Procrastination!

I have been bad. Very bad. There have been not so subtle hints about my need to update the blog. So, the most important news first:

I have a job! It starts December 1st and is down south, in Busan. I decided to stop looking for jobs in the Seoul/Anyang area because I wasn't finding what I wanted and realized that the reasons I wanted to stay in that area weren't so important. The more I looked into being down south, the more I wanted to go. Not to mention, there is way less pollution and I would be within 20 minutes of the beach. I grew up on an island; I really miss the beach. In NY, I even like to go walk on the beach in the winter and not being able to go regularly this year was not so wonderful. Anyways, the area has a vibrant expat community, fabulous public transportation, universities and the SEA. I'm a fan. It's easy to get up to Seoul for the weekend (I did the reverse to go swimming with sharks in Busan earlier in the year) and just seemed like a better fit for me. So why haven't I been blogging? Last minute paperwork, getting my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate so I can get paid more (still working on that, ugh), and working for my Dad have kept me pretty busy.

Speaking of working for my Dad: today I was his courier and went into the city to pick up a check for him. First, they couldn't find the check. It was buried on the desk of someone who hadn't come in yet that morning. Ten minutes later they dug up the check, no big deal. I smiled big and headed out to the bank. After all, money is money and 10 minutes isn't that big of a deal. At the bank counter, I filled out my deposit form but when I got ready to endorse the check I realized that it wasn't signed. Back to square one. Took a few minutes at the office to get someone who was certified to sign the check but eventually it got done. However, in between the bank and the office (4 short blocks) I got hit on twice and checked out 4 times. I was wearing my very demure boat neck, navy blue shift dress that I bought for work with black leggings and flats. Made me doubt the work appropriateness of the dress but after consulting a mirror (and my Mother) I decided that it was just that New York men are ridiculous. The dress is conservative. The only thing more conservative than this dress would be a burka. Why are really dark sun glasses wonderful? You can pretend you can't see or hear these morons.

Dear Men/Boys,
Have these street tactics ever worked? Seriously?!
Best,
Alex

Weaponry!

It isn't everyday that a girl gets to write a post about weaponry! I changed my mind about wanting to be a granny for Halloween. I still want to baby powder my hair one day but I figure at this rate I'm bound to be gimpy again by next Halloween (since this will be the second one in a row that I will be limping for).

In a fit of pure nerdom I decided I wanted to be a vampire slayer but since I am a brunette I shall be Faith, the slightly evil, super butt kicking vampire slayer, instead of Buffy. Very easy costume, lots of black, bright lipstick, slightly disheveled hair and oh yes, some stakes! I kind of wish I could get a hold of a crossbow but somehow I think that would be a bad idea for several reasons.

1. I would have trouble bringing weaponry into public places like a bar or say, the subway station.
2. Intoxicated people really should be around such easily lethal weaponry.
3. I would have to carry it all evening. Crossbows look kind of heavy.
4. It definitely wouldn't fit in my purse.

I plan on spending part of the day tomorrow converting an old, broken hockey stick into a few stakes. I can't quite figure out how we ever acquired a hockey stick since to my knowledge neither my brother nor I ever played street hockey (let alone on ice).

The rest of the day shall be alternately reserved for studying for the GREs, yelling at my GRE prep book and consoling myself by eating copious amounts of Swedish fish. Sugar highs are the only thing that seem to get me through this. I never minded studying for content exams in college or high school but this test is absolutely ridiculous. I wish I could do what I did for the SATs and not study but I want a top score.

Bets on how many days before I start throwing my book at the wall or attempting to burn it?

Granny Time!

This might be offensive to my geriatric readers but here it goes:

Last October, I gave you the historical rants from my family about Halloween. Whatever, I need an excuse to go into NYC and have a blast.

There is just one eensy weensy problem with that. My ankles are not party friendly yet.

This year I shall be The Granny. It's a fabulous excuse to rock a cane! I'm thinking stretched out ugly sweater, floral leggings, hot pink lipstick, badly applied blush and baby powder white hair. I can clash, be frumpy, eccentric all in the name of my costume! I'm a fan. Kind of the opposite of the sexy looks most people in their 20s seem to go for but far more practical. Not to mention it involves very little money to make.

Unless of course, you dear reader, have another gimpy compatible costume?

Life life life

Let it never be said that my mother doesn't know her daughter. The other day I was seriously glum and moping around the house. I mean full out, still in the pajamas, hair sticking up-- a post coffee ingestion wallow. I have had lots of job offers but upon reading the contract, discover they are not half as good as they originally sounded. Luckily, I have more interviews lined up for this week but still. I miss Salsa Boy, I miss my friends, I miss living in a city and not having to drive everywhere, I miss my budget and so on and so forth ad nauseum.

Anyways, sometime in the afternoon my mother demanded I get up and put on some clothes so that we could go to Borders Books and make use of her $5 off coupon. (Yes, yes indie bookstores are better and I use them when they exist but my part of the Island has a Borders.) I got comfort books, absolutely lacking in literary merit, historical value or educational content. What books you ask, the next two Sookie Stackhouse books in that vampire series that the HBO show True Blood is based on. Sometimes a girl just needs something mindless to read. I am in the middle of about 8 different 'good' books that I've started since I've been home and sort of abandoned and lost interest in. The less active I am physically the less brain power I seem to have. Anyways, point being is that my Mom definitely cheered me up. Not only were the books $5 off, it was a buy one, get one 50% off on the series AND an additional 20% off because we have the Border's reward card thingy. Sales also cheer me up.

In other words, I continue to go insane from lack of activity. I have friends and things to do in the city but it's so expensive to get there! Maybe I'll go swimming at the Y or something. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to swim though. Swimming is supposed to be the best activity for rehabbing joints since it puts so little strain on them but my doctor told me to try to minimize my walking/standing and I'm not sure how swimming fits on the scale. I could always try it out and see how much pain I'm in afterward. Trial and error my friends!

I'm a guest blogger!

I'm a guest blogger on my Mom's blog today. She blogs about sewing, food and gardening so I did a bit about her food. Check it out!

The Most Serene Republic

The Most Serene Republic is not a weird political cult, it is an indie band! I went to see them at Le Poisson Rouge on Thursday in NYC (on Bleecker Street). I love them for 2 main reasons:
1. Amazingly complex musically, blending 3 guitars, a bass guitar, a keyboard, percussionist, and a vocalist. The keyboard player also sometimes plays the trumpet and a few of the guitar players sometimes play a mandolin, banjo or violin instead.
2. Unlike many musically interesting indie bands, their vocals are always good and they do interesting harmonies. It's always a shame when a band has good music but the lead singer can't actually carry a tune or sing.

I couldn't believe that the band that was headlining, the Grand Archive, sucked so much in comparison. The Parisian Indie Hipster and I sat there going 1, 4, 4, 1 etc. for a few songs and then decided that if they weren't going to use any new chords it was okay for us to leave a little early. Their music was also far too mellow for the venue and rather sleep inducing. If you have insomnia listen away, they'll definitely put you to sleep.

Today has been an exercise in keeping myself from going insane from the boredom. I went to several yard sales which were largely unsuccessful though my Dad did score a box full of new Polish light bulbs and a weed sprayer. Grocery shopping was alright though I failed to find vegan margarine for baking purposes. The vegan spread isn't so good for baking with. However, my Mom is going to make me chocolate mousse instead so I'm not really suffering here.

I checked my email, played text twirl, ate lunch, read part of A Canticle for Leibowitz, brushed the dog, helped my Dad fix a circuit light problem thingy and then walked slowly around the house contemplating the art work. We do have a pretty rad collection of art thanks to the fact that my Mom used to paint, her best friend was an artist and a great art hook-up for photography because of a gallery that our cousin owns. I also tried to convince my Dad to fix the frame of the cloud painting that used to hang in my bathroom and has since been replaced with an oil painting of a post office. Don't get me wrong, the post office is nice enough but doesn't really go with the zen relaxation theme I have/had going on. The wire snapped at some point during the past year causing the painting to go crashing do the floor. Luckily the glass didn't break but the frame itself needs to be put back together. I'm not entirely clear on what's wrong, it looks like it just needs a couple of nails to me but it might be more complicated since it hasn't been fixed yet.

And now I am infinitely happier because I got a Skype video call from Salsa Boy who was freakishly up at 3am his time.

On the other hand I completely lost my train of thought. Oh well. More next time!

Sparkling

No, not sparkling Korea (for those of you lucky enough to not have seen that ad campaign, hope to remain in ignorance to my reference) but my sparkling bathroom. That's right, the highlight of my day was cleaning my bathroom to its sparkling glory. It was also followed by sweeping my Mom's studio. I need to get a life. Desperately.

I also picked up my watch from the jewelers. It is now the right size but the battery change didn't fix the problem so now I have to call Dillards and complain. On the other hand it will make a marked change to complaining about pain! Today, I have stumbled upon a lovely pain killer combination: topical anti-inflammatory (think ibuprofen in a tube) and regular Tylenol. Still hurts but not so badly. I am a fan. My Mom's best friend recommended the topical stuff and since my Mom has a bazillion things wrong with her back/neck/shoulder we have quite the pharmacy. No worries, this is the over the counter variety.

Tomorrow the exciting venture will be calling Dillards and starting on my Mom's back closet which is in dire need of OCD like reorganization. She did not even ask me to do it, I am doing it out of sheer, mind numbing boredom. (Though to be fair, it is also a slight guilt trip ploy to get her to hem my pants before I go into the city on Thursday since I obviously want to wear my favorite jeans.) Now that the 5 day holiday is over in Korea I shall get more emails and interviews set up. Thank God, being unemployed is heinously boring. It's fun for about 2 days and then I ran out of things to do. I am much better at keeping myself occupied for smaller amounts of time. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be like my late Grandpa and keep coming out of retirement until my health forces me to stay there because good grief it must be boring.

I may need to start blogging about the news since there is obviously nothing going on in my life.