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I met the Englishman on Saturday. We rode bikes for Summer Streets together. I met up with him in Brooklyn, we rode up to 72nd in Manhattan, around Central Park and back to Brooklyn together. Whilst in Central Park I suggested we check out a "protest" at the Southwest corner of the park. Basically it was women taking their tops off for equality; the event was called National GoTopless Protest Day. In reality it was just a handful of women flaunting themselves for attention. They got it! I originally wanted to check it out because I wanted to see them get arrested, but it turns out it's not illegal for women to go topless in New York City. Oh well. Anyway, I had a good time on the ride. My thighs, however, are still sore. I also had a few embarrassing things happen to me, the worst being when I road over a plastic bag which became entangled in my wheel and splattered some wet noodles on me. Hehe. But my date fell off his bike not too long after I did that, so I figured we were even. Verdict? It's kind of hard to get a good sense of someone's personality when you can't hear everything they're saying because the wind is blowing in your ears and you're too out of breath to talk half the time. He suggested dinner soon so, assuming that materializes, I think that will be a better opportunity to get to know each other better. What I do know of him I like though. We'll see! Last night I went over to Brook's and she made me dinner. We then watched a movie with her roommate and I drank a little bit too much wine. By the time I rode my bike home from her house, I realized I left my keys at her place. I had to call a cab to go all the way back and get the keys; I was too tired to do the bike ride again. It was super annoying. This morning I met up with Kristy in Union Square for brunch. She's 6 months pregnant. I'm so happy for her; she had a lot of difficulty getting pregnant. After we ate, she made me feel her stomach when the baby was kicking; it was amazing and freaky. This evening I prepared cookie dough from a recipe I got from the NY Times. It's supposed to yield the perfect chocolate chip cookie. For optimal taste, the dough should sit in the refrigerator for 36 hours. I'm baking it Tuesday night for my lab meeting on Wednesday, so that will be 48 hours. Hopefully the extra 12 hours will only add to the flavor. I just hope after all that work I don't go and burn them! 08*21*08 A+ in Statistics! I didn't even think they graded above an A in college. Go me! I start classes again next Saturday. I currently have a Saturday morning/afternoon Anatomy II class and an online Psychology class. I'm hoping to switch the Psychology for Microbiology, but I have to see if any sections open up. I keep telling myself to study for the GREs but I don't want to! Wah. Both my supervisor and my boss have been out this week, basically leaving me in charge. I feel I've been a decent leader. I get taken seriously for the most part. No tragedies have occurred. I don't want to jinx myself though; one more day left! I didn't get to do Summer Streets last Saturday because I had a donor at 3 in the morning so I was too tired. However, I am not on-call this weekend so I definitely plan to ride the last one. Summer is almost over! Thankfully I have Paris to look forward to. I've been emailing a guy off match.com that seems pretty nice. I'm growing a little tired of the internet communication though. I wish he'd just try and make a date already; we live 10 minutes from each other. Getting to know one another online is such a waste of time. You never really know if there's something there until you meet. Plus he's English and I want to hear him talk! I'll give him until this weekend. 08*17*08 I got hit by a car this weekend. Me and my bike are fine though. It's not the easiest scenario to put into words, but basically a cab in the middle lane decided at the same exact moment I was beside his car that he wanted to be in the right lane. He did it really quick and without signaling and hit my bike. I was pretty much able to jump off my bike without getting hurt. Another cyclist came over to see if I was okay and, when he realized I was, looked at my bike to assess the damage. The cab driver reluctantly got out of his car and came to look as well. The cyclist showed me and the cab driver how my back wheel was now crooked and said it'd cost about $40 to fix. He seemed to know what he was talking about. After he left I argued with the driver for about 15 minutes over the $40. I told him he could either give it to me or I could call the cops. He said they'd just write up an accident report and it wouldn't be a big deal. I couldn't believe how petty he was being after hitting me with his car. He kept trying to talk me down to $20, then $30. Finally he caved when Melissa called and confirmed it would cost me $40 at the very least to get a new wheel. He gave me the money and said I probably wouldn't even spend it on the tire and drove off. Jamin was in the neighborhood and took a look at my bike after that. He said the guy had just knocked the wheel out of alignment and fixed it in five minutes. So the driver was right after all; I didn't spend the money on the wheel. I did, however, buy Jamin and me ice cream and a pair of new shoes for myself. I felt a little guilty about it, but I could have been really hurt. Plus I saved him a lot of money by not calling the cops because he most definitely would have received a ticket for not signaling and maybe careless driving, which would have been at least a $100 fine plus points on his license. That's how I've been justifying it anyway. I bought my ticket to Paris on Friday. I leave the night of September 30th and come back the afternoon of October 10th. I am going solo. I cannot wait! I love going away alone I've decided. Maybe I'll meet some cute French guy while I'm there. It'll be nice to take in the city at a slower pace this time since I've seen most of the tourist attractions already. Some things I'd like to do include taking a boat ride on the Seine, going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and renting a bicycle to ride around for a day. I also want to leave the city and see the palace at Versailles and also a vineyard. I may just stay in France and not try to see another country, but I haven't decided yet. I think I mentioned I was offered a promotion at work. My new title is senior transplant coordinator. I mistakingly never discussed with my boss how much of a raise the promotion would entail, and was very disappointed when I received it several weeks ago. It took me a day to get up the nerve, but I told my boss I wanted more and I actually received the raise I asked for with my paycheck on Friday. I also got a reimbursement check for my Anatomy class the day before. And I found a $20 bill in the parking lot after the Radiohead show! So much money. I should retire tomorrow. 08*13*08 Radiohead was amazing last night! It was the most visually stunning show I've ever seen. It's up there in my top five favorite concerts (Bjork in Coney Island still dominating the number one spot). Check out the YouTube clip below to get an idea of their setup. Fast forward to minute 4:10 & 6:45 for one of my favorite songs/visuals of the night (I didn't film that by the way). Even though Melissa and I had lawn seats, we still had a great view and a great time. We somehow managed to get lost and wind up in Philadelphia on the way to show. Curse you google maps! After immense frustration and a few frantic calls to some friends (thanks Scott!), we found our way there. On the way back we sang/screamed along to songs we used to love in high school. The whole evening was very fun. I've been thinking about how I won't be able to go on any more European vacations because I'm trying to save money for school, and I've decided to alter the plan a bit. Instead I'm going to aim on one more vacation in October to Paris and maybe either Belgium or Luxembourg. I'll still save up, but I'd rather take out what I need in a loan later and have my one last hoorah now before I'm in school for the next three years. I'm aching to go to Paris! Brook may come along, but I'm ready to go solo. I have to figure out the details this weekend as it's a month and a half away! Hopefully it works out. I'm on-call this Friday night. I still plan to do Summer Streets again on Saturday, but it will depend on if I have a donor on my shift and, if I do, how tired I feel. Either way Brook and I are trying to plan a BBQ in Prospect Park for Saturday evening. Everyone loves a vegetarian at a BBQ! I hope the weather is as nice as it's been the past few days. I haven't had to turn my A.C. on in weeks. Also, today I finished Statistics! I have an A-average so far; hopefully I didn't screw the last test up too much. Enough of this--I'm off to bed. 08*10*08 Summer Streets was fun. I feel like a good amount of people participated and it was a gorgeous day. With the amount of riding I did I felt like I was hit by a truck by the time I got home. I think I did the equivalent of the roundtrip route twice, plus the ride from my place to the start in Manhattan and back. So I guess that's about 35 miles. Considering I just started riding my bike again the day before, it was hard on my muscles. And my butt hurts from the seat :( Melissa and I were riding ahead of Jamin and his wife when this little old lady tried to cross the street in front of us. We both slowed down and were trying to go around her. For some reason or other though she was very startled by Melissa and screamed out in surprise followed by, "Watch it ya fuckhead!" Melissa and I burst out laughing. I yelled back at her to have a nice day and she told me to go to hell. Melissa and I both agreed we have to move away from the city at some point before we turn into that old lady. I'm seeing Radiohead in Camden on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it even though the seats aren't the greatest. I'm leaving work early and driving down there with Melissa. I took off from work the day after since I probably won't be getting home until very late. I was toying with the idea of re-joining a dating site over the weekend. I have to pay for it though and I'm not really quite ready to invest the time to make it worth it. I told myself I should start dating again once I have my applications for college sent out, but I wouldn't mind getting back out there sooner. Dating can be nice even if it doesn't result in a relationship (which is not even something I want right now). Eh, it's not really a top priority, just something milling around in my head. 08*08*08 My mother and I had a huge blow out over the phone tonight. It kind of came out of no where. She was really upset I sent her a text message earlier this week asking her not to send me so many picture messages because I get charged per picture. I guess it was kinda bitchy, but what's the point in sending me tiny pictures of landscapes anyway? I can't even tell what I'm supposed to be seeing. She sent me numerous pictures of horses a few weeks ago and they looked like small brown splotches a mile away. I had no idea they were horses. Regardless, she was super upset about this goddamned text message and was crying and being insane. We had a ridiculous conversation for about a half hour that involved tears on both ends. In the end she stood firm on the text message even though I apologized. Clearly I was supposed to sacrifice a limb to make up for this heinous act. Basically I'm an evil daughter and my brother, who's caused my mother nothing but grief his entire life, is now a saint because he calls her back consistently. The conversation ended with her saying something like she'd talk to me whenever, and I said ok bye and hung up. A few months back she had offered to help me out with school when I go back next year (hopefully), and I was going to take her up on it. I now realize that even if we do make up that's an awful idea. She'll constantly hold it over my head and use it to manipulate me. I'd rather be in debt to dear ol' Sally Mae for the rest of my life than have to deal with that. I spoke with a few friends regarding the whole scenario that played out on the phone and they both asked if she was menopausal. She is. I often overlook that fact when I wonder what the hell happened to the woman that raised me. While the mother I knew was a bit bitchy, she was someone I liked a lot better than the menopausal mess she's become. On a lighter note, tomorrow is the first day of Summer Streets and I'm very excited to participate! Melissa and I are meeting up at 11:00 and Jamin and his wife may possibly come along as well. I rode my bike to work and back today and it rides really great. I finally made it over the Brooklyn Bridge without having to get off my bike and walk it up the hill. Three cheers for gears! I hope to celebrate Jamin's birthday afterwards, which may consist of dinner later on and drinks. Sunday Brook and I spoke of maybe laying out in the park. I think I'll do it even if she decides not to. My last week of Statistics is next week; I think I'll get an A...at least I hope to. Then onto the Fall session a few weeks later! Waaaah. 08*03*08 I finally got my bike fixed! It's like a whole new bike; it rides amazing. Jamin said it would take him an hour, in actuality it took more like four. He replaced my chain, cleaned off the gears, put in new handle bars, replaced the brakes entirely and put in all new threading and a shifter for my gears. I had no idea how much of a bike repair expert he is. I'm really happy with everything. Now I just have to make sure no one steals it. Didn't do terribly much today. Ran some errands in the morning and afternoon before meeting up with Melissa in the evening. We went to this restaurant called Frankies on Court Street in Brooklyn. I had passed it a few times on my new walking route home from work and looked it up online. It got rave reviews but lots of warnings about two-hour wait times. We got there a little before six and there were plenty of seats available. When we left after 7:30 though, there was a bit of a wait. I thought the food was good, but it's not the best thing I've ever had. I think maybe I didn't get the best dish. I'll have to go back again sometime. In the meantime, I need to go on a diet starting tomorrow. I've been eating a little too carefree. Next Saturday Melissa and I are all set to ride from the Brooklyn Bridge up Park Avenue for the vehicle ban I wrote about. I'm looking forward to it...except that I just read it's from 7 AM to 1 PM. WTF. That's too early! Ugh. What a crock. On my way home from dinner I stopped into American Apparel to browse and lo and behold there was the Vice Photo Book. I should have checked there first. I flipped through and found me (I'm in the fashion section if you're interested)! They gave me my own humongous page and put another girl from the shoot on the opposite page. The other two girls didn't make the cut. I suppose I'll purchase it eventually, but it's not my number one priority. One of my priorities this month is to re-do some things in my place to spruce/brighten things up. That and to ace the GRE! At the rate I'm going though, October is looking like a good time to take that. Meh.
08*01*08 I just finished watching Sicko and I think I want to move to France for sure now. Perhaps after school and once I've had enough time to save up. I'll aim for 35. I forgot to mention a somewhat silly incident that happened last Friday. My coworker and I were talking about a street fair happening near our work and she mentioned she really liked the French food stand. As a side note, my coworker is Burmese, and although she's been in the country for over ten years she still says some things incorrectly...then again I've been here my whole life and so do I. Anyway, she told me she really likes the "craps, or crap-ays...however you say it." When I realized she meant crêpes, I was hysterical. As I was driving north on the FDR today to recover some corneas in the Bronx, I passed a middle-aged woman standing near the water who seemed to be doing something methodical and confined with her hands. As I got closer I realized she was combing her Barbie's hair. Of course! What else would she be doing? I had the day off yesterday but spent most of it running around to appointments and doing errands. I attended an information session at SUNY Downstate regarding their accelerated BS in nursing program. It was pretty disorganized, but I picked up some helpful tips; the most important being that they only accept 60 people into the program! WTF!? Put that on your website! That's absolutely insane. I told one of my coworkers and she replied, "I told you it was a small class!" "Small class" is pretty subjective. To me that meant maybe somewhere in the area of 300-500. I don't know if I even want to bother with applying there now. I'm thinking maybe I'll just stick to Pace and Columbia. I'd be paying 4 times as much, but at least I'd have a better chance of getting in...I think. I'm going to Long Island tomorrow afternoon to finally get my bike fixed. I also just want to visit Jamin and his wife for once since I've only ever hung out with them both in the city. I just hope it doesn't rain too much. Sunday I made plans with Melissa to have dinner at a restaurant somewhat nearby that's supposed to be super delicious but also super crowded. Our plan is to go at five to beat the crowd. Hopefully that pans out. Ha! Get it!? "Pans out" and I'm going out to eat! Go me.
This girl is a nerd, get me outta here |
