MP3 Experiment

There are so many reasons why I love this city, but Sunday I participated in an amazing event that make me love this place even more.

According to their website, Improv Everywhere is a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. They happen to host an annual event called the MP3 Experiment.

Here is the event description from their website because I couldn't write it better myself:

Here’s how it works: we put an original mp3 file online (usually around 45 minutes long) that people download and transfer to their mobile devices. Participants then synchronize their watches to an atomic clock on our website, head out to the same public location, and blend in with others. At the predetermined time, everyone presses play. Hilarity ensues as participants carry out ridiculous, coordinated instructions delivered to their headphones via narrator “Steve” and everyone else tries to figure out what the hell is going on. 

 My friends and I headed over to Governors Island at 3:00 on Sunday and we had a ton of fun participating in the event. There was a list of props, 46 minutes of crazy instructions, and thousands of people. We may have synchronized danced with strangers, wore sheets over our head and pretended to be ghosts, and then had a massive water gun fight. It was one of the most interesting free things I've done all year.

I am so ready for next year's 10th anniversary of the MP3 Experiment, because I bet it will be awesome!

  

This Summer...

The Summer started off with no real warning. One day it was Spring, then it was suddenly Summer. I had all intentions of keeping you up to date with my Summer plans, but life happened and things fell apart.

Now that I suddenly found a few hours to kill, I want to share with you how I am spending my Summer.

First, I am working, contrary to the popular belief that teachers have all Summer off to frolic through fields of daisies. I am not a full time teacher, thus I do not make a full time salary, which renders it impossible for me to lounge around all Summer becoming a few shades less pale than I usually am. Instead of flipping burgers, or standing behind a register for the next three months, I have put together a small day camp. It started as an idea with the family that I regular tutored for and it developed into a full fledged 2 month day camp.

I sat down with the girl I tutored and we discussed what would make Summer fun. We talked about museums and movies and science experiments. I dug deep into my brain to remember things I used to do during my Summer camp experiences and I began to create a calendar. It started off with a few field trips here and there and then it expanded to having a field trip nearly everyday. We came up with themed weeks that offer activities and trips to follow the theme and we left a few free days for unexpected things that may pop up. She is also keeping a notebook full of admission tickets, pictures, artifacts, and notes as a scrapbook of sorts for the entire Summer.

Here is a look at week 1:

Day 1 - The Museum of the City of New York
Day 2 - The Spy Museum
Day 3 -  This was the last day of school. Don't ask me why we had M and T off and then a half day on Wed.
Day 4 - The Museum of Natural History
Day 5- Bicycle Riding in Central Park

Here is week 2:

Day 1 - Staten Island Ferry and a picnic
Day 2 - Sony Wonder Technology Lab & we traveled down to DC
Day 3 -  Explored Washington DC and watched fireworks at the White House
Day 4 - Explored more of DC
Day 5-Relaxation Day - Manicures and Pedicures!

We are officially midway through week number 3 and it has been the most fun! This week is Science Week!
Day 1 - We set up multiple experiments that will run for the entire week.
Day 2 - The New York Hall of Science
Day 3 - The Bronx Zoo

Day 4 - The Museum of Natural History
Day 5- Water Day! Water balloon and water gun fight in the park

This week has been the most fun to plan. We have done 6 science experiments so far (The Naked Egg, Ziploc Bag Bomb, Making Crystals, Egg Drop, Tye Dye Milk) and I am really looking forward to the solar ovens and homemade ice cream on Friday!

 I have been spending so much time with a nine year old and I love it. We have watched really ridiculous TV shows that they call cartoons (I'm looking at you Adventure Time!), I have schooled her in amazing 90's culture like Space Jam and thumb wrestling, and she has even taught me how to play chess. It's basically a win-win situation. I get to plan all kinds of trips to museums and events around the city and play games and I get to call it work.

This Summer is going to fly by so fast, but at least I will have fun!

Fourth of July

I have lived in New York for two Fourth of Julys and have yet to see the fireworks in this city. Ironically, people say that this city has the most magnificent firework show, so maybe next year, I'll get to check it out.

This year, I traveled down to Washington, DC to see my sister. In order to make it work with my work schedule, I had to bring the little girl I am "nannying" with me. This was her first time in DC and it was my first time traveling with a child and no parents. We had a blast seeing the sights, watching the fireworks, and taking a little vacay away from the city.

It's one thing to go on a vacation, but it is a whole new thing to go on a vacation with a nine year old. I have become even firmer in my decision to not have kids in the next few years. I love working with them, I love teaching them, but I am not ready for my own.

June/July Bucket List!

In June:

• I might eat that hotdog - Check! Finally!
• I will move into a new apartment - Check!
  
• I will go to a concert or show - I made it to three concerts this month. I saw/heard the Silversun Pickups, Foster The People, and sat VIP at FUN.
  
• I will check out a new museum or two  - Check! My new job definitely helps with this! I went to The Museum of the City of New York, The Museum of Natural History, and The Spy Museum.

  I was super successful this month! I also finished the school year, saw a Broadway show, went to a Redbulls Soccer game, had my 1 year New York anniversary, started a new Summer job, and celebrated a lot of birthdays!


Redbulls:

 FUN Concert:

Street vendor hotdog with mustard and red onions:

In July:

I have so many awesome things already planned for July that it is super hard to make a bucket list. Instead, I am going to share with you my plans and then I will be able to blog about everything as it comes up!

I am going to DC for the Fourth of July 
I am going to Coney Island
I am making a weekend trip to PA
I am celebrating my 25th birthday
I am going to the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware!!!!
I am going to make it to a few free Summer events!
I am going to a Broadway show!
I am going to attempt to read 2 books
I am going to a New York Philharmonic Show   
I plan on watching the opening ceremonies to the Olympics 

and who knows what other random acts of awesome will occur!

Please forgive me..

but I am about to be rude.

I have spent the last 11 months in roommate hell.

I agreed to not blog about this person while we lived together and I honored that, but I no longer live with this person and I am now going to blog about them. (oh and it feels so good!)

First, I found this person on craigslist (people say don't do it, but it is really normal in New York). They were moving to New York from a city in the Midwest and I was moving from Florida. I clearly remember the day I found their ad online. I was sitting in my apartment with my mom and my sister packing and organizing when I read the ad out loud. I remember thinking that this person and I sounded like twins. We had similiar work ethics, similar work schedules, we were both going to be new to the city, we were both bringing a cat, we were close in age, etc. I emailed them, we went back and forth, we skyped. Everything seemed legit.

I moved to New York before this person and I was subletting in Brooklyn (with amazing roommates!) and this person came to New York to visit and apartment hunt. We looked at some places and then we settled on this place. After about a month, they moved to New York and I moved from Brooklyn to Harlem.

This person moved here with all of their belongings. (Living room furniture, pots, pans, dishes, etc) They opened their stuff to me and thankfully I accepted. (I want to point out that when I first moved here I was broke. I used practically every penny to pay for the deposit on the apartment and I was barely keeping myself floating. I worked odds and ends, babysat here and there, thankfully had a Summer birthday, and finally got a regular job in August. I slept on an air mattress, moved with only two suitcases, and had nothing. I don't deny any of that, in fact I am pretty proud of where I am now in comparison to then.) At no point during the arrangement did I ever neglect my portion of roommate expenses. I bought paper towels, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies as needed.

After about a week of living together, we sat down and signed a roommate agreement. I should have known then that this year would be tough. The agreement was 3 pages long with over 20 clauses. I signed it anyway.

Then the crazy started to pour out. I was given rules to follow, a cleaning schedule to adhere to, and a constant and endless amount of notes and lists taped to my bedroom door or kitchen counter. I only wish I could share with you each and every story, but I'm saving specifics for another project. Here are some highlights:

• This person demanded eco-friendly cleaning supplies and chided my use of non eco friendly beauty products. 
• This person used back handed compliments to try and be friendly. 
• This person once tried to use this blog post to get me kicked out of the apartment because they assumed it was about them. (Guilty much?)
• This person hated my cat because she has claws and I refused to declaw her.
• This person made it clear that they felt teachers were lower class members of the workforce and deserved the pay we got because of our vacation schedule. 
• This person really likes recycling and chose to sort through my trash and leave me notes about my items that were not properly recycled. (yes I know it's a law in NYC and I tried my best to remember)
• This person used a note left by some of my visiting friends to accuse me of theft.
• This person went bonkers for a few months when the apartment was robbed. I'm talking leaving lights on a timed switch, playing a radio when no one was home, and bringing all prized possessions with them when they left each day. 
• This person completely disregarded all rules of respect between adults. There is a way you speak to another adult and it usually involves being civil, not rude.
• This person makes a ton of accusations and thinks they know all. 
• This person constantly liked to remind me of how I was poor when I moved in and had to use their stuff. 
• This person prefers to send rudely accusatory emails at 3 am than waiting to talk face-to-face in the morning.
• This person signed a lease with a new tenant for July 1st, when my lease wasn't over until the 31st. 
• This person is honestly the worst human I have ever met.

There is so much more I could write about this person, but I am choosing to instead use it as the inspiration for a novel. I joked last Summer when things started to go sour; I kept telling friends and family that it was all for the novel. Now that I have spent 11 months with this person, I have so much that I can use for a novel and I fully intend to do so.

 There is almost nothing I regret about moving New York, except having wasted 11 months of my time being roommates with this person. I will, however, give them credit because I had plenty of conversation starters that began with "Guess what crazy did this week..." The entire table would listen, laugh and then feel a bit of pity before giving me a countdown of how many months I had left. It became a joke and I honestly did my best to not think about it when I was out of the apartment. When I would exit the subway station near our apartment, I would get the anxious feeling of having to talk to them, deal with another note about something I had done wrong, or maybe listen to them go on and on about something. It got so bad that I would say a little hope that there would be no lights on in the apartment when I climbed the last flight of stairs and could get a peek under the front door.

Now that I am out, I had to go and get my security deposit back from this person.  I knew it wasn't going to be easy and I prepared accordingly. I had the roommate agreement, I had copies of the check I wrote them last July, and I brought along my friend who is a lawyer. (Yeah, it's that crazy!) This person handed me a ridiculous list of charges including towels that they say I stole, the cost to replace a knife block because I misused the knifes, a shelf organizer that the gave me so I assumed I could take it when I moved, etc. After arguing for close to 30 minutes on the stoop (because I wasn't allowed in the apartment, which I am assuming is because the new roommate was there and they didn't want to show their crazy just yet) we settled on an amount that I am content with. I also agreed to wait until the 5th to cash the check because they asked me to and I being a normal civil adult agreed.

I cannot even express how excited I am to almost be finished. I am so ready to cash that check Thursday and never see this person again.

Source: imgfave.com via Kennady on Pinterest

366 days later...

Some people thought I was crazy. Some people thought I was overly ambitious. Some people were jealous. and Some people were wondering how I would make it.

I felt all of the above, but 366 days ago, I boarded a plane to New York City with a dream, a one way ticket, and my cat.

It was never easy, it was always fun, and I could not imagine doing anything any different.

I am a completely different person than I was 1 year ago and I am in love with that. I finally feel like I found a city that gets me. I never feel like the crazy single girl who isn't married, because no one here my age is married. I never feel out of place for wanting to stay up late and sleep when I'm eighty, because everyone here wants to do that. I feel like I'm home and as of right now, I don't know that I'll ever leave.

I love the loud sounds that make my mom crazy when she is talking to me on the phone, I love the rush of entering the subway station and running down the stairs to try and catch the train. I hate when I miss the train, but I know the next train will be there soon. I love running into celebrities even if they never know I saw them and got star struck. I love that I can get a hotdog (even though I haven't) 24 hours a day. I love that I haven't paid for car insurance in a year, but have never been without a way to get around. I love that walking up 5 flights to my apartment has become normal and walking ten blocks is faster than the subway. I love that on any given night, during any week of the year, I can find something fun to do and someone to do it with.

I have made some incredible friends in this city. Friends who didn't know me in high school or college, but don't mind that I probably mention the Gators at least once in every conversation. Friends who also pay incredibly high rents for tiny apartments and understand what it's like. Friends who will bake you cookies, take you to a Yankees game, or invite you to a birthday party. Friends with awesome jobs that I will always envy. These people I have met have become my family here. I am so far from my sister and my mom and having a constant group of friends who I can call and bother has become essential to my happiness.

I'm not sure why this city feels so right; I never lived in a big city growing up, I never was the one who opted to walk over riding in a car, and I definitely never had to deal with cold weather, but it feels like me and New York City clicked into place like two perfect puzzle pieces.