stressed about where I want to live, what I want to do, etc. etc. I feel like if I had just gone ahead and moved here, or had a real job, I wouldn't be stressed at all, because I had made a decision. But because my life here is so temporary, I feel like I'm unattached to anything and it is scary. On one hand I kind of feel like I would be letting people down if I didn't stay in New York for a while, and at the same time though I want to go home and live in Austin, I don't know what I would do there. However, after talking to Roy and talking to Whitney I feel a lot better. I also feel like I don't have to make any decisions and perhaps I should just coast my way through the end of 2007. My internship is over at the end of September and then I am vacationing in Costa Rica in October, which leaves about 2 1/2 months of uncertainty left for the year. Perhaps I could pay a visit to my cousins and good 'ol Steph in San Francisco for a few weeks and maybe vacation somewhere warm in December, the rest of the time playing with friends all over Texas. I guess I figure I don't really have to work this year. (Although I may hate myself come tax time...) I can live cheaply and figure out what I want to do. Maybe I will get inspired on vacation, or by family or friends. I hope that by writing this I will stop worrying and start really enjoying the moment.

School Time

I think it's funny that I don't miss school. I know a lot of people went back today, but so far I don't miss it. I got a very pleasant email today from Dr. Rewerts saying she was changing my internship grade (since I scanned my paperwork and emailed it to her) and that she hoped I would keep her posted on the job hunt. I also got an email from Judy, my advisor, saying that she personally took the grade change form over to the appropriate office. I emailed her a thank you for all the help she's given me over the years. She's always been so nice to me and so helpful. So, basically everything with school is good again. Other than that not much is new. It's going to be a busy week!

I got a MacBook

This morning my laptop went on a spiraling downfall of death. It was stuck in a loop of serious failure. I carted my beloved all the way to Manhattan to be checked out by the Geeksquad at Best Buy. Of course once the laptop was out of my house it was no longer stuck in this loop of failure. It turned on and stayed on, but the man said it's life was short and that it was totally corrupted, and also that my wireless card was failing and I would need a new one. I've known my laptop was ailing for some time now, but thought perhaps she could last me until the end of the year. Without the use of internet I would be so incredibly bored up here. Internet is what I use my laptop for anyway, so insted of spending upwards of $300 to fix my 4 year old 'top, I went to the apple store on fifth ave. and spent tons of money. I have a glorious new MacBook with max ram and ample storage. I also have a shiny new black 30 gig ipod video, which only cost $50 with the rebate. (Daddy, if you want my nano, you can have it, but only after I figure out how to get all my songs onto my new one....) Also, the mac store was going to transfer some files for me, but they didn't say how many, I would have to make folders, and it would take like 2 days. Needless to say I have decided to do it myself, and have begun transfering my word documents to one of my flash drives. If someone has suggestions about how I can get my pics and my music onto my new computer, I would be grateful of the knowledge. Also, if someone has microsoft office for mac and maybe photoshop and illustrator, I wouldn't turn those down either...

Pissed

I am really mad. Dr. Rewerts has given me an incomplete on my internship because she says she never received my faxed documents. Yet, she decided to tell me this on the day grades were due. I emailed her the day I sent them that they had been faxed, and had she let me know that day that they were never were received, we could have fixed this situation before grades were finalized. Now I have to re-send everything and have her change a grade. This is a big hassle for both of us and I think pretty fucking rediculous.

Cable

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss cable TV. A lot. Especially since network tv looks awful for this upcoming season... I miss travel channel with Tony Bourdain's No Reservations, Food Network for Top Chef and Iron Chef, and VH1 for 80s movies and reality tv shows. I miss turning on the tv and having something interesting to watch. I miss free movies on tv. It's not that I don't have anything to do, I read the news every day in the metro and I read my scifi novel on the train. I make myself dinner every night, I talk to friends on the phone, and sometimes I work on Roy's scarf. I just miss relaxing and being truly entertained.

Cookies

Today I made cookies. I really missed baking and since today was rainy and cool I felt like it was the perfect time. They were not up to my usual standards, but I don't think they turned out bad. I really didn't like the taste of the vanilla I used. In other news, I need a pair of rain boots. It has rained at least once a week and I haven't found any boots I like here in the city. However, I found these on zappos.
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/29379539/c/110122.html
What do you think? They go with my winter wool coat, my down coat, and my trenches. Hmm...now that I've typed this I think I should just go ahead and order them.

Last Call

This morning I noticed that there was an add for the infamous Barney's Warehouse sale on the back of my morning Metro, with today being to first day. Having heard of the greatness of this sale, how people camp out for it, and that it is THE sale of the year, I was pretty excited. I got out of work 30 minutes early and decided to make my way over there. SEVERE DISAPPOINTMENT! Not only was it jam packed with people, but it was no bigger than Austin's Neiman Marcus Last Call. It also didn't have the selection of designers, size selection, or the price reductions of my beloved Last Call. So, this disappointing sale is just another confirmation for me that New Yorkers are willing to pay anything for something with a name brand on it. Marked down from $500 to $300 is not a sale. Marked $500 to $100 is a sale. New Yorkers take note!

Sick?

I have been having a lot of throat and nose issues lately. I'm not exactly positive that I'm sick, as it may be stress (on my immune system from moving to such a dirty place) or it may be allergies, but all in all I don't feel so hot.

This weekend I'm planning some relaxing activities- mainly hitting up Bloomingdales to shop for some rain boots and getting a massage. I pretty much ruined my sandals walking in the rain the other day, and it was really miserable having wet feet all day, so I need some nice boots with traction that I can walk in. Carting a purse around Manhattan all the time really takes a toll on your back too. As well as sitting in uncomfortable PATH seats, standing, sitting on slatted park benches, and walking, walking, walking. Therefore, I need a massage. Maybe I will go get a massage at the Brazilian Spa where I got my fake tan, I do have a free coupon for another tan...

Summer of Love Exhibit: Art in the Psychedelic Era

Today Sarah and I went to the Whitney Museum to see the Summer of Love Exhibit. I read about it on the Subway and thought it sounded awesome. It was! As a student, it only cost 10 dollars and that included free audio tour with music -Austin's own 13 Floor Elevators were one of the artists represented. Sarah and I walked around looking at all the art and played in the coolest Psychedelic "room." It reminded me of this really cool "kid spaces" book from the 1960-70s that I used to read as a kid that mom and I had bought at Goodwill.



My other favorite works from the exhibit:
- Framed LSD squares that looked like sheets of mini stamps. Perforated sheets of paper, the smallest being a tiny one cm by one cm square with a picture of a man fishing. Medium sized was a kid's scene with a rabbit and a turtle (with three squares missing), and the largest a 7 x 7 inch square of squares that were golden pyramids on black paper. I wanted them, they were awesome art!
-A digger dollar.
-"Flower Monster" by Jimmi Hendrix. I didn't even know it was by him and I loved it before looking at the artist name. Even cooler that he had painted it himself. It looked more Asian than psychedelic though.

Olamida & Rachel's Big Adventure

So this morning at 5:15am I was awakened to a fantasticly torrential rain storm. I thought that only Texas had storms like these, but this was loud, loud, loud! I listened to it pour without stopping for at least 30 minutes before I fell asleep.

When I woke up this morning to go to work I walked outside to see if it was cool, but it was hot and muggy, and looked dry out. However, just before was about to leave for work my boss calls me to tell me the subways are broken and can I get to work? I said I think so, so Olamida offered to give me a ride to the Path train. There was horrible traffic getting there, and it was only a mile a way, and when we got there there was no way you could get to the train even by walking because the road was covered in about 2 feet of water. Olamida and I tried to drive to Newark Penn Station and there was so much traffic and so many people we both decided to give up after about an hour of sitting in the car. We called in to our jobs, got Dunkin' Donuts and are not sitting at home relaxing. (Well, she is working, and I am sort of working.) It's nice to have a free day off!

The subway isn't working because some of them are flooded and so they stopped all of them. Some trains and some buses are not running because of flooding. It's so crazy that all this can come from 2 hours of torrential rain! My boss said we should touch base tomorrow about whether or not I would work because the subways might not be fixed.

ny1.com for the top story

Day Off

My bosses Mary and Audrey were both taking the day off today, so I was left to do as I pleased. Sarah and I had planned on going shopping, or adventuring, or fine dining but she had to fly at 3. Instead of heading into the city, we went to get Mystic Tans. A natural substitute to failed plans. Having both wanted to try it, we said "why not?" The verdict is that they look surprisingly natural! Now I can pretend I went to the beach this weekend like my boss.

A conversation on being a flight attendant-
Me: Sarah, what happens if our plan backfires and we turn orange? You have to work today.
Sarah: I won't be the only orange one there. You should see some of these ladies, it'll be okay.

Super-lame title, I know.... taking suggestions....

My First Entry!!!

Here is my blog for all you people who want to know about my life here in New York!

Today I met Zac Posen! (Officially, as I have seen him at the office every day this week. I assume there are just too many interns to introduce them to him all the time.) Here's how it happened: I was walking out of the offices with a bag full of stuff to go to the factory uptown and he was sitting on the side of the building waiting for a car. He smiled at me, noting my bag in hand, and I went up to him and introduced myself. I said "I'm not sure we've met yet, I'm Rachel the new production intern." And he said "Hello Rachel, nice to meet you!" And we shook hands. He's a fantastic hand shaker. Then he asked "Are you going to the factory?" And I said yes. He looked at the skirt in my bag and said "ah yes" and then said "very nice" and I said "nice to meet you, see you later" and he said "nice to meet you." So nice!

Anyway, when I got home Sarah and I went to the grocery store and then made a delicious dinner of fried chicken, macaroni, and mashed potatoes. Hopefully, I will get to take some in a sandwich for lunch tomorrow!

Tonight I shall take a gloriously long shower and wash my hair, since I had a giant glob of water? fall on me from somewhere above today....