halloween will be extra scary this year

okay, i'll admit it: i haven't gotten my hair cut in 4.5 years.

there are many reasons why i cut my hair myself, the main one being that i just don't trust anyone. i've had too many bad haircuts in my youth, too many times of me saying "please don't blow dry my hair" and having no one ever believe me, ever, and doing it anyway and walking out with a foof on my head. or having them cut it to what they think is a good length but have it shrink 2 inches when it's dry and curls up. its as though no one else in the world has curly hair? i mean, didn't you guys learn this in hair-cutting-school?

and then there's also the cost, not insignificant in nyc where anyplace that's not an old man barber shop is at least $50, and i need to do this every 2-3 months.

but my hair has been annoying me lately, and i thought that maybe, maybe, i'd start thinking about eventually looking into a place to maybe get my haircut. so when i noticed that the new japanese hair salon on my block (that makes a grand total of 3 japanese hair salons on my specific block, by the way) was having a sale, i figured it was now or never. a 60$ haircut for 30$, and i wouldn't have to walk more than 30 feet.

the catch: it's a halloween special. as in, i have to get my haircut on halloween. which is really only making me less comfortable - what if it's a special "halloween haircut", and i walk out with something meant for a costume? perhaps a jack-o-lantern shaved into my head?

why i've barely updated this in 2 months

it all started in august, when i was told i'd be going to toronto for work (not that i minded - i never mind seeing a new city). it was fun, all went well... until i returned home.

and my computer crashed (see previous post). i lost 2 months worth of pictures and it was very very depressing, since i had taken probably 1000 pictures during those two months, all the fun summer things i did and am now going to forget since i no longer has visual reminders.

first i was working on my work laptop, in a very transient unsettled state. then i finally gave in and bought a new hard drive, 250G so that I won't ever run out of space (i'm sure i'll be disagreeing with that in a few years when i have tens of thousands of pictures. i installed windows, started getting all my old programs back... but just wouldn't give up. i had tried installing my old hard drive as the D drive but it wouldn't show up. I tried reinstalling it as the C drive and booting it from a repair disk, to no avail. i stuck it in the freezer (don't ask). it was still spinning and getting warm! surely there must be SOMETHING i could do?

as a result, i left my computer in the middle of the floor, with the hard drive only partially screwed in, for over a month. i just officially got everything back to normal two days ago. i gave up. but i won't get rid of my old hard drive yet.. there still could be something...

but i barely even had time to deal with this catastrophe, since this was followed by my cat getting another urinary tract infection, which was then immediately followed by a horribly disasterious trip to baltimore which left me vowing to never take that specific chinatown bus company again.

josh and my trip to spain was the week after this fiasco, and i was convinced that we would miss our flight or have something else horrible happen. it just seemed inevitable.

but aside from the overnight/morning rain, the trip was a complete success. and now, a month later, i am finally getting back to normal - and working through my pictures from toronto, 2 months later. maybe i will back them up this time.

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the pictures from spain are done, and are here.

barcelona part 1: pickpocketing, birthday, protest.

josh and i arrived in barcelona saturday afternoon, but after showering and napping (we barely slept on the plane) we only had time to do a bit of walking around, eating, and sangria drinking, but a relaxing first night was what we needed. escept for josh having his wallet stolen, then returned, because there was nothing but 3USD inside. I´d write more about it, but time is running out.

yesterday (sat) we rented bikes for 5 hrs and bike north a bit, to where all the ¨moderniste¨buildings are, including tons of Gaudi stuff. the bike ride itself was cut short by stopping for pictures every minute, but it was still much better than walking.

today is apparently some catalan holiday, and there are marches and protests and signs everywhere for catalan independence.

time is up... more later!

no, i hadn't been backing up

my hard drive crashed thursday i consoled myself with: "well at least i backed up all my pictures a few weeks ago", but then discovered that it's been 2 months. all my pictures from this summer! gone! how will i ever remember the fun times?? i unfortunately just cleared out my digital camera, too.

this is where my indecision has cost me: for the last few weeks i've been looking into buying another hard drive (since mine has - had - no space left on it) but didn't know what kind to get, so i didn't get any. so typical!

heat wave, no AC

its currently 90 degress out, with a "feels like" temperature of 101. at 11:30 pm.

heat wave number 2, and i think tonight will be the second night this summer that i will actually have trouble getting to sleep. although since then i have decided to try a trick i learned online and keep a wet towel near me to remoisten my skin, making the fan just that much more effective. its currently wrapped around my neck like a scarf. its actually quite nice.

of course, there's also the pre-bed shower - usually just a cool rinse, especially since that was my 3rd today.

however, the biggest milestone has been my discovery that if i thumb-tack thick blankets over the windows, the heat doesn't get in during the day, meaning my apartment is maybe 5-10 degrees (i'm totally guessing) cooler then the outdoors. yes, it's ghetto. but it works.

my week-and-a-half of free (and non-free) concerts

so many things to write about from the past two weeks, so i must pick and choose. and i'm choosing concerts.

belle and sebastian played for free on the fourth of july (for fitting to be immersed in scottishness on the american holiday?). i tried to get free tickets and failed, but luckily mary and i arrived early and a stranger offered us tickets. "how much?" i asked. i had seen requests on craigslist for tickets, some offering to pay 50 bucks each. she just stared at us and said, "you can have them..." we were so surprised we almost forgot to thank her.

the rain couldn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying myself. i seem to like belle and sebastian more and more as time goes on, which hardly seems possible considering that as it is i've play them at least once a week for years.

and then there was the broken social scene two days later, which was not free but outdoors at a park so i figured it still counted as a good summertime concert experience. i opted to forego the seats near the stage and instead sit on my mat on the grassy hill. i had two glasses of wine. not the normal up-in-front-scrunched-between-people show, but a change can be nice.

and this past saturday was the siren festival, where i went to see tapes n tapes (who i have recently been obsessed with) and the stars. and josh wanted to see manman, who i think sound like pirates. we were there from 2 - 9; that is, at the concert from 2-9. then mary came and we sat on the beach and ate strawberry shortcake and played some skeeball. my stars pictures didn't come out so well. this is tapes n tapes.


another thing all 3 shows had in common... band t-shirts. as in, i purchased them. 3 of them. in 12 days. at this rate, i'll have 90 shirts next year. can my closet handle it?!?

perfect summer weekend

i have issues with summer, and it's passing. i spend 8 months of the year waiting for warm weather, when i can walk unencumbered by jackets, when i can do something simple outdoors and have the fact that i am outdoors make it exciting. i have 12 months worth of summer to pack into 4. the issue arose when i realized a few days ago that 1/3 of summer has already slipped by me.

why wasn't i sitting outside drinking refreshing summer alcoholic beverages? why wasn't i at free outdoor events, at central park picnicing and reading, or at the beach?

good questions. so this weekend i made up for lost time by going to a free concert at prospect park (voxtrot, matt pond PA, tv on the radio), a bike ride to central park with a picnic (complete with fancy outdoor drink stop along the way), and a trip to brighton beach (complete with cherry pierogies...mmm).

here is some proof so i won't think "what did i do all summer?" in september..

surprised i'm not a fatso

here is what i have eaten today:

• bowl of cereal
• cup of tea
• banana
• mini-yogurt
• caramel apple bar
• can of soup
• cherries
• half a bagel w/ peanut butter
• small apple

so why am i starving at 6pm? what more can i possibly do? i know... go to a mexican restaurant for happy hour... i'm so hungry that one drink will be all i need.

the fact that this is my first post all month must be a good sign

it's been 16 days since i last posted and i've really really wanted to with all the fun things i've been doing, but i've just been too busy doing fun things to update. i feel like ever since i got back from montreal it's been nonstop stuff. here is some... stuff:

(a) josh and i joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), which is providing us with fresh local organic vegetables every week. and starting late june (which is tantilizingly soon) we will be getting delicious fresh fruit every week! the vegetables so far have been a lot of greens, which i am alright with, although we should get more variety as time goes on. hopefully we can deal with it all.

(b) josh and i had our 2 yr anniversary.. happy anniversary josh! we got some delicious dinner at candle 79, one of my favorite restaurants ever, where i had what is now one of my favorite meals ever (pesto seared seitan). in fact, josh and i have eaten quite a bit recently. not that i mind. i love food. today we had a 4 course meal at the natural gourmet cooking school for $34, which was quite amazing. and then there was the delicious brunch with sangria jam and berry butter and homemade nutella(!) at counter. oh nyc, why must you tempt me so with all your food?

(c) bikes. now that josh has a bike we can actually bike to places, which is awesome and time saving. llast weekend we took a very long bike ride to red hook brooklyn, probably the farthest i've biked ever (maybe 13 miles total?). i saw the gowanus canal, which was, well, just some water, what was i expecting? i also discovered that my seat is a piece of shit and sitting on it for more than an hour causes pain.


the ride back was made immensly better by the mysterious 20 minute long fireworks display going on in the east river - is june 10 a holiday? - and were partially visible from our vantage point on the manhattan bridge. when it was over, clapping could be heard from a boat that had been stopped to watch them, and other boats elsewhere all honked their own boat-applause as well. in an attempt to refrain from using the phrase "new york moment" because that sounds retarded, i can only call it "magical". no wait, not that either. how about "a perfect end to a long and mildly painful day"?

montreal

what a lovely 4 day weekend in montreal (3, since i guess driving isn't really part of being in montreal, nor is it fun). a few days late, but whatever, here's a rundown:

friday: arrive. i'm sick, of course I get sick right before a trip. nap, see audrey's office at mcgill, get ethopian food (which was AMAZING and very fun to eat, since you eat your plate, basically) and went to two bars. i danced a little. this involved only two fingers moving.

saturday: wow, i'm already forgetting everything. oh yes, we went shopping for a bike for josh (70 can$ - way cheaper than nyc) and walked around the plateau area in an attempt to go shopping, although apparently stores close at 5. wtf? on a saturday? spirit lounge for dinner, where the food is normally amazing, and i guess was this time, although there were pieces of plastic wrap in our soup. and the soup they brought us had more plastic in it. josh and audrey got free deserts but i didn't since i didn't want desert, which is ironic because i'm the only one out of the 3 of us that was too sketched out to have to pick pieces of plastic out of my mouth for the rest of the meal. party at night, where more than half the conversations were in french - probably my first non-english party ever?


sunday: brunch, hanging out in mont royal park, then more shopping, real shopping where i actually purchase articles of clothing. like i need/have room in my closet for more. then we go to an island/park where a 'picnic' is going on, a picnic that costs 7$ to enter and only serves crepes and really it's just electronic music. but the park was nice. nighttime picnic (a real one, with actual dinner) in another park. lovely!


monday: somehow manage to get lost getting to the bridge to leave montreal, and then more surprisngly get lost getting onto the road i need to be on. this adds at least 1 hr of delay, and then of course we hit memorial day weekend traffic. lovely.