Pretty much the best birthday ever

Today I, like so many who have gone before me, turned 28. It was pretty much the best day ever. I love being unemployed but not poor.

The day started with an 8am trip to Bryant Park for ice skating. But it turned out that the ice rink was closed to the public until 10am because they were hosting the Simpson Movie DVD Release Party there. So we sat in the park and had a lovely breakfast that Corina provided: Ben and Jerry's was handing out free ice cream to celebrate the Simpson Movie. The flavor: donut and beer. I had some (see me holding it above) but it did not taste the way that beer smells. I kind of think it was ginger-donut flavored. But there's no way to know for sure. It was an adventure.

Then we looked at the very lovely display windows at Lord and Taylors. I liked them so much, I did a little dance in front of most of them. There were photos, but they're on Alejandro's camera and he's in Monte Carlo now, so I guess I can't post them.

Then Alejandro gave us a tour of the GQ office (by which I mean GQ the magazine AKA Gentleman's Quarterly. But's it's monthly now which is why they changed the name to GQ--just some useful trivia)

(Everything I saw there is strictly confidential.)

Then we went back to the Bryant Park Ice Rink, where the skates were FREE in celebration of above mentioned Simpsons Movie DVD release party. I also got some free hot chocolate. I managed to get this picture of Corina dancing on the ice before I was told that electronic devises were not allowed on the ice:

We skated for twenty minutes and I was very good even though it had been ten years since I've been skating. I didn't fall or even wobble the whole time I was skating, and then I totally wiped
out exiting the ice area. To prove that I actually went, I took a picture of our feet in skates:

(I'm the one in blue on the left. It looks droopy because I had just had that fall and my leg was feeling under the weather)

Upon exiting the rink, I was given a free donut Homer Simpson style: (notice my hand with the donut in the foreground and Homer's matching hand in the background. we thought that was pretty artsy)

Then we were off to Moods fabric store (as seen on Project Runway) to get some swatches. On the way there, we found and bought this totally awesome new winter coat for me for only $40. It is from Esprit and was originally $300:
After Mood's I went home and took a two hour nap. Napping is pretty much my favorite thing. Then I woke up and watched some "30 Rock" "The Office" and "Pushing Daisies" on the internet. Then I got really bored for about 90 minutes and wished I had a job and couldn't muster the enthusiasm to do any of the important things on my "Things I Like to Do in the Rare Event that I have Free Time" list. Such moments in my life are rare and a pleasant reminder of how full of lovely things my life is.

Then it was time to get ready for my b-day get-together. I decided to have just a few friends over for dinner, so I (with the help of Corina, who had been at work while I was sleeping, catching up on my TV and being bored) prepared my famous potato soup and baking powder biscuits. My friends came over around 9 and we had a fun time.

My roommate Christina got me a tuba-gram. It was awesome!!! This is a picture of me dancing behind Marcus the Professional Tuba Player while he played any song I wanted, which was pretty cool. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only current New Yorker to have rung in her 28th birthday in such a manner.

As per my request, my friend Ann made me gingerbread cookies with chocolate and butterscotch chips for my birthday dessert (super yum!) and Marcus accompanied everyone on the tuba as they sang me "Happy Birthday." It was all captured on video, and I would post that here, but I lack the skills, so this will have to do: (If I had known my small, intimate birthday gather with friends would result in so many pictures, I would have changed out of my pajamas and done my hair. I guess I didn't think this through very clearly.)

So, as you can tell I had a super incredibly awesome day!!! I'm pretty sure this is going to be an awesome year! For serious.

Dry Eyes, Warm Heart? My first day of unemployment

Other titles considered for this post:
-I wore jeans
-"An experience so unique it define mere words"


It has been such a time of whirlwind adventures, I don't even know where to start. Well to simplify, I will make this blog entry in outline form (sorry the formating below is so weird--I cut and pasted from Word)
1. Goodbye party with co-workers

a. Lovely ice cream cake and very kind words from my co-workers

b. Super funny cards

i. “Don’t leave me with this people!”

ii. “Before you leave, just know…we only talk about people who aren’t here”

iii. (also very kind words in the cards)

c. pressure because I think some of my co-workers might be reading my blog now, since I made and handed out cards with my contact info (including my blog) at said party

d. I love you guys!!! I'll miss you!! Here's a picture of me waving goodbye (courtesy of Lois)

2. Celebratory Play that Evening

a. Title: The Last Jew in Europe

b. My review: This is the best I can do: it was bad. Mind-blowingly bad. I find it almost impossible to put my thoughts and feelings about this play together, which is fitting since the writer/director seemed to have the same problem. It just was weird and made no sense, but not in that intentional way. It was $23 worth of funny, but that is not what they were going for.

c. Professional review from the poster outside: “So unique it defines mere words.” I really think that about wraps it up.

3. My plea: Please do NOT go. I really don’t want to encourage them to make anything else like this.

4. Celebratory Brunch of Unemployment Freedom Thursday Morning

a. With non-traditionally employed friends who were available at 11 am on a work day

b. Made potato latkes in celebration of Chanukah

c. A good time was had by all

5. Ophthalmologist visit

a. My regular readers know this has been an on-going problem for me

b. Must use my insurance before my coverage lapses December 31st

c. Got a referral and saw a non-quack. He inspired confidence.

d. Got to do a test that involved sitting still for five minutes with two white strips attached to my bottom of my eye. It was fun--whoever knew that such a thing existed. Also, my eyes got yellow dye (different test)

e. Diagnosis: eye dryness combined with seasonal allergies produces the bumps. Also possible contact intolerance, which is what I’ve been experiencing lately. I was given a lubricating prescription

f. Interesting fact: eye dryness and mouth dryness go together.

6. Off to be trained for temp job tomorrow—only one day of unemployment!

Actual Life Update

My last two entries have confirmed to me my recent theory that I never put anything that is actually important in my blog. To rectify this situation, I have decided to dedicate an entry to actual life events AKA what I would tell you if you asked what was up and actually wanted to know.

1. I got to see my family this month for our annual Thanksmas celebration. It was totally awesome. Everyone was there. I got meet my new neice Emma and play with my toddler niece Ellie. We even had shirts this year by a professional designer (my friend Richard). It was a very good time.

(I'm doing my super model pose, can you tell?)

2. I quit my job!! Since deciding not to go to grad school, I've realized that I need to leave my current amusing, but ultimately dead-end career path. And since having had my life changed by the brilliant philosophies of Ayn Rand and deciding that money is the ultimate good (aside from God, etc having added my Christian touch to Rand's atheist ideals) I've decided to enter the business world. Since my current education and and experience are somewhat limited in financial skills, I think that my best bet will be administrative work. I think I will a totally awesome personal assistant. My plan is double my income while helping people bless the world through increased financial freedom. It's gonna be awesome! Here is my memento photo of my letter of resignation, complete with company letterhead and everything:

Although this technically is my letter from the failed resignation attempt of October 2007 when my boss talked me into temporarily postponing my day of departure. Well it bought him an extra two weeks and I think everything worked out really well this way.

3. I get to go home for Christmas!! I wasn't originally thinking I would be able to since at my company we only get one day off for Christmas and it's Tuesday, and then once I quit I thought I would need to stay in town for temp jobs, but I've gotten a great job for December doing my roommate's job managing a food photography studio while she's off in California. I already know the boss and although the pay is comparable to what I'm making now I'll get three super yummy meals a day! Plus I know my schedule so I'll be able to go to Michigan to be with my parents for Christmas. Yippee!!

I guess that's all the big news. But don't let the scarcity throw you off--my life is very exciting =)

Bread Diva

Since this is my blog, please allow me the priviledge of bragging on myself. Today I arrived home from work at 5:45 and left my house at 7:15 have made THREE different types of homemade bread. Wait, now that I think about it, that's only one type every thirty minutes which I guess isn't really that impressive. But I made myself dinner during that time too. Which now that i think about it was maybe not the best idea because I was after all gettting ready to go to a dinner (more specifically pre-Thanksgiving) party. But one of the breads WAS a yeast bread after all. But of course, I had used a recipe that allowed me to make it in the morning and let it rise all day. But they did need to be rolled out and shaped. But the corn bread was from a mix. But the baking powder biscuits were from scratch. But baking powder biscuits are really easy.

Well I really wasn't expecting this blog to be such a philosophical argument! I was really just thinking of bragging about what a master chef I am. But now I'm not sure it was all that impressive. Oh well, i will be pleased about it just the same.

And I guess you people will want a picture:


This was taken after I got home while I was blogging about it when i realized that you people would want a picture. You can tell the cornbread was not very popular--but do keep in mind that it was competing again homemade rolls and baking powder biscuits (which I am quite popular for in my own circle). I will probably make cornbread stuffing this weekend. I've never done that before but I hear it's good.

Lunch Dilemma Solved

(I really wanted this picture at the end, but I can't get it to move. Darn it.)

Funny how news that is not worthy of a phone call or email is somehow worthy of a blog. Case in point: today i solved a lunch issue that has plagued me since beginning my career. Allow me to share: As those of you who know me well would imagine, I don't like wasting money buying lunch. When I can, I like to bring my own lunch. this poses two problems: 1)I don't always have time to make a lunch in the morning. 2) When I do bring my lunch, I tend to eat it around 9:30 or 10 which, before the end of the day, leaves me very hungry (or more likely, very lethargic). So I am either mentally out of it or have to spend money on food anyway. Finally this morning, an epiphany hit me! I took a jar of peanut butter to my office and two slices of bread. I bought a banana from the street vendor by the subway stop. Using the butter knife I mysteriously found on my desk one morning several months back, I constructed myself a sandwich around 12:30. (Also, I could have used a plastic knife but they are quite wimpy compared to the huge jar of peanut butter I brought which was largely already used.)



Anyway, from now on all I need to do to have a yummy, healthy, cheap lunch is remember to bring two slices of bread with me to work. I can even have some low-fat milk from the coffee supply. It is much easier not to eat something at 9;15 when it's not made yet.

Life-Improving Discoveries

Here are two things that I love: 1) fun and exciting new discoveries 2) anything that makes my life better or easier. So you can imagine my joy when these two things merge. Here are some recent examples.

1. Sleeping in the middle of my bed.
In August of 2006, I bought myself a queen size bed. For most of the past year, the part of my bed I don't sleep in has typicallly been used as a sort of storage unit. Recently having moved into and organized my very own room (yay!!), i got my life sorted out to the point that it is just ME in my bed every night. No storage. Just me. Almost always. For several weeks after getting things organized, i was enjoying choosing which side of my bed to sleep on every night, until one day--out of nowhere--it occured to me, I could sleep in the MIDDLE. It did cause a slight pillow problem, but that was easily enough overcome. And let me tell you, I had no idea the levels of emotional stress caused by the subconscious effort to keep one's arms in the bed until the need was taken away. Sleeping in the middle of my bed is awesome!! Too bad I didn't discover this earlier. If I ever get around to it, I will post a picture of my bed. (PS I make my bed every morning now too. How very adult of me.)

2. Wearing make-up prevents acne. True story. I refer specifically to foundation. So happy to know that foundation helps you look better superficially in the here and now, but also in the long-term non-superficial (couldn't find the antonym) way.

3. At work, when retrieving my voice mails, if I hit "1", it will play the last 5 seconds again. Brilliant!! Life=better.

4. Also at work, when entering a date in the current year in the main computer program, if entering a date in the current year, I don't have to type the year!!! That's right--if I type 1025, it will show up 10/25/07. Oh the keystrokes I will save!!

5. Polyphonic sounds. That is the esoteric music term for two sounds happening at once: ie--whistling and humming at the same time. I saw someone do it--one mouth, one time, two sounds. It was pretty darn cool. So darn cool, i would go so far as to say, it improved my life.

Bad Optomestrist Update

So my charming but come-to-find-out thoroughly incompetent optometrist said that I have bumps on the back on my eyelids caused by irritation of my contact lenses. He gave me a prescription, which I sent away for.

It came today and being the good consumer that I am, I read the patient instructions. This is the first thing I read: "This medication is NOT recommended for the treatment of eye irritation due to wearing contact lenses" (emphasis added).

Grrrrr!!!

I Am a Childcare Provider

I loved that movie as a child, but i digress. Today, as part of my continuing quest to be a benefit to mankind, I spent my evening babysitting for a friend. It was quite a delightful experience. The children were very cute and agreeable. I revisited my thirteen year old self by eating their food. (Why is it that other people's food is always more exciting then your own? I thought I wouldn't experience this since I'm now buying my own food, but nope.) Also an advantage of babysitting as adult--I had my laptop with me so i didn't have to fuss with a stranger's TV.

This is what I have to say about babies: when they are really wailing, it does in fact sound like "wahhhh" like it says on the comics. Also, they have serious lung power. I mean I have had a couple of good cries as an adult, but I could not have kept up that loud or that long. It was pretty amazing really. Luckily crying babies don't really upset me. But I did feel bad for the neighbors. The baby (it was her first time with a babysitter) became what we in the industry call "emotionally disregulated." Babies, you know, have not yet learned to manage their affect (emotions) and when they get really upset they literally cannot calm themselves down (some adults have this problem too). My psychology training came in useful, but did not entirely solve the problem. But luckily after about 40 minutes the baby cried itself out, just like I figured she would. And her sister told me that yes, sometimes she does cry like that when her mom is there, so I figured nothing serious was wrong. Like I said, it was a fun evening. I mean, it doesn't make me want to go out and get knocked up or anything, but I enjoyed myself.

I ask myself, how do 13 year-olds, who have no training in human development or the human psyche and who are typically emotionally weird put up with that? This is my ponderment of the day.

A year in review: my medical doctors

My mind lately has been much caught up upon my recent experience with medical doctors. I was shocked to realize that I have become quite a regular at various offices and have actually seen SEVEN different specialists in the past year. Crazy! I feel like such an adult!

This medical reflection (which you will all now be subject to) started last week when i had my eyes examined. It seemed to me like an excellent exam. Very thorough with all sort of procedures I had never experienced, although I have been going to see optometrists annually for well over 15 years now. He checked the back of my eyelids, did a contact fitting, checked my eye pressure, dilated my pupils and all sorts of interesting and unusual things. And I was happy to learn that I have very very healthy eyes. I had always assumed I had unhealthy eyes because my prescription is so high, but no, in fact my eyes are very healthy, which such thing I never would have supposed.

But everything is not perfect in optometry world. First bad sign, it turns out that my insurance didn't cover the extra tests they did. They did not tell me this. I have to pay them $90. Ouch!!

Bad sign two: they dilated my pupils which I had never had done before. It was weird not to be able to see. I want back to work after my exam, but had to leave and go home right away because I couldn't see anything. This, in and of itself would be a good thing, but I don't think I should have been outside with my pupils this big:
They sent me off without sunglasses or anything! They didn't even ask. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but really that seems like very bad form. And please realize that I took this picture almost two hours after they had been dilated. My face looks weird because I couldn't keep both eyes open long enough to take a picture (don't worry I turned the flash off) so I had to close one. (I hope you can see from there how truly big my pupil is--you can hardly see the iris).

Being so quick to see the good in an optometrist who, in fact, was not good made me seriously review some of my other experiences with doctors here in New York. Most of them were pleasant. Here are the highlights (in chronological order). I hope this is not boring. Feel free to skim

1. My primary care physician. I've seen him once and his assistant gave me a very good exam. He came to me very highly recommended by a client at my clinic. He asked good thorough questions, but I didn't feel like he was listening to me. I was a little disappointed that he didn't have any thoughts on the fact that at the time I was needing to drink more then 7 liters of water a day. He told me to drink more juice, milk, and soda instead. SODA!! Crazy weird.

2. My dermatologist came to me very highly recommended by a co-worker who I love. I love love love my dermatologist!!! I've told everyone at the office about him and three people have actually gone. He listens carefully and always has interesting facts to share. Example: zits on the jawline are caused by hormones, zits on cheeks not so much. So interesting! I look for excuses to go see him, but haven't come up with one yet. My skin is looking pretty good!

3. My endocrinologist. Come to find out that endocrinologists are the doctors who can help you if you're drinking more than 7 liters of water a day. My PCP failed to tell me this, but luckily I have a doctor friend named Jamie who knows things. My endocrinologist seems like a good guy. He asked interesting questions. But i didn't really understand anything he explained to me. If Jamie hadn't already explained to me all the possible causes I would have been completely (not just mostly) lost. And, being a certified nursing asssitant and all, I'm totally okay with doing an 24 hour in and out measurement, but he just gave me one big tube to collect all the out for the whole day. I don't think so.

4. My midwife. I called an OB/GYN clinic close to my work and told them to sign me up to see anyone. Imagine my delight when i got there and discovered I would be seeing a midwife. I LOVE nurse practitioners!!! (no offense, Jamie) You know how on TV, doctors take their clients into their office and you sit down at their desk and discuss things. Has anyone ever actually seen that happen in real life? I have!! Bonnie and I sat and chatted at her desk. And she did such a good job with the exam and making things comfortable. I hope that I have a baby in New York so that you can deliver it!

5. My dentist. When I first got my insurance, I called my company and asked them to assign me to someone close to my work. I got set up with a clinic in Chinatown. Every time I called the office, either the person who set appointments wasn't there or there was no one in the office who spoke English. I gave up for almost a year. Then last week I decided to give it another try, so I asked my insurance company to change me to a dentist that was close to my house. Being as how I live in Washington Heights, I figured it would be a Spanish-speaking place, but I figure I speak Spanish ok so I would be closer than at the last place. I got an appointment and sure enough everyone there spoke Spanish. Except the dentist--he was Russian. But thanks to my practice listening to the Russian ladies at work, I was able to understand a good portion of what he was saying.

I love New York.

All the way home: How I spent my Rosh Hashanah

I decorated our door for the occasion
(I knew someday my college Hebrew would pay off)

Happy Rosh Hashanah!! Working for a Jewish company and all, I got Thursday and Friday off. And since the Jewish people are smart enough to start their holidays at sunset, we even got to leave two hours early from work Wednesday. I was planning on going to an off-Broadway show with my free time, but since none of them had Wednesday evening shows, I decided to walk all the way home instead. You know, just to see if I could do it and how long it would take. But I'm embarrassed to admit that it took about 3 1/2 hours to walk the almost 10 miles home. I'm glad to know I can do it (even in just ballet flats) and it was fun. And walking through the entire upper west side reminded me that I'm not the only blonde in Manhattan (you just don't see many in Washington Heights or in the non-profit sector) and that there ARE white children here.

Thursday and Friday were days of wonderful laziness and recuperation. It was so nice to relax.

Friday night, I finally got to fulfill a life-long dream of hosting a Jewish celebration. I had a lot of fun preparing traditional Rosh Hashanah foods and having friends over. I prepared apples and honey (according to the Jewish ladies at work, this is hands down the most important thing for Rosh Hashanah--to celebrate the sweetness of the new year), an apple pie, and challah. I bought a jar of gefilte fish, lots of grape juice, and a large chocolate bar (to complement the sweetness theme).




A documenting-worthy apple with the side coming out of the bottom. I put it in the pie.

I am so proud of my challah!!! I had to learn how to braid four pieces. No prob!

aiusdfasdf

Here is a picture of me with the final spead in my Russian Jew-looking head scarf that is actually from Indonesia

Freak Show and free hats

Who among us hasn't been to a singles ward that has warranted the title "Freak Show." Well, I'm sure all of you will be relieved to know that this great nation of ours does still have one official bona fide freak show left. It's in Coney Island and I've been.

(in case you're wondering, the girl in the picture is not me, but my friend Corina. I know it's hard to tell in the hat, we'll talk about that later)

For a mere six dollars, Corina and I were able to see ten acts of various levels of freakiness. My favorite was the heavily tattooed fire-eating freak show diva having a tantrum and storming off in the middle of her act. Other favorites include the incredibly hairy man, the sword swallower, and the man who put a nail into his forehead. Least favorite was the snake charmer AKA animal fornicator right there on stage. There were others that don't warrant remembering (it has been almost a month).

But previous to the freak show, we enjoyed a lovely day at Coney Island and Brighton Beach (AKA Little Russia) where we enjoyed yummy Russian food and perfect beach weather. Corina was also able to flirt us some free hats from a street vendor. And may I add that they are ideal beach hats.

Just another day at work

No, we don't keep razors here. You can't get a picture ID in this building. I will not get you a watch...... If you just had a nervous breakdown and shaved your head, you cannot have an appointment here. I don't care if you have more psychotic diagnosis then I can write down, that isn't helping your case..... Even if the magazine DID say that, I cannot teach you how to embezzle money..... The new intern is not a spy..... Do you have any plans to hurt yourself?..... I understand, obviously it didn't count as a psychiatric hospitalization if your mother signed you in while you were unconscious..... I cannot help you get your sex tapes back from your landlord.....I can understand wanting to kill yourself, and i can even understand self-cutting, but I cannot understand trying to kill yourself by swallowing broken glass. I don't think the beginning DBT group is going to get the job done for you...... Ma'am, it's not my fault you still have a penis..... I just need to know how many Lamictal she took.....And did you win the lawsuit against your last therapist?..... I'm sorry that your dead sister keeps talking to you, but will you please just sign this consent form?......

All for naught

Since becoming a blogger, I have carried my camera (all 200 megapixels of it) with me at all times so I can photodocument any interesting thing I come across for blogging purposes. What, oh what, is the purpose when all the really truly interesting things can't be photographed? By which I mean:

1. Foxie Brown lives. I saw her walking down Avenue of Americas. But since she was walking straight at me-- hair, boots, hot shots and all-- I didn't think it would be appropriate to bring out my camera.

2. A saw a man with a real live very large bird of some type on his shoulder pirate-style. I mean big--this bird's head was probably a good three inches above the man's head and his tail when to the man's waist. And it was bright blue. I wonder if it talks. I never saw that in Indiana.

But, on the plus side, I did have my camera with me so that I could document Becca's motorcycle accident. So, things do work out.

PS the posted picture does not really resemble the bird I saw. It's just a teaser because I know people don't like blog postings without pictures. That's why I carry my camera with me. A lot of good it does.

Also, Foxie Brown was not wearing nearly that much clothing. This is just a stock photo after all.

European Dream Vacation

Finally, at long last, I made it to Europe. My wonderful friend Richard invited me to go to his family reunion in Prague (where his mom lives.) It was everything a European dream vacation should be.

We spent a day and a half in Prague, which is GORGEOUS and cannot possibly be captured in pictures but here are a few:

me with the view at our restaurant

my favorite gate into Prague Castle (that guy on the ground is FREAKING OUT)

the large, beautiful cathedral inside Prague Castle

Then we spent about five days at Richard's family's country home about two hours outside of Prague. It was beautiful, and I felt like I woke up in paradise every day. I got to sit around and relax (Richard even put up a hammock just for me), and I learned to play tennis, discovered that I'm pretty good at Scrabble when I want to be, and went on a super long bike ride with Richard's mum. I don't know when I've been so relaxed!

view from front porch. gorgeous.

view of house. so pretty.

Then Richard, Henry (the brother), and I spent two days in Berlin, which was awesome. We got to see a good portion of the city and it was really impressive mix or old and new stuff. And I got to eat an authentic bratwurst (not pictured).

Brandenburger Tor was really cool. It was built as a tribute to the peace of the 18th century but then became a symbol of the Berlin wall AKA "a barricaded gateway to nowhere"

one of the parts of the wall that they keep up for tourists

Check Point Charlie

some totally awesome teeter-totters we happened upon. they were probably about 50 meters long. we need some in New York for serious


inside a really cool mall in Berlin

After Berlin, we headed back to Prague. Friday I spent wandering around Old Town by myself, just looking around and shopping. It was great!! So beautiful:

a self-portrait trying to show how pretty all the buildings are

a better picture of how pretty the buildings are. the amazing thing is that they're ALL like this. or prettier

I finally found a eurodog while there was no one there to stop me (Richard). I love hot dogs in all forms and really wanted to try this one. (It was a regular hot dog placed in a little hole in a roll.)

I saw the beloved Czech children's literary character Krtek shortly after I found and bought two of his books (they should have hired a native speaker to look over the translation, but they're still precious)

Saturday morning I went to the airport for home via a 7 hour layover in Copenhagen. I'm you will be as tickled as I was to discover that there is a bouncing castle designed like a plane in the Prague airport for the little kids to jump in. It was hard for me not to jump in myself:

Then off to Copenhagen. Yippee!! I was able to get two ancestral countries visited on one vacation. I had a lovely bike tour mapped out (bikes are HUGE in Denmark) but much to my dismay, I couldn't find a bike to rent. So I just walked around and saw some neat stuff. I'm excited to go back eventually with a bike.

I don't know what this is, but i thought it was very cool. Notice that there's some sort of maybe cat-like animal at the base of the spiral. Are their tails making the spiral?


Vor Frelser Kire (Our Savior's Church) was incredible. I was too tired to go up the spiral (90meters) but I think it was one of the nicest things I saw--so striking. Here's a close-up of the spiral for good measure:pretty cool, aye?

Then I went back to the airport and went home. And by home this time I mean my brand new apartment in New York (moved in like 5 days before we left). And thus ends an incredible European Dream Vacation.

The end.

The Legend Begins

Finally, at the ripe age of 27 I have procured myself a computer all of my own. Now I can begin my own blog because I'm sure you all are extremely curious about my life and thoughts. Perfect timing so I can have a nice report on my European Dream Vacation