Perhaps it's been over 2 months since my last blog, however life in New York leaves too much to ramble about and not enough to bitch about. Sort of makes blogging unmanageable. I've been here in Brooklyn for about a month and a half now. Thus far I've somehow managed to live off of my savings while avoiding employment. Unemployment in this city is pretty wonderful. There are so many things going on every day, having an open schedule to enjoy them all seems like the greatest thing ever. Take away the nagging fear that I'm suddenly going to run out of money, and it would be.
Alas...it had to end sometime though. I have an interview today at 3 for a bar tending spot in Manhattan. It's at a swanky 'members only' restaurant, so the tips are sure to be good (I hope)...though I fear I may pay for them with my soul. I'm not too worried though. Jobs in the city have been surprisingly easy to come across.
Outside of my lazy job search, I feel like I've got a million things going. Not to be trite, but this is a very inspiring place to live. Beyond the sheer atmosphere of New York City itself, being surrounded by so many people with projects in the works makes it difficult not to try and get started on some of your own. I've started writing quite a bit more and have embarked on a dozen music projects.
Next month is already shaping up to be pretty busy. The World Science Festival is going on and there are at least 4 concerts I'm hoping to go to. Here's to hoping work won't get too much in the way.
Also, I discovered this poster the other day and think it's totally worth the $30:
Alas...it had to end sometime though. I have an interview today at 3 for a bar tending spot in Manhattan. It's at a swanky 'members only' restaurant, so the tips are sure to be good (I hope)...though I fear I may pay for them with my soul. I'm not too worried though. Jobs in the city have been surprisingly easy to come across.
Outside of my lazy job search, I feel like I've got a million things going. Not to be trite, but this is a very inspiring place to live. Beyond the sheer atmosphere of New York City itself, being surrounded by so many people with projects in the works makes it difficult not to try and get started on some of your own. I've started writing quite a bit more and have embarked on a dozen music projects.
Next month is already shaping up to be pretty busy. The World Science Festival is going on and there are at least 4 concerts I'm hoping to go to. Here's to hoping work won't get too much in the way.
Also, I discovered this poster the other day and think it's totally worth the $30:
I just returned home from four days in New York City. Going from 38 degrees there to 83 degrees here in Florida in one day was pretty strange. Anyhow, despite the frigid weather, I had a wonderful time. Highlights including seeing an amazing concert at Le Poisson Rouge, getting ice cream at Momofuku's milk bar, and (don't judge) hanging around Williamsburg for a day. Most importantly, I managed to find a new place to call home! Come the first week in April I'm moving into this wonderful old home (with awesome house mates) in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Of course the two weeks between now and then already feels like an eternity. I have a lot to get done, but at the same time it seems like I have nothing to do but sit around and wait. My resume definitely needs a good re-working and I suppose I ought to take these next few days to appreciate Florida while I'm still here.
I just discovered a roach crawling around on my ceiling. Somehow, even being a grown ass man, it is still unsettling. Hopefully the Raid I sprayed did the trick. Also the, "country fresh scent" label on the can was being a little optimistic in describing the smell.
Things have been good lately, mostly thanks to all of the good music I've been discovering. When you really care about your music, finding a new artist is like hitting buried treasure some times. Listening as much as I have been has inspired me to amp up the amount of work I put into my own music. I listen to a lot of disparate genres (i.e. hip-hop, indie pop, avant garde orchestral, folk, etc.) yet somehow marrying these influences together has felt a lot more natural than it has in the past. I think I'm happiest with the beats I've produced, they've taken on sort of a unique spacey feel.
A few weeks ago my marine friend came home from Okinawa on leave. During his 19 day stay, we only got to hang out a few times, but it was really good to see him. Fortunately we had the chance to take a weekend and head down to South Fl to check out the Salvador Dali museum. With me, I brought a really neat vintage camera I just discovered floating around in the garage. It's known as a Twins Lens Reflex camera, this is what it looks like:
It's been a while since I've done any film photography, so I'm still figuring out the mechanics of f-stop and shutter speed selection, however I'm happy with a few of the pictures I got with it.
My buddy eating a burrito and not realizing that I'm taking his picture:
My nickname is Ace, so it only made sense to take a picture when I discovered this:
The outside of the Dali Museum:
For the time being, plans for the future are somewhat working out...I just need to find a temp job in the mean time to make things easier. Also, this cover of Heard It Through the Grapevine by the Slits is fucking tough.
Things have been good lately, mostly thanks to all of the good music I've been discovering. When you really care about your music, finding a new artist is like hitting buried treasure some times. Listening as much as I have been has inspired me to amp up the amount of work I put into my own music. I listen to a lot of disparate genres (i.e. hip-hop, indie pop, avant garde orchestral, folk, etc.) yet somehow marrying these influences together has felt a lot more natural than it has in the past. I think I'm happiest with the beats I've produced, they've taken on sort of a unique spacey feel.
A few weeks ago my marine friend came home from Okinawa on leave. During his 19 day stay, we only got to hang out a few times, but it was really good to see him. Fortunately we had the chance to take a weekend and head down to South Fl to check out the Salvador Dali museum. With me, I brought a really neat vintage camera I just discovered floating around in the garage. It's known as a Twins Lens Reflex camera, this is what it looks like:
It's been a while since I've done any film photography, so I'm still figuring out the mechanics of f-stop and shutter speed selection, however I'm happy with a few of the pictures I got with it.
My buddy eating a burrito and not realizing that I'm taking his picture:
My nickname is Ace, so it only made sense to take a picture when I discovered this:
The outside of the Dali Museum:
For the time being, plans for the future are somewhat working out...I just need to find a temp job in the mean time to make things easier. Also, this cover of Heard It Through the Grapevine by the Slits is fucking tough.
Flipping through my SG inbox I just realized my account is once again about to expire in a week or so (maybe less...yikes). This time around I'm actually bummed about it. I've been much more active in the online SG community this past year and I'm really going to miss it. Like I've said before, I spend more time on SG than I do on any other social networking sites.
It's definitely not the end however. Though it may take 6 months, I'm sure I'll be back (I'd say sooner, but money is tight for the time being). Maybe by then, I'll finally have some exciting stuff to blog about. In the mean time, I'm just going to enjoy the last few days of this account and look forward to hopefully catching back up with everyone soon.
It's definitely not the end however. Though it may take 6 months, I'm sure I'll be back (I'd say sooner, but money is tight for the time being). Maybe by then, I'll finally have some exciting stuff to blog about. In the mean time, I'm just going to enjoy the last few days of this account and look forward to hopefully catching back up with everyone soon.
This is kind of an unnecessary blog, but every now and then I just need an outlet. I lost my seasonal employment at Toys R Us today on a stupid and frustrating technicality. It had nothing to do with my job performance or any issues within the store period, but rather with something that was suddenly drudged up on my back ground check, something super old at that. What is weird is how quick it all happened. The manager called me into the office, showed me a paper that said I was terminated, and within seconds from blissfully doing my job I was punching out for the last time and handing over my time card. A lot to process at once.
I guess I can't blame the store, but I wish they'd considered the full ramifications of their decision before making it. I'd already worked there all of last season and the whole time the information they justified firing me with was available to them. It's not like I was any kind of risk. I really needed the money and on top of that I have never been fired before. At the moment I'm a little disheartened, but I can't really afford to mope about it. In a way, it's fortunate that I have a lot to keep my busy.
Also apparently I need to change my username. Back in 2007, AceOHearts was just the name I used for everything, but lately people have been googling that monicker to find info about me and my SG account has been showing up (for the record, this had nothing to do with losing my job). Not that I'm ashamed necessarily, but I do like keeping this private. Actually now that I think about it, it might've been a little stupid to use an ID that contains my actual nickname in it.
Anyhow, I'm trying to think of how best to spend the rest of the night. Though I'm not exactly despairing right now, I don't think I'm in any frame of mind to get any actual work done. If I had some reliable friends in town, I'd probably take to drinking or smoking the night away, but alas neither one of these are much fun alone. Maybe I'll just play some Little Big Planet and vegetate for the next few hours. Staring at cheerful sack people is a pretty consistent pick-me-up.
I guess I can't blame the store, but I wish they'd considered the full ramifications of their decision before making it. I'd already worked there all of last season and the whole time the information they justified firing me with was available to them. It's not like I was any kind of risk. I really needed the money and on top of that I have never been fired before. At the moment I'm a little disheartened, but I can't really afford to mope about it. In a way, it's fortunate that I have a lot to keep my busy.
Also apparently I need to change my username. Back in 2007, AceOHearts was just the name I used for everything, but lately people have been googling that monicker to find info about me and my SG account has been showing up (for the record, this had nothing to do with losing my job). Not that I'm ashamed necessarily, but I do like keeping this private. Actually now that I think about it, it might've been a little stupid to use an ID that contains my actual nickname in it.
Anyhow, I'm trying to think of how best to spend the rest of the night. Though I'm not exactly despairing right now, I don't think I'm in any frame of mind to get any actual work done. If I had some reliable friends in town, I'd probably take to drinking or smoking the night away, but alas neither one of these are much fun alone. Maybe I'll just play some Little Big Planet and vegetate for the next few hours. Staring at cheerful sack people is a pretty consistent pick-me-up.
I seriously look forward to doing this all year...every year
Please excuse the grainy iPhone picture quality
Please excuse the grainy iPhone picture quality
I'm beginning to feel like I come here way too much, as if I've replaced facebook with the SG social network. At least here it seems everyone understands occasionally talking to someone online does not constitute actually knowing them. Also my parents, extended family, and various high school acquaintances aren't lurking around every corner.
Over the past year, my small base of friends have scattered themselves far and wide. Some remain in Jacksonville, a few in the D.C. area, some on the west coast, and my best friend has spent the past year on a Marine base in Okinawa. Most of my social interaction is mediated through various types of letters, but I'm happy enough just to keep up with all of them. It does get a bit lonely around here from time to time though, my only company is typically my cat.
I have a lot to look forward to in the near future. Universal's Halloween Horror Nights (which is always super fun) on the 28th and then I'm flying to D.C. on the 29th to hang out with afore mentioned friends and attend the Stewart/Colbert rally. Halloween in D.C. should be fun, I've got some neat plans worked out.
Though the first half of 2010 was mostly working at a lame store and smoking with my friends at night on the porch, the second half has worked out to be a good travel year. It seems every month and a half I've manage to arrange some kind of exciting excursion to go on. In June it was Bonnaroo, August-Canada, and last month I went on a road trip to Kentucky with my mom as she hunted for place to retire to. When Jon Stewart announced the rally for the end of October, twas like fate. Money permitting, I'll be in New York by late November for apartment/job hunting.
Though I had planned some much more extensive traveling along the west coast, my difficulty in finding a steady source of income has sort of taken care of those plans for me. I'm pretty confident in New York though, in many ways, it's like going back home. Speaking of future moves, if any wealthy SG member would like to relieve of me of this fucking money behemoth of a guitar , it would make things a lot easier. Promise I've taken good care of it. My taste in instruments has become much more practical and simplistic as I've grown older.
Maybe I'll include pictures in my next post...I've never done that.
Over the past year, my small base of friends have scattered themselves far and wide. Some remain in Jacksonville, a few in the D.C. area, some on the west coast, and my best friend has spent the past year on a Marine base in Okinawa. Most of my social interaction is mediated through various types of letters, but I'm happy enough just to keep up with all of them. It does get a bit lonely around here from time to time though, my only company is typically my cat.
I have a lot to look forward to in the near future. Universal's Halloween Horror Nights (which is always super fun) on the 28th and then I'm flying to D.C. on the 29th to hang out with afore mentioned friends and attend the Stewart/Colbert rally. Halloween in D.C. should be fun, I've got some neat plans worked out.
Though the first half of 2010 was mostly working at a lame store and smoking with my friends at night on the porch, the second half has worked out to be a good travel year. It seems every month and a half I've manage to arrange some kind of exciting excursion to go on. In June it was Bonnaroo, August-Canada, and last month I went on a road trip to Kentucky with my mom as she hunted for place to retire to. When Jon Stewart announced the rally for the end of October, twas like fate. Money permitting, I'll be in New York by late November for apartment/job hunting.
Though I had planned some much more extensive traveling along the west coast, my difficulty in finding a steady source of income has sort of taken care of those plans for me. I'm pretty confident in New York though, in many ways, it's like going back home. Speaking of future moves, if any wealthy SG member would like to relieve of me of this fucking money behemoth of a guitar , it would make things a lot easier. Promise I've taken good care of it. My taste in instruments has become much more practical and simplistic as I've grown older.
Maybe I'll include pictures in my next post...I've never done that.
I returned from Canada last Thursday night, yet it still feels like I just got home. Some thoughts on my trip:
As I said in my last blog, the point of travelling to Canada was mostly to try it on for size in a sense and see if I'd be interested in moving there. I arrived in Toronto on August 9th and spent much of time there hanging out with my CouchSurfing hosts (www.couchsurfing.org, I highly recommend checking it out if you're unfamiliar). My first host was a director of infomercials, and each of the two nights I stayed with him we met at a bar and discussed the differences between Canadian and American politics until last call. I was just as lucky with my second set of hosts, who were some really interesting college kids. Fortunately through them I met this wonderful girl. I thought she was very pretty and she seemed very smart. We talked for a few hours and, after I mentioned that I had no where to stay in Montreal, she offered me the keys to an apartment she had just rented there. A serious stroke of luck...and the apartment turned out to be beautiful. I spent the majority of my trip in Montreal, which was plenty of fun...however I really wish I'd had some company while there (I spent most of my six days there alone).
A recurring theme of my conversations while in Canada revolved around the Canadian media's fascination with American politics. Nearly every Canadian I spoke to knew almost as much about the current American political scene as I did. Consider that the Canadian prime minster is considerably more powerful than the American president. The prime minister has direct control over the entire Canadian military and can take total control of the government via marshal law when ever he sees fit (this has actually be done before, wikipedia Pierre Trudeau). The only branch of the military the president controls is the Marines and at no point can he simply take over government. Yet the only news report I saw on the prime minister during my visit was a quick blurb about a recent vacation he had taken. There were plenty of reports on Obama.
When I mentioned this, the response I typically got was that Canadian politics were far less interesting than American politics. My hosts and acquaintances seemed to find the extreme opinions of American politicians very entertaining, while most members of the Canadian government were referred to as having more moderate demeanors. To make the rest of this short, I took this to mean that Canadian politics were less a sort of battle field (as American politics are usually viewed) and more a scene of reason and careful consideration. This is most likely an idealistic interpretation and I'm sure there are plenty examples of ridiculous behavior in the Canadian parliament, however there is still a lot of appeal left.
Though I really enjoyed my time in Canada, I feel like I should look into a few other cities before ultimately deciding where to go. I've been looking into an AmTrak rail pass for my next bit of traveling. I figure this will give me the chance to spend a bit of time in several cities over a month-2 month period. The list so far is New York, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Unfortunately I estimate this trip will cost around $1600, which would just about wipe out my savings.This means all plans are on hold until I can find a job and save up.
For now, I've had the luck to inherit a decent amount of very strong fader for a very low price (the silver lining when your supplier decides to get out of the game), so I think I'm going to enjoy that and then veg. out to Red Dead Redemption for the rest of the night
As I said in my last blog, the point of travelling to Canada was mostly to try it on for size in a sense and see if I'd be interested in moving there. I arrived in Toronto on August 9th and spent much of time there hanging out with my CouchSurfing hosts (www.couchsurfing.org, I highly recommend checking it out if you're unfamiliar). My first host was a director of infomercials, and each of the two nights I stayed with him we met at a bar and discussed the differences between Canadian and American politics until last call. I was just as lucky with my second set of hosts, who were some really interesting college kids. Fortunately through them I met this wonderful girl. I thought she was very pretty and she seemed very smart. We talked for a few hours and, after I mentioned that I had no where to stay in Montreal, she offered me the keys to an apartment she had just rented there. A serious stroke of luck...and the apartment turned out to be beautiful. I spent the majority of my trip in Montreal, which was plenty of fun...however I really wish I'd had some company while there (I spent most of my six days there alone).
A recurring theme of my conversations while in Canada revolved around the Canadian media's fascination with American politics. Nearly every Canadian I spoke to knew almost as much about the current American political scene as I did. Consider that the Canadian prime minster is considerably more powerful than the American president. The prime minister has direct control over the entire Canadian military and can take total control of the government via marshal law when ever he sees fit (this has actually be done before, wikipedia Pierre Trudeau). The only branch of the military the president controls is the Marines and at no point can he simply take over government. Yet the only news report I saw on the prime minister during my visit was a quick blurb about a recent vacation he had taken. There were plenty of reports on Obama.
When I mentioned this, the response I typically got was that Canadian politics were far less interesting than American politics. My hosts and acquaintances seemed to find the extreme opinions of American politicians very entertaining, while most members of the Canadian government were referred to as having more moderate demeanors. To make the rest of this short, I took this to mean that Canadian politics were less a sort of battle field (as American politics are usually viewed) and more a scene of reason and careful consideration. This is most likely an idealistic interpretation and I'm sure there are plenty examples of ridiculous behavior in the Canadian parliament, however there is still a lot of appeal left.
Though I really enjoyed my time in Canada, I feel like I should look into a few other cities before ultimately deciding where to go. I've been looking into an AmTrak rail pass for my next bit of traveling. I figure this will give me the chance to spend a bit of time in several cities over a month-2 month period. The list so far is New York, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Unfortunately I estimate this trip will cost around $1600, which would just about wipe out my savings.This means all plans are on hold until I can find a job and save up.
For now, I've had the luck to inherit a decent amount of very strong fader for a very low price (the silver lining when your supplier decides to get out of the game), so I think I'm going to enjoy that and then veg. out to Red Dead Redemption for the rest of the night
I was just working on a blog post and it magically disappeared. Hopefully I'm not double posting this.
Anyhow, I booked my flight to Canada earlier and I'm pretty excited about. I'll be staying for ten days and visiting both Toronto and Montreal. Hopefully I'll be able to get some idea of life in each city during my visit. Though this isn't exactly a vacation, I'd like to have a bit fun, so if anyone has any suggestions for places to check out in either city, definitely let me know! The only thing left to do now is work out my bus ticket from Toronto to Montreal and find some couches to sleep on.
I also managed to finish my entry into The Public Record's Deadmau5 contest today. The idea was Deadmau5 supplied the drum and bass tracks and you had to build a song around them. I spent way too much time on this, but I was a bit worried about ending up with some sort of goofy stereotypical house song. I'm calling it Dead M0053 (get it?). Please feel free to check it out here:
Dead M0053
Unfortunately I have yet to accomplish anything ultimately productive today, like sending out more resumes. I'll have to get on that soon considering my interview with the credit union was an absolute disaster. No worries though, I have another one lined up at a better paying job in another week.
Hope everyone who might possibly read this is doing well.
Anyhow, I booked my flight to Canada earlier and I'm pretty excited about. I'll be staying for ten days and visiting both Toronto and Montreal. Hopefully I'll be able to get some idea of life in each city during my visit. Though this isn't exactly a vacation, I'd like to have a bit fun, so if anyone has any suggestions for places to check out in either city, definitely let me know! The only thing left to do now is work out my bus ticket from Toronto to Montreal and find some couches to sleep on.
I also managed to finish my entry into The Public Record's Deadmau5 contest today. The idea was Deadmau5 supplied the drum and bass tracks and you had to build a song around them. I spent way too much time on this, but I was a bit worried about ending up with some sort of goofy stereotypical house song. I'm calling it Dead M0053 (get it?). Please feel free to check it out here:
Dead M0053
Unfortunately I have yet to accomplish anything ultimately productive today, like sending out more resumes. I'll have to get on that soon considering my interview with the credit union was an absolute disaster. No worries though, I have another one lined up at a better paying job in another week.
Hope everyone who might possibly read this is doing well.
I just scheduled an interview with a local credit union! This is really exciting, especially considering their minimum pay rate is $11 an hour and on top of that I've only been unemployed for one weekend. I'm not sure what my chances are, but I'm definitely hoping for the best. Until then, I suppose the smart thing to do would be to keep sending out resumes.
