Bemusings

I’ve reached a point at which I’d rather share things with people in the real world than via blog. I think that’s sort of where I’ve been for awhile, but I just didn’t know how to verbalize it (via keyboard, of course).

That, and I’m now paranoid with the recent YouTube shenanigans.

I think, I feel, I want, I expect, I did, I will do, I won’t, I hope, I dream.

What should I have for lunch?

Hey, sorry for the extended silence, but I’ve been busy (like everyone else, I’m sure, but I now have an outlet for my impulse to write!)

Anyway, I have some roommate trouble I thought would make a funny (for me, at least) post.

I’m not sure what I’ve written about, so I’ll just give a quick background. I moved into a gorgeous two-bedroom apartment on the first floor of a house with the quiet landlords living upstairs, and an mostly absent (and very clean!) roommate. The backyard has productive fig trees, there’s a really cute dog who lives next door and hangs out outside, it’s not too far from the subway, etc. Of course it’s not perfect, because my roommate is the most uptight and awkward person I’ve ever lived with, including myself.

But! She’s moving out tomorrow and I have another roommate, who is cool, clean, and works full time who will be moving in on Monday. Here’s to hoping the new girl works out and doesn’t devolve into bitchy texts.

And speaking of bitchy texts, here’s the one I received from my roommate this morning at 8:15 am:

“I need the deposit by tonight or I will negociate [sic] w the landlord to keep my deposit as July rent and wont move my stuff out til July 31.”

Um, seriously? I forgot to leave it out last night, so I put it in the place where we leave our rent checks this morning. I think she overreacted, to say the least. I haven’t replied yet, but here’s what’s in the running:

1. Security deposits are returned when the tenant leaves the apartment in perfect condition. You’ll get it tomorrow when you leave.
2. That’s a tempting offer. I call your bluff.
3. Are you sure your stuff would be safe?
4. Whoa. It seems like you’ve let your imagination run wild.
5. It might behoove you to work on your people skills in the future — that’s an offer I’m tempted to take.
6. I left it out this morning. It would have been better to talk about this face to face instead of threatening via text. Good luck in your future human interactions. Women DON’T prefer bitches. [She’s got a dozen self-help, how-land-a-man books.]

I’m not very good at this. I hope it comes to me some time today. Thoughts?

So, if you’ve been reading here for awhile (hi three readers!), you know I like a good bargain. Unusual, I know. Anyway, something I’ve been into lately is going to book readings. They’re free, right after work, and don’t take too long. Plus New York hosts pretty much every author you could ever want to see (who is alive and publishing, obv). Some recent ones include:

Sherman Alexie, who is more charming in person than on the page (as opposed to Anthony Bourdain, who’s a jerk on tv but eloquent and insightful in print). His reading was at The Strand (best bookstore ever!), and he was accompanied by another marketed-as-Y.A. author, Peter Cameron, my new favorite author.

Tobias Wolff, most well known for This Boy’s Life and master of the short story, read at the smallest book reading I’ve attended. It was a vanity bookstore in Chelsea, at the end of which the owner asked the most long-winded and pointless question during the Q&A. Actually, it wasn’t THE worst question, that honor being taken by “Can you please describe, in detail, your process of editing a sentence?” No, he can’t, and didn’t. But he was nice about it.

The most exciting was, by far, last night’s reading, James Frey. Remember him? It opened with a reading by a memoirist, but not an interesting one, who put together a spoof called “Dallasty,” with parts read by his MySpace fans. The concept was way more interesting than the execution. Then, this amazing pianist, who also accompanied James Frey’s reading:

Sometimes at work (well, pretty often actually), I can listen to the radio while working. This makes staying abreast of news, especially as reported by NPR, that much easier.
They have a sponsor for their online media (maybe for the show itself? I always listen to Morning Edition, and it’s generally the same advertiser for awhile. For the past few weeks, it’s been this. No offense to anyone British, but it just strikes me as an extremely odd website. What is the purpose, exactly? To expand knowledge of Brits? To promote tourism?

So, yeah. Sorry for the disappearance and illusion of deletion. It was pretty rude, I’ll admit, but I had an “I can’t take it any more!” moment, in which I wanted to go offline. This was compounded by the tech-savviness of my new coworkers compounded by my own paranoia.

Anyway, I’m back to blogging, for whatever it’s worth, and this time around, I’m going to be doing things differently. Not to make promises or set out on a mission or anything, but just to keep a record of thoughts, things I’m interested in, and links I like. It’s also a nice way to converse over the web (hi, dad!) and, to be honest, keep abreast of new technology that people are using, liking, and not liking.

Anyway, sorry for being rude, but I hope you (both) know it wasn’t about anyone else, just about wanting to make things private for a little while.