upstate

25 08 2007

so i’m currently at home upstate, and i’m bored as hell. dad, britt, and russ haven’t arrived yet, and the bike seems to be out of gas, so i can’t tool around and pretend to be cool on it. i’ll be up here until at least tomorrow, if not until monday morning. i really don’t know what else to say, so i’ll keep this post short.

i’ll post more later, talk to y’all later.





summer in the city, round two

23 08 2007

i decided that i’d post more about my field trip into the city, since the last one wasn’t really long enough and i wanted to say more.

first off, i must say that taxi drivers in new york city suck. i didn’t take any anywhere, but they suck. they’re terrible at driving, and if you’re in their way, you will either get honked at, hit, or maybe a combination of both (i’ve heard stories about it from the street vendors, so don’t be surprised if you go and see it for yourself). i also noticed that alot of them are driving something other than a Crown Vic. granted, they’ve been doing that since the Isuzu Oasis came out, but even then i didn’t see alot of them. now there’s an slew of new cars, ranging from the Ford Escape/Toyota Highlander hybrids, Toyota Siennas, Honda Odysseys, and some others too. it’s nice to see that they’re using hybrids now, especially since the Crown Vic is such a gas hog (note that it’s had the same overall design since the ’70s). i like it.

i guess this is. talk to y’all later.





summer in the city

22 08 2007

so, today my sister, her boyfriend, my dad and i decided to go into the city just to have a walk around and do some things. i told my sister that i’d meet her and her friend at grand central, since we were heading in before my dad would. after about half an hour waiting for them, she calls and lets me know that none of them would be coming in, not even my dad, and that i would be the only one going into the city.

i took advantage of the situation and went and got myself lost, which is what i’m best at other than inadvertantly getting myself hurt. i walked around aimlessly for about an hour, and then decided to take a trip to central park. i asked one of the bike taxi riders how to get there (since i had made a full circle and ended up back at gct), since they’ve always been nice to me and told me the right directions to the places i’ve asked them about.

now, before i left the station, i had bought two disposable cameras (those cheap $10 ones that they sell) so that i could take random shots if i saw something that i wanted to take a picture of, like a moped rider that i saw on lexington ave.

when i got there i started taking pictures with one of the cameras, and i found a few places that i took a few shots of, all of which i wish i could’ve taken shots of with my digital camera instead of a disposable one. because the photo quality is so much better, plus i can just plug the card into my computer and upload them immediately instead of having to go to a cvs to get them developed first.

before i left for curry, i had ventured into the city and ran into someone i knew from high school, which was something that i would’ve never expected. we didn’t say anything to one another, but i still found it kind of odd that i would run into someone that i knew, let alone someone from the same town as me, in new york city. this time around, though, was just like every other time i went into the city, where everyone there was a complete stranger, which was good because my hair was a mess and i knew that they would that they would talk about me in the third person, instead of the first.

however, i did run into one of the guys i used to work with at a summer program on the train ride home, which made me more nervous than i thought it would. not because it was unexpected (and it was really unexpected), but because i had just spent the past 5 hours walking around the city and reaked of a mix of bo, sweat, and second-hand smoke. not the best combination when it comes to running into people you know randomly on the train at 11 at night.

i’m going to go into town tomorrow and get the film developed and post the photos up on Flickr. well, that is if i wake up at all tomorrow. i’m more worn out from this trip than i expected, so i’m hoping that i’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight. i’ll post more about the trip later on, too.

this is all, talk to y’all later.





staying here instead

21 08 2007

my parents had the brilliant idea of going into the city today, since my mom’s friend arrived last night, and my sister’s boyfriend is here as well. however, with the rain and all, it would’ve been miserable, so we’re going to stay here at home for today. maybe we’ll go some other time.

this is all. talk to y’all later.





shitty day

17 08 2007

for the most part, today was uneventful. that is, until my sister decided to go up to the westchester mall to meet up with an old classmate of hers. we spent a total of 6 hours trying to locate this guy, only to spend maybe a minute max with him. 6 FUCKING HOURS. i didn’t really want to go on this adventure of ours, mainly because i didn’t want to go just so that she can visit a friend of hers, but apparantly my parents told her that she couldn’t go unless i went with her, which made her very insistant that i come along.

the fact that we spent such little time with him pisses me off the most. as i said, we spent 6 hours just to visit him. not only is that too much time to begin with, but spending time with my sister is hard enough for me to begin with, not to mention doing something with her against my will and then to have it where we didn’t do much of what she said we were going to do made it worse.

i also want to mention that the guy was stoned out of his mind, which is why he left so quickly. i had left to go do my own thing since they seemed to want to just hang out on their own, and he quickly split off from her to go see someone else and never returned. this also pisses me off.

after we got back home, i went into town to try and calm my nerves. naturally, when i’m this stressed i smoke. i promised my parents (as well as my sister and a good friend of mine) that i would quit, however this really sent me over the edge and i just had to get nicotine into my system. if you’re a smoker, you know how bad cravings get when you’re stressed out. i ended up smoking to the point of puking, for a total of 13 cigarettes in an hour. that’s how far this whole thing drove me over the edge.

i guess this is all for now, sorry for wasting your time with this rant if anyone’s reading this.





Political Support

17 08 2007

i recently got a call from the DCCC asking for money to try to keep the 30 seats that the Dems took from the Republicans in the last election, and since I myself used to work in trying to garner support as a cold-caller for Diane Farrell’s Congressional campaign last summer, I knew how annoying it could get trying to get people to actually to not just hang up, so I tried to be as polite as I could in telling him that as a 19 year old college kid I simply can’t afford to give them money.
however, I have some suggestions for the person who called me:

1) don’t use ’sir’ so much. you used it so many times it got annoying, and it seemed like you used it every other word. it should only be used when in the same sentence as your polite way of saying ‘give us money’.

2) don’t talk so fast. the half of the conversation that wasn’t ’sir’ was essentially incomprehendible because my ears couldn’t keep up with your mouth. slow down.

3) speak up. in addition to using the same word every other word and speaking really fast, you’re as quiet as a mouse. i bet you’d get alot more money donated if people could actually HEAR you asking for it.

4) don’t say the same thing over and over again. you reminded me that i was one of the ‘bigger’ contributors to your cause (even tho i don’t remember ever donating) almost as many times as you called me ’sir’. in addition to knowing that i have a name, i also know how much money i donate. you don’t need to remind me.

i guess this is all. more to come later.





Another reason not to support Hillary

16 08 2007

as you might have heard, Hillary Clinton is drawing support from the “Right-Wing Conspiracy” that she says that she’s working against. and it’s not because they think she’ll be the best candidate for the job. it’s because they know that, if given the Dem’s nod, it’ll give them a chance to have something that will unite a base that’s been unable to find anything to unite under. they’re stuck with lackluster candidates that have yet been able to single themselves out of an overcroweded group of candidates.

i guess the worst part of it is how much Clinton seems to be enjoying the publicity. from what i’ve read about it, she seems to be oblivious to the fact that the only reason why they’re supporting her is so that they can attempt to scare voters to the polls in order to prevent her from becoming president.

honestly, i don’t blame them. it’s a smart strategy. as someone who’s anti-Clinton, i agree with them in what they’re doing, if only partially. the problem though, is that i don’t think the majority of voters would be content with another Republican president, with how unpopular Bush has become. ultimately, i’m hoping the Dems have another Howard Dean/John Kerry primary result, where the frontrunner (in this case Clinton) is ejected and another not-so-well-known candidate is chosen (who i’m hoping would be Richardson).





the door’s been shut

15 08 2007

tonight was my last night of Den, the group i’ve been going to since 10th grade so that i could find a way to deal with Trevor. i was the only one of the group throughout the past 4 years who had lost a sibling, and i guess i never really felt part of it. the Den was the last group that i was part of after graduating from high school. most of them i left right after graduation, others i slowly began leaving during freshman year, and eventually it was the only one i was with, before tonight.

as is the tradition at the Den, when a member of the group decides to close, they’re given a smooth heart shaped rock. there’s story behind it, because when you open at the Den, you’re given a rough heart-shaped rock, symbolising the rough state that most people who have recently lost a loved one’s heart is in. when you close, the smooth rock symbolises the ‘healing’ of the roughness. the rock that i was given was found by one of the teen facilitators who left a few months ago, so it was nice to know that the rock i was given was found by someone who had helped me out.

i guess this is all. i thought i’d be able to write more about it, but i’m havin trouble writing more. i guess that this door’s been shut, so now it’s time to find one that’s open.





it’s been a loooong week

13 08 2007

so for the past couple of day’s i’ve been running about trying to get things done. and between last thursday and this wednesday, i’ve had something going on, with yesterday being the one day that i had “off”. of course naturally that was the day that i spent cleaning my room. and unfortunately, i’m not finished with it yet. today i get to have the remaining two cavities in my mouth filled. they’re conveniently on either side of my mouth, which will make it so that my mouth will essentially be completely numbed. NCPD, if you’re reading this and you pull me over, please note that it will be because of two fillings, and not because i’m drunk/high/stoned/whatever. tomorrow i get to bring the truck in to get serviced (yet again), so i get to finally get everything fixed.

the one thing that really gets me pissed is how much toyota charges for services. i know that’s how dealers primarily make money, but c’mon. charging $275 for an engine service plus a reallignment is blasphemy. the new canaan police department hasn’t hosed me that hard at one time, and they’re the ones who i’ve ended up giving most of my bank account to. and now the remaining money is going to you.

congrats, toyota of stamford, i hope you’re happy.





today seems to be ‘run into alot of people you know’ day.

9 08 2007

i think i’ve seen more people in passing today then i have all summer. first it was sir Bobby in his flashy new car, then it was shadow barrelling by with his bigger-than-mine truck. afterwards, i saw one of the priests from my church and got to talk to her for a little bit. i also got the chance to see the youth services director here in town wave as he drove by. and about an hour ago or so i ran into the asst. scoutmaster of my old troop and his son as they drove by.

not alot of people, i know, but when you think about it, how many people do you run into that you know when you’re a 19-year-old college student home on summer break?

i guess this is all. it’s only a short post today.