I Think I Have Hepatitis

You know how I’m having this crazy love affair with NYC? Well, we had our first fight. People, this place SUCKS when it rains. I got home last night (after heading to Midtown then back to Brooklyn then JFK) and all I wanted to do was take a shower. With bleach. I think I may have hepatitis. There are things in my hair that I’m afraid to even touch and I just straightened it yesterday! So now I look like a black Carrot Top; not a good look. Surely, there’s a better way to get around the city when it’s raining. What’s that? Drive? Yeah, that makes sense... I still hate driving.

Anyway, now that the venting is over, what’s up? I know I know; what happened to once a week right? Well, I’ve been so busy blogging for the other internships that I haven’t had time to write anything on mine. Ch-ch-check for yourself.

But I’m here now! What’s good? What’s poppin’ lockin’ yo? I heard about the Magic... Bummer. So are they completely out now or do they get to play again? Is there a second place prize like they do when you’re in elementary or primary school?

I’m still enjoying my stay in New York despite the bipolar weather. Here’s the gist on what’s been up:

Work:
You know when you mess up big time and it’s made worse because you have absolutely no one to blame but yourself? No? I guess that’s just my story. Well, it’s been a week since I royally screwed up at my internship. Some of you were asking what I did. Well amigos, I missed a really important meeting. I didn’t oversleep; I was actually awake writing a post for the blog. I had no excuse whatsoever. If I could beat the crap out of myself, I totally would because that was beyond dumb of me. And then when I was sent on an errand, I left a very important package with the receptionist without having him sign something. MY bad again. It was a very crappy week.

But I wallowed in pity about it and now I’m just working harder and being smarter about things. I started my second internship at Xanga.com; the offices are right across from the New York Times offices so that’s cool. Boss Lady 2 is really nice and I’m learning a lot from that one as well.

Boss Lady 1 sent me to represent the mag at a blog bash to celebrate Zandile Blay and her blog The Blay Report Thursday night. Zandile is a Ghana beauty who just happens to work as a writer and stylist. And she's so very nice. Her party took me to SoHo for a shindig at Bjorn Borg; an underwear shop. I walked over and found myself pleasantly surprised by the male models with their model bodies and model faces. : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
C’mon, that’ll put a smile on anyone’s face. I have never seen so many good looking men in one place in my whole life and they were only wearing BOXERS; I kid you not. I also got a chance to meet some really cool people; editors, writers, models, actors, people who work in PR and Marketing and just fashion people in general. I'm quickly learning that networking is a big part of this industry. Eeeeek. Thank you to Danica and Lola for letting me tag along for most of the night; attending parties solo can be daunting. Here’s a pic of the ladies and me.

Jaslene from ANTM was there and she is as skinny as she looks on t.v.; she’s also very pretty. I met Jason from the first season of Stylista and his amazingly cool boyfriend, also named Jason whose an actor and is actually from Florida. Jason and I had a great time talking about UCF of all things. Go Knights.

Excursions, Run Ins and Everything Else I do when I’m not Working:
So on a personal note, I saw my sister Yemi graduate last Friday! Yemi’s going to medical school to be a surgeon and help save lives. She gave a speech in front of her graduating class that was AWESOME! And I’m not just saying that. I was literally in tears when she practiced earlier in the morning. All the siblings were there and the mama; it was a nice time. I’m so proud of my family.

So I experienced my first “what the fuckity fuck” (excuse the language but get used to it) moment! Here’s the short version because I don’t want to bore you with details; I’m broke like you wouldn’t believe so I was on my way to a job interview and this guy grabbed me from behind. Many people assume that I’m very gentle (ha) and flighty (true) because I’m nice but mama don’t play that. I may not be a New Yorker but my survival instincts are strong and intact. If you attack me, I’m going to protect myself (duh). So I elbowed the grabber and stepped on his foot (thank you very much kickboxing classes) and yelled something at the top of my lungs that I wouldn’t usually say in front of a stranger, turned around - the guy dropped his arms strangely enough- and said “excuse me” when I saw grandpa in front of me. No, not my grandpa. The older fella said “Wha – we were headed in the same direction. We must have bumped into each other.” No, I was walking straight ahead not backward; how do you bump into someone from behind? The guy scared the crap out of me but what am I going to do? Beat up a senior citizen? I respect the elderly and I actually felt bad. I walked away, checked my purse and prayed because I was pretty shaken.

What else… I found vegan cake!!!! Thank you God; I thought I was going to die. Shola took me to the Tea Lounge in Park Slope, a tea shop/bar (cute bartenders) and I figured it was a long shot but I asked if they had any vegan desserts and they had not one but two vegan cakes. I ordered the macaroon one and it was really good. I’ll definitely be going back for the cake (not the cute bartender with the dimples).

It's sunny outside and I'm not working. I should be outside. Any suggestions? What would you do if you had the weekend to explore this city a bit?

Some stereotypical tidbits about the city

I’ve been here for less than three days and I’ve already learned a lot. For example, a lot of those stereotypes about New York are true:

Small bedrooms – My sister’s room is ridiculously small. Not Orlando small, when you have trouble practicing feng shui because of the big screen TV, desk and king size bed in your room. No, it’s small like I can’t cross the room without climbing over a twin size bed. I’ve heard about claustrophobic NY bedrooms before but I always thought it was an exaggeration. And I was so wrong. But the bedroom can’t take away from the rest of the apartment. The living room and kitchen are spacious, a lot of light comes in and the neighborhood is in an awesome part of Brooklyn. Who needs a car when the bar is across the street?

Tap water that doesn’t taste like ass – New York tap water is drinkable. It actually tastes good. As a former employee of a water treatment company I used simple facts to lure people into buying water filters. Fact: NY has the best water in the nation; Florida: not so much (we’re second to last). I won’t drink tap water in Florida unless it goes through my Brita first. When I got to my sister’s Brooklyn apartment, I had some water and it tasted ass free so I’m sold.

NY pizza is amazing – Yep, it sure is. Really good. I’m not supposed to eat pizza. I gave up animal products more than a year ago. Dairy = Big no-no. But I’ve never had NY pizza before so I gave in. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but I remember the ricotta and spinach slice I ordered. That’s the culprit in the photo above. I’ve been paying for that slice since I ate it but I can’t say it wasn’t worth it.

They really do sell everything here – You can buy an iPhone on the side of the road or have your shoes shined while you wait for the train. You can even buy porn in bars and on trains. Yep, my sister’s roommate was approached by a sweet old lady who walked into the bar offering “cigarette , porn, cigarette, porn” the way a vendor would yell “hot dog, beer, hot dog, beer.” Once you agree to buy something she asks “man- woman, woman- woman, man -man?” and apparently she goes to the different trains to offer her goods as well. Wow…

Everyone looks so put together – I feel strangely underdressed every time I leave my sister’s apartment. You have the hipsters in their fedoras, plaid and leather and you have the Blair Waldorf wannabes (or the inspiration behind the character) toting around their Chanel 2.5 quilted bags. Everyone has some semblance of style. I love it; it makes “people watching” feel like an impromptu fashion show.

There hasn’t been a dull moment and I’m completely enamored right now. It could be the change of scenery or the exciting internship or the 10 different restaurants down the street or all of the above. I even enjoy taking the subway! I’m going into the city on Monday to research an article. Hey, maybe this time I won’t get lost…