Well

~36 hours until I've left NYC for good. Expect an update then. :)

I suck!

At updating, that is! So much has gone on, and the days have passed more and more quickly, it's all a blur now! So tired that I won't even bother to update right now.... But some great stuff has happened... and this is extremely uninformative! Nearly just a month now until my senior year starts again, and about 23 days until I leave NYC for good :(. Going to try and make the most of it! And sleep too; night!

Skip to... next weekend?

Wow is it really the next weekend already? Summer is getting faster and faster! :( But with the passing days, there's always more fun to be had :).

I'm probably too tired to write this... I just woke up after only ~2 hours of sleep to sit in line for student rush tickets for... Promises, Promises! Very excited to see Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenoweth, two actors I actually know fairly well for once. This week has been filled with show after show, and I am loving it! And surprisingly, my bank account has been holding up to the pressure, too... Having steady income is great!

Incidentally, work is getting so enjoyable now that I have been hard pressed to leave at the end of the day! It's always this way with me... I am either uninterested/bored with a topic and perform half-assedly and in no hurry, lethargically even, or I start to get into the task at hand and get a little obsessed with it, doing probably a little more work or putting a little too much effort into it than is necessary... Well I'm at the latter stage for right now. I can tell there's a sweet spot in between those two modes, but I always transition so quickly from one to the other, I can never stay there long at the apex of my overall efficiency. Alas.. at least I'm enjoying it more now; much better than before. But for example, yesterday, having come in late, I had to stay late as well, but I just kept on going and would have worked all night had it not been for the fact that 1) I had plans and 2) everyone else had left since it was Friday and I needed to collaborate with others to continue! Hah.

I can't much remember what I did Wednesday, but Thursday evening, Bloomberg sponsored a intern networking event where I met some more people. They had free beer (I think I actually like Sapporo!) and hors d'oeuvres and gave out free sustainably-made intern t-shirts (love Bloomberg's green efforts) and played music as if to make it into something like a dance rave... Including this freaky on-acid YouTube video that I have yet to track down... Pictures soon. (I always promise, but never follow through v_v)

That evening I decided on a whim to see The Fantasticks off-Broadway, since I've heard of the show so much but didn't know a thing about it. Much more of an old-style theatre play, considering it is 50 years old, and has been running since its opening - longest running show in the world. The off-Broadway venue and audience was small, and laughter was sparse when it was wanted... seemed much less like a NYC play than the others I've seen. But I still enjoyed it.

The plans I mentioned above for Friday night were in fact that Mike is here for the weekend! He's currently asleep after last night... Going to let him for a while. He arrived last night, we ate at Così and went to the show we were going to see... Naked Boys Singing. XD It was good! Short, one act, but funny, and definitely entertaining! They were of course very strict with rules with such "Gratuitous Nudity" abound. It was interesting to look around and see the audience that came to see the show: a cohort of older fawning Asian ladies with matching fans, a disgruntled boyfriend dragged there by his girl, and even apparently old businessmen types? :) The soundtrack, though, I have to say, was very good for such a show! They didn't sell it there but I'll definitely be obtaining it somehow. Funny stuff.

After seeing that we went to Kevin's apartment (co-intern from Bloomberg) to see other Bloombergers (Bloom Burgers?) and the like. And then we returned home to see Kristen and Maria, with whom we will be seeing the show tonight, before collapsing and getting ready for... today! We'll probably hit a few museums and then see the show... and maybe we'll go to Rush (again). Until then! (nap)

Rob in Baltimore! Not as unusual

Bah! Bulletpoint update! Sleep!

• Went to Baltimore for the weekend!
• Ate dumplings yum and then went to Brewer's Art with Matt, Tony and Lara Friday night. Apparently Wolfgang came down from NYC too and was there at the same time and I didn't even know. Hah
• Ran into literally 20 friends in 20 different locations
• Serenaded a Suz and companie; drew gnome beards on walls. 
• Saturday, recorded a (potentially temporary) final track for the Vocal Chords' new CD, Suspended. So close to completion, after so many years!
• Saw The Last Airbender, the M. Night Shyamalan live action take on "Avatar: The Last Airbender." ... Disappointingly terrible rendition of such a great series... M. Night, you did it again. He purposely mispronounced the names!? What's worse, he's preparing for the sequels.
• Shopped! Bought an Express shirt and Gap khakis. AND a Cinnabon mmmmm.
• Made dinner with Mike! Steak with onions, roasted baby potatoes, artichoke and asparagus salad (recipe courtesy of Bloomberg), and homemade guacamole.
• Watched movies! Memoirs of a Geisha; Sunshine; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... chez Michel.
• Sunday, pool and sauna day. mmm I miss des piscines. Falling asleep poolside = glorious.
• ....Missed hanging out with Ellen, and playing Catan. :(
• Went to Alexia's 4th of July party! Oh wait except Alexia wasn't there.
• Watched fireworks atop Uni West roof, and lit them in the alley.
• Monday, went to lunch with Tony at Donna's. Mmm fried green tomato BLT.
• Met the Suzbot before her departure
• APO biznazz with Jess (and Steph)
• Final dinner chez Lara with Armand and Jayne and Matt and Tony. Wonderful peach basil sangria! Had never been to Homewood before... crazy
• Bolt bus back to NYC!
• Impromptu Janey time :). Sleep sacrificeeee
• Today, work. Woo!
• Saw In The Heights. Didn't really know beforehand it was Spanishy! Oh. Was good! Every song was a powerhouse...
• In bed here now!

zzz

I'm on a bus to Baltimore!

The title says it all! ^_^

Moving On, Moving Back!

So, tomorrow is Friday again! This weekend I'll be going back to Baltimore to see my friends there and get some business done for the Vocal Chords and APO. I'll also be seeing The Last Airbender movie, although I've recently heard it's complete crap :( which makes me very sad. A whopping 08% on Rotten Tomatoes. But I still have to see it nonetheless! Must remain loyal to the series... Hopefully it won't feel like pulling teeth. Thankfully this is a holiday weekend - woo for no work on Mondays! Hate Mondays. Like Garfield.

So, yesterday I had to make an explicit effort to not do something after work in order to get home at a reasonable hour and make sure my laundry gets done! Haha. My housing, EHS, has joined with a local launderer to offer FREE laundry services for any residents, so I took them up on that. I carried my laundry 3 blocks to Jade Cleaners where they washed and folded my laundry, packaged it in a very neat rectangular pattern that looks oh-so-asian (like square watermelons!), and delivered it back to my dorm the next day! It was like $22 of laundry for free, so, woo! Very helpful for a busy intern like me. I also made a point of going to bed early last night, and actually eating at home as opposed to the more expensive option of eating out each night (like I've been doing).

At work, I'm finally moving on to another project, and submitting my first project's code. I'm really excited, because I got to choose a project that (I hope) suits me better! I'm getting into work much more now, and the hours pass more quickly. I kind of feel like I've already graduated college and I'm ready to take a full-time position, or continue this one, for a while. Hah, but so much more I want to do in life! Like work for a philanthropic non-profit, ride the 4K for cancer?, and travel the world. Oh and skydive. And get my pilot's license. Ah, too much to do. :) Keeps life fun!

For my lunch break today I met Catiy from the Vocal Chords in the city, who is visiting her boyfriend for the week! It was so good to see her again. I took her to the delicious patisserie Financier, even though it was my second time for two days. We caught up and shared adult work stories... :). Best of luck to you, Caity!

After work I met Maria from EHS and Wolfgang at MoMA to eat and see a bit of their gallery. "Modern" art ends up being a very misleading term! They really should redefine it, since apparently many people think the "modern era" of art has already finished... Lol. Stlil, pretty impressive stuff there - just not what I expected!

And tonight we had drinks in honor of Maria's 21st birthday tomorrow :). I won't be here, so we made sure to party together tonight while we can! A lot of fun. Hopefully I can wake up tomorrow!...

MARY POPPINS

WAS AWESOME. I saw it tonight for cheap through my student housing events, with friends Inci and Charles. IT WAS SO GOOD. Magical! As I tweeted, "It's amazing!!! The songs are sweet, the set SO magnificent, the dancing and costumes engaging... Truly an enchanting musical!" And so it was. The Amsterdam Theatre was also beautiful, right on 42nd Street in the heart of Times Square. Among the amazing things in the musical were various sleights of hand or what could best be called magic tricks, like pulling too-large objects out of Mary's bag (of tricks) or assembling a bed out of thin air.  Statues and toys came to life, a giant amazing tap number fronted the second act flawlessly, the orchestra was perfectly complementary and the score was subtly omnipresent.  More noticeably, the set was phenomenal, ornate and complex and always moving! The house interior itself moved back like a doll house, the roof of the house floated off, the 3rd floor floated to the level of the stage (what great , and all types of pulley lines along the floor pulled props and platforms on stage. There were scrims, popups and of course the requisite trap door. There was a giant umbrella at one point (and I love when things get huge on stage (Cf. Wicked and giant dragons and things? Maybe?)) And everything flew, even besides the house! Bert walked the vertical perimeter of the stage, upside down, and Mary flew several times, the last time predictably into the audience and right by me :). She's a pretty actress, and the entire show was purely magical. A great show for children. You can tell that it was Disney influenced by the villain nanny in the second act - she was truly and clearly evil, like Maleficent even. Ahh it was just flawless, really, the whole show. Go see it!!! 5 stars. Er, 3 Triforces.

More party extravaganzas!

It's a fact. I can never go to bed before 1 AM on a work night :'(. Can't happen! All I want is a good night's rest and a focused day therefore and thereafter, but it looks as if it just can't be done! So to hell with it, a blog post.

This weekend was mad crazy fun like I had anticipated. In short, the Bloomberg Summer Picnic was incredible. It was huge, and fun, and free! Ate a great lunch there, and oh, the alcohol was free too.. soo... an unlimited quantity of red and white sangria = an even more fun time. I didn't zorb because the line was too long, but I did arch, and I still had fun with the whole experience. And I sang karaoke! We were apparently "Rob and the Crew" haha and I sang lead for "I Want It That Way" (necessary choice for karaoke). I collected (somewhat cheaply) all the 12 pins required to get into any activity without waiting in line, but it was too late when I had done so :( drat. At 7pm the big "Heart" in the center (a red and white stage and central meeting place) turned into a dance floor, which all the young people instantly mobbed! It was a great day of nothing but exciting times. There were a lot of activities for kids, as employees' families were welcome. What's more, some presumably gay employees were there with their presumable partners, which was a nice sight to see :). I didn't eat the edible bugs, as I wasn't up to it, but I did have a raspberry syrup'd deep-fried twinkie and that was just glorious.

I left the dance party a bit early (sad but necessary) to rush home on a water taxi, shower, change, and head down to a comedy show I saw with Michelle and Jimmy and his friend. It was a lot like Whose Line Is It Anyway? but of course not as perfectly awesome as that. Still pretty funny! Thereafter I went with my friend Kristen to "Rush" down near the Village, the only gay bar in NYC that's always 18+ from what I can tell. In honor of NYC pride week, their cover charge was high ($25 - boo!) but we still had fun for a few hours. Very busy day, that Saturday...

Sunday, I was lazy for a while! Then I went with Abi to the Pride Fest(ival) in the Village. We ended up missing the actual pride parade (oops) but went to all the vendors and had a good time! I got this glorious mozzarella & cornbread grilled cheese thing that gave me the massive stomach problems I experienced today :(. But it was soo good. I ran into Katie and Sophie, with whom I had earlier resided in Astoria last month, and also Kathryn from home who was visiting (a big surprise)!

After we got back, my neighbor, Kristen's roommate Inci, made some food for a bunch of people in my dorm, so I joined in! Delicious. I met Genzhao there, who is a student from China who lives in Japan in order to learn Japanese, but who is working at the UN here for the summer. We talked language and really got into discussions that lasted way after dinner ended! Hah.

Today back at work was a lethargic day after such fun... for everyone, really. But tonight was an intern fellowship event at Chelsea Piers, a kind of sports complex. They fed us (okay) food (at least it wasn't pizza) and I bowled with the usual Crew and then went rock climbing on my own! Now my fingers are sore from the handholds, and the typing each day too.. Hopefully carpal tunnel isn't in my future!

Pictures soon; tomorrow is Mary Poppins with my housing, EHS! Geez, something to do every day... What'll be next? :). Also, I finished Ender's Game and have bought Ender's Shadow per the recommendation of a good friend, so I'll be starting that next. To bed!!

Quick Update!

So my code is working at work, which means I can start to roll it out to customers and move on to other things, woo hoo! A great way to end a Friday and a long work week. We interns also had to perform the secret thing we've been practicing for the week today, twice. I'll reveal it: a flash mob dance to "Let's Get It Started" (The Black-Eyed Peas). The first time was a flop, and the music didn't play loudly enough. By the second time, everyone had heard and we had an audience waiting for us, with like, cameras... Erg. Anyway!

TOMORROW IS THE SUMMER PARTY SO PSYCHED. And then a comedy show. And then maybe a gay bar! And then probably Pride Fest on Sunday, and maybe seeing another Broadway show!

I say another because I saw one tonight spontaneously! Next to Normal, which was a good script and score - thought-provoking, tear-jerking plot - and nearly flawless. The only problem which really took away from being able to enjoy the piece was the lead actress' singing! Alice Ripley is apparently well renowned as a singer and has won awards for her role in the show that she has portrayed since before it hit Broadway, 2 years at least. So I knew something must be up, and I learned in fact that she has pretty bad vocal damage from performing so frequently. Her belt/higher singing was phonetically morphed, like she was a deaf singer, I suppose in order to ease the singing for herself, but it was severely distracting, unclear and annoying. Easy for me to get upset over it, me, who has not been running the 8-shows-a-week schedule that she has... Megan Mullaly (!! one of my favorites, saw her in Young Frankenstein) will be taking her place in the musical, which is very exciting; I wish I could see that future performance (instead?)! The other singers in the show were POWERHOUSES and great!

After the show, I met up with Kristen and her roommate Maria who happened to be seeing Hair down the street! Kristen is lucky and gets all the free lottery tickets... We went to the Hard Rock Cafe, home of the 1000+ calorie EVERYTHINGS on their menu, and met a cool waiter named "Fox<3" who serves tables by day, but is actually performing in the upcoming ensemble for Spiderman on Broadway. He showed us some of the costume pictures and it looks much more entertaining that you'd think! Exciting

Now I am about to finish Ender's Game with a glass of wine and prepare for the awesomeness ahead. What book should I read after this? Ender's Shadow? Speaker for the Dead?

Waaaaaa busy week!

Oh my. So little time!!! This week has gone by much quicker than usual! Of course I spend most of weekdays at work, and in fact I've been staying as late as 9 PM for the past few days... It's gotten more enjoyable now that I'm actually on track though! My project needs to come to a close soon, i.e. ideally by tomorrow at noon, and I have my code half-working - just a little bit more to go from here! Hopefully I can get it done with and enjoy the weekend for what it'll be...

Which will be great! Like last weekend! (I'll talk about the future before the past.) For one thing, the annual Bloomberg Summer Picnic (/Party) is Saturday! This is an employee vacation day, where Bloomberg rents out a part of Randall's Island and invites all their employees, even from non-NYC offices, to come and have a fun day! Families and children and guests are welcome, but unfortunately not for interns :(. We go solo. In fact, interns are encouraged to go, because we'll be performing a special (mandatory) surprise for all the regular employees there... Lol. It's somewhat "hazing ritual," but even more obviously it's older adult intern program coordinators thinking how cute it is for the younger rookies to do something cute for everyone. Meh. Proud to say I'm one of the more skilled performers among the throngs of compuer programming interns haha. Can't say what it is, in case I spoil the surprise! ...

Anyway, the party is bound to be great. An all-day affair! It features sponsorship by a lot of NYC organizations that Bloomberg itself donates to, i.e. museums like MoMA and dance groups like Alvin Ailey and the Bronx zoo, so we will be able to participate in a slew of cultural events. And I hear... they also have... ZORB BALLS I AM SO RIDING ONE. And to make matters even better, there's alcohol. Maybe even free, knowing Bloomberg. So on the amazing list of things to do is:

• (drunken) zorbing
• archery?!
• wall climbing
• lounge river-side
• learn to dance? tango/capoiera?
• see the choir/orchestra perform @ 4p, maybe the beatboxers @ 6p
• paintball???
• visit the museum booths, partake in activities
• RIDE SEGWAYS
• bocce, bumpercars, human foosball?!
• KARAOKE
• lounge in hammocks <3
• dance dance dance
• Eat wonderful foods

Yeah that's a good list! It's gonna be great. Also, all this week is NYC Pride, culminating this weekend! I plan to go to the parade on Sunday and maybe a bar or two... I'm sure it'll be jumping!

Finally Saturday night after the Party, I'm meeting with Michelle (finally now that she's done her horrid MCAT!) and we're going to see a comedy show downtown woo! No idea what it'll be like...

So, so far I haven't kept up well with my plan below to see a Broadway show every week. Turns out I'm pretty busy with other NYC events... But Tuesday I see Mary Poppins! And I really want to see The 39 Steps with Janey, and The Lion King, and I'll be seeing Mamma Mia!, and really just so many others... Turns out I have so much I want to do! Haha, predictable me. Here's a kind of updated, appended list of things to do:

• Write about the amazing Imogen Heap experience I.. experienced.
• Go to an amusement park w/ JHU peeps
• Meet up with the old Prep folk
• HIT THE BEACH
• Done! Now let's do it again!
• See Pete perform in the city with his band!  His gig was cancelled :(
• Climb the Statue of Liberty
• Go to the Bronx Zoo
• Go to Pride 2010 - soon!
• Go on runs through Central Park - maybe in an impromptu marathon?
• If not, bike! With Becky!
• Row a boat on the pond in Central Park!
• Go sailing on the Hudson??? (or kayaking, as I hear they offer it for free!)
• Maybe picnic there too...
• Buy something awesome and expensive with my new paycheck
• Visit Chinatown (a lot!)
• Eat in Little Italy
• See a show - every week! (already behind on this one, haha)
• Host guests - every week? haha
• Visit Coney Island
• Go to the Hamptons?
• Visit the UN
• Go to museums! MoMA, Gugenheim, the Met, Nat. History, MAD, all of Museum Mile, Japan Society, ...Sex Museum?
•  I get in for free with my Bloomberg badge, so let's go everywhere!
• Visit with my NYC friends, and have other friends visit me!
• Find love, or something
• Attend the Summer Stage / Shakespeare plays in Central Park
• See an indie film, perhaps, in Brooklyn? Or at Herald Square

Woosh. I need a better schedule. Only like, 7 weeks left pretty soon? Oh boy.

Last thing for the future is, I'm going back to JHU for the 4th of July! Hope to see the friends who are staying in Baltimore while I'm there, and get some work done for the Vocal Chords and to prepare for the fall with APO.

Ohhhhh geez I am writing too muchhhh. Okay what has happened.  Yesterday Rebecca and I went unexpectedly to see "The Karate Kid" "remake." Not only did it feature not karate but kung fu, but it was also very different from the original... not exactly what I expected, but still entertaining! Not often you see African(-American) and Asian cultures collide... or Jackie Chan cry for that matter. The finishing move was bad ass though. I have resolved that I retroactively want to have spent some of my younger years in China. The end.

Tonight I went to the Museum of Arts and Design with a colleague, Wolfgang. It was really interesting, their "dead or alive" exhibit was particularly evocative! A lot of beauitful art created out of dead animals and plants in a not-so-morbid way.... Like a beautiful 3D flower portrait made out of the bones of various animals (you can't even tell at first glance), 60 shaped human skulls each made up of different types of herbs, and a Chinese scroll print recreated as a shadow of plant fronds etc. on a backdrop... All very cool stuff. I recommend you go!

Random news:

• I CAN'T get this amazing a cappella out of my head. Listen! BYU Vocal Point sings "Nearer My God To Thee"
• iPhone has a new OS! Woo. Now I can listen to a cappella on Pandora while doing other things, sweet.

OKAY BED.

Weekend Tourism!

Mmm so sleepy. A week of work ahead? Blargh! My resolution is to see a Broadway show this week... But which one? Hmm...

This was a very fun weekend! Met some new friends in my dorm as I went on some admittedly very touristy RA-sponsored events. The programs and atmosphere here are pretty lax and do-what-you-want, and I can usually do things cheaper through them, so, why not?

Yesterday I went to the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island. Long subway trip there, EXTREMELY packed, but a fun experience. Had to go there once, at least. It might be better there when it's less crowded... although I hear it's not exactly the best beach location in the world. Got a corn dog and saw some interesting outfits; apparently Neil Patrick Harris was there among the crowd mobs... I wonder if I unknowingly bumped into him?...

 

That night I went out to karaoke downtown with Rebecca and Suzanne! I've never really done that before and I'm pretty sure I could have stayed there all night...

 

And today I went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island! Lady Liberty herself was of course big, yet still smaller than I imagined! Didn't really realize the American-built pedestal was, first, American-built, but also nearly half the height of the statue. I have to say I love the idea of personified Liberty - the Romans (after whose goddess Bartholdi modeled the statue) knew what they were doing. We met a character actor there who was posing as Bartholdi the creator from 100+ years ago - realized that fact soon after I told him I was interning at the mayor's company and he didn't know who Bloomberg was :). Ellis Island I discovered was originally less than half of its current size, and it's filled with the memories of desperation for a new chance in the New World... intriguing to see America now versus then, and compare how eager people were/are to come here. I really need to escape one day and see what it looks like from the outside.

 

There was so much history there I couldn't even learn all about it in one day (and I hate having to leave museum exhibits before I'm done!...). Seeing these places firsthand has jump-started an interest in world history that I never thought I had... That, and learning about finance at work, wanting almost to open a economics textbook... What's happening to me? Pretty soon there won't be any topic I dislike. Okay... bed!

Mmmm Friday

Weekend. Yess. Free time!! It's going to go by too quickly... I'm really tired so I will try to keep this brief!

Work: I am still slowly progressing... Wish I could just code and not have to worry about all these departmental complications. Had an intern event with Bloomberg Sports where they promoted their new Facebook baseball app - check it out, it's actually really cool! Plus I get stuff if you join and we're friends... :). Needless to say, I wasn't very interested...

Instead, I was checking out Toy Story 3 on my iPhone - a movie I saw later tonight with friends Kevin from work and Melissa, both from JHU! It was a good movie - clearly there was ample room for this trequel, and it was very enjoyable and funny. I don't know what's come over me lately, but I have been crying at pretty much any movie nowadays - I'm a big wuss. Even if the movie isn't necessarily tear-worthy... Any ounce of 'aww' and I'm done for. This film especially. Pixar can really do this to me... Good thing I had 3D glasses to hide behind (and that we were just in time, having to sit at the very bottom right, ow my neck. oops) Maybe I don't get enough of these deep values in my day-to-day life of which Pixar makes sure to remind me? Or maybe they just have a good way of showing people growing up in an instant, in 2 hours, and I'm a huge sucker for that. Life keeps moving... scary.

The three of us then traipsed around Times Square, got gelato, trolled the exit of Mamma Mia! to see if my friend Alyse (one of the stars) would pop out... Alas, she didn't. I'll be sure to see her in the show next month though. Fun night! Movies, friends... these are good things to have. More this weekend! + tourism! hehe

Randoms:

• AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER MOVIE is just two weeks away!! Ahhh what??? Crazy!
• This BP oil spill stuff is crazy. I kind of want BP to go under as a martyr to the cause of renewable energy! It is a bit ridiculous that an oil slick the size of Delaware or something is just floating down there... From my office chair at a desk in a Manhattan high rise every day, I think how much I want to be down in Louisiana cleaning up the beaches.
• NEW ZELDA 2011 SKYWARD SWORD ahh it's gonna be great! E3 showed that Nintendo has amazing stuff coming out including:
• A new Zelda game for Wii with Impressionist art and real 1:1 sword control with the Wiimote
• 3DS, the new DS featuring 3D without the need for 3D glasses, woah
• Remake of Ocarina of Time in this new 3D
• New Paper Mario game in 3D
• So many other cool games and upgrades... big year for NTDOY! (their stock ticker name - memorized)
• OCremix made this awesome Oracle of Ages Zelda mix... Every track from the game is featured. I'm excited to check it out!

Okay, sreep. Hopefully the $1 strawberries I bought on the corner tonight at midnight are not dubious!

Robular the Popular?

So apparently people actually read this thing! Surprise to me! Maybe I should take that link off of my Facebook... Considering my mom has also discovered this. (Hi mom!...) Yeah, well, ...

Today at work was actually a good day, because I got something to work! Huzzah! After two weeks... hopefully things will continue to pick up pace and progress henceforth. Still not getting enough sleep as I'd like, though... maybe getting in after 10 every night and trying to write a blog is not helping ^_^. Exercise seems to be beneficial though!

Tonight I met Rebecca for dinner at the Grey Dog near Union Square. Thereafter we went to Filene's Basement in a desperate search for good khakis. Of course, nothing of quality can be found in such a place, I'm not sure what I was thinking... I ended up buying a belt for $25 though, whereas Rebecca stumbled upon a glorious article of gold sequined glory, marked down from $600 to $175. Needless to say, given my penchant for absconding with sequinwear, I will be borrowing it for something, I'm sure. Hah.

FRIDAY TOMORROW WOOHOO

Yaaaaaaaaawn

Ugh okay this is far too later than my bedtime is supposed to be. Drat! Tonight I tried to exercise and do laundry after getting home at roughly 10 pm. Bad idea. But not before seeing Janey at the res life office! I signed up for the Statue of Liberty tour this Sunday (woo!) and I'm on the list for seeing Mary Poppins two Tuesdays from now on Broadway. Memphis was available for this Tuesday, but it sold out quickly... :(. Maybe I'll still try to go.

Today I had part 2 of my Introduction to Securities financial class that I'm taking through Bloomberg. It's mainly a seminar type thing, but it's actually really informative and interesting!!! I think Bloomberg instilled a curiosity in me for the world of commerce, 'cause I never cared one bit about these things before... I'm even contemplating reading a macro/microeconomics textbook sometime! This is scary. Anyway my lecturers are very competent and that's exactly what I need, because I can ask them all the dumb questions I have to get myself up to speed. Still not exactly clear what makes a stock go up & down though... but other than that I'm learning much!

I also had a wellness seminar through Bloomberg at lunch, which talked to us about making healthy eating choices. Now the free pantries seem like devilish temptresses, knowing that eating essentially anything will give me cancer. I think I won't eat for a while now. But it was also really informative.. I'm certainly learning a lot about how to better myself, and hopefully my exercise routine will keep up! Tomorrow's agenda: prepare as much as possible for my code review on Friday, and go to dinner with Becky, round 2!

Aghhh I suck at updating...

So I decided that since I barely have time at night before going to bed for work the next day, that I'm going to try to post on a per-day basis, and retroactively post for days I miss. So here goes!

Tonight I decided on a whim to see the Alvin Ailey company's modern dance performance. It was at the BAM Opera House in Brooklyn, a beautiful venue. Balcony seats were pretty cheap and the company is being sponsored by Bloomberg this season, which is how I heard of it.

Apparently they have two different performance sets which alternate by day; I unknowingly chose one I would like less... But it was still a good show! Three acts: The first was a traditional Christian mass interpreted as dance, and followed the traditional order - processional, reading, responsorial psalm, gospel, etc. The second was a more modern piece with themes of nature and passion, very cool. Featured Radiohead music! "Everything In Its Right Place" as covered by a string quartet.

The third and final act was the Alvin Ailey choreographed "Revelations", which was his first and major claim-to-fame. It was clearly the best, as a particularly Brooklynesque usher told me. The predominantly African American company was clothed in browns and golds and yellows that complemented the dancers' varied skin tones; the lighting would change to make their appear as if glistening with gold, or made of potter's clay. Very cool effects. The choreo itself was powerful and new for 1958, when apparently it made its first debut.

The show was worth going to, although I got home just at my bedtime :(... Sigh. Very little time with a full-time job! The venue also offers many screenings of films of various flavors - new, indie, classics, etc. - and I saw they have a lot of cool ones that I've already missed. Darn.

Meanwhile, I've been reading Ender's Game and been more eager to finish it than do anything else, really - I was reading it during intermissions, and I've read it on my lunch breaks at work. Almost done! Ready to move onto Ender's Shadow :). Night!

Day Much Later

Haven't updated in a while, the first week has been very busy! But so much to write about. I'll have to take it segments. So much, and it's so late. For now, let's look at the list of things I want to do in NYC while I'm here, slash for the summer in general. Maybe some of these are unrealistic... anyway, I better get on it.

• Sing on stage live with Imogen Heap OH WAIT I ALREADY DID THAT
• Go to an amusement park w/ JHU peeps
• Meet up with the old Prep folk
• HIT THE BEACH
• See Pete perform in the city with his band!
• Climb the Statue of Liberty
• Go to the Bronx Zoo
• Go to Pride 2010
• Go on runs through Central Park - maybe in a marathon?
• If not, bike! With Becky!
• Row a boat on the pond in Central Park!
• Go sailing on the Hudson???
• Maybe picnic there too...
• Buy something awesome and expensive with my new paycheck
• Visit Chinatown (a lot!)
• Eat in Little Italy
• See a show - every week! (already behind on this one, haha)
• Host guests - every week? haha
• Visit Coney Island - see the hot dog contest?
        Extra points: Make out with the Japanese winner guy ^_^
• Go to the Hamptons?
• Visit the UN
• Go to museums! MOMA, Gugenheim, the Met, Nat. History...
        I get in for free with my Bloomberg badge, so let's go everywhere!
• Visit with my NYC friends, and have other friends visit me!
• Find love, or something

Let's do it.

Day 3

Day 3, done! Training at Bloomberg is going well, but it's very fast-paced. Come our 5th day on Tuesday, we'll supposedly be fully prepared to enter our specific project groups and begin working! Thrilling. Yesterday we interns met with a few of the members from our respective groups, and they were nice. But I still have yet to understand what "EMS Core Systems" really means, or what I'll be doing. My teacher nowadays is a man that Bloomberg flew in from London just to teach us, but who is of Middle Eastern descent like my friend Junaid, so the wonderful accent that comes out of his mouth is not what you'd expect! His name is Zamir and he's incredibly knowledgeable for having only been an employee for 6 months...

Today I also learned a bit about stocks and equities! Now I kinda understand this stuff more! Kinda good since I work at a financial company.

Bloomberg seems to be everywhere lately, which is confusing me since I had no idea what the company was or who the person was until about this year. He's almost fully integrated into my life... I of course work for him, indirectly, in his building. In NYC where I currently reside, he is the mayor. There is Bloomberg TV, radio, news, all across the media. The company just bought Businessweek mag. And at JHU, I take classes at the Bloomberg Physics & Astronomy building. An entire Bloomberg School of Public Health belongs to the university, as it is his alma mater. And he just gave the commencement speech to my dear senior friends at their graduation today. See? Everywhere. Check out his speech though, it was really impressive. He's done it before too.

Lately I've been reading Ender's Game, because I apparently missed the boat on that 10 years ago. I'm only at the part where the Launchies are undergoing initial training, and Ender was just transferred to Salamander Army. Funnily, in my intern training I can't help but feel like I'm in the same situation - we're all being trained as youths and we're expected to show our unique performances, try to stand out among our peers, the "best of the best" (which, c'mon, are CS majors, obviously.) At least for their needs in FSD, Financial Software Development. Oh, that's another thing; Bloomberg has millions of acronyms, and no one can remember them all. Anyway I'm really enjoying both the book and the internship. Thinking about how known and powerful Michael Bloomberg is right now, and where I was just hours ago, unknown and at the bottom of his own company, sitting in the basement of his building on one of his 270,000 terminals worldwide, And I felt like Ender. I don't know how the book turns out, but you expect him to win, you expect him to surpass everyone else and become the best among all ever. I had a false vision of that for me, haha, that I am at Level 1 now, in physically and hierarchically the lowest place, and maybe one day I'll be battling Bloomberg himself as the final boss before taking over the company. Haha, a long road. But this, and talk of stocks today, and how unknown people with unlikely companies and dumb-sounding ideas become the most unique and successful in the world, I wondered - and I don't really have an answer for this - which would I really rather want to be: powerful and well-known, or silent and unknown? Both have their perks.

So after work today, I stopped in the Bloomingdale's which is next to my office (and takes up a whole block in midtown, essentially). I guess they group the "Bloom___" companies together ;). It is a MAZE but it is the most amazing department store I've ever been in... especially because it's a maze inside! I took a look at what they had to offer... the above pics are of what I guess is some sort of jacket? It was see-through, made of single-ply 100% "metallic", whatever that is, and was $400. I'll take 5! Hahaha it's great to windowshop like this and imagine what life would be like if I were a wealthy NYC native, able to buy all this stuff at whim. I also spotted the fabled "cologne sprayers", people whose job is just to stand there and offer cologne samples, as Will and Grace has instructed me lol. I deftly evaded them.

In other news, Super Mario Galaxy 4 seems to be amazing. Good thing I elected not to bring my Wii to NYC, or else I'd just play that instead of go to work, lol.

The Gulf oil spill seems to be not amazing. Namely, the "worst environmental disaster in U.S. history." :(

Astoria, and Queens in general, is a very nice neighborhood. There are a lot of great-looking restaurants on 30th Avenue that I pass on my way to the subway, and I want to try them all! It's crazy to realize tomorrow will be my last day here, before I head to DC for a bit and come back to move into my East Harlem/Upper East Side apt. It was a short but nice stay. I'm making plans to go to one of those restaurants tomorrow with Sophie and Katie (my apartment-mates), at least. Then it's early to bed and 5:30 AM to rise. :( Catching that bus that arrives in DC by noon.

Speaking of DC, IMOGEN HEAP! I'm singing with the Vocal Chords at her DC concert! With my arrangement of her song "Earth"! So terribly psyched. Two days! Psyched. I'll post pics/vids. Here's a Chicago a cappella group that did what we'll do, but not as well ;). Also hoping to hit up the Jersey shore with the Prep guys, but time is sincerely at a premium :(. May not happen.

Way over my bedtime again :( Guess I'll sleep a lot on the bus to DC. Ciao!

Bloomberg Internship - Day One!

Welcome to New York City! I'm so psyched to be here for as long as even these short two and a half months. I'm going to try and pack everything I can into my time here... But that's already talking about a lot! I have a running list, I'll have to edit it frequently, but I'll post it here for myself and others soon. So much to do! I already love this city :).

Yesterday my Dad drove me up to NYC and we took it easy. We stopped at a very great trattoria called "Ornella" in Astoria, Queens, and I unknowingly chose their best dish - Buscatini, I think it was called - veal, chicken, California spinach, wild mushrooms, some cheeses all in one giant envelope-shaped pasta, like a giant ravioli. That and some Italian flan, several glasses of red wine and a complimentary shot of limoncello from Sergio, our caring waiter, and having the place unusually to ourselves made it a wonderful, extremely delicious experience! Go, if you can! Funnily I think I saw Sergio on the streets tonight...

Finally I arrived at Sophie's apartment in Astoria where I'll be staying for a week before I move into my real apartment (read: "dorm"), EHS, on the border of East Harlem ("El Barrio", Spanish Harlem) and the Upper East Side, 97th and 3rd. Sophie's place is small but pretty much all I would need! I have a small furnished room and the bed on which I currently am is very comfy. A shame I didn't know about it sooner, could have saved thousands on rent by living outside of Manhattan.. From here I walk 10 minutes to the N/R/W subways and the subway ride should be about the same as my ride on the 6 starting next week. (Hopefully that will be air conditioned!...) At EHS, I'll only walk two blocks to the subway, however.

Day 1 at Bloomberg was amazing. The building is beautiful and so well designed, filled with all kinds of art of various colors and shapes... A giant spiral of a couch to sit on, sculpture and light fixtures, and rainbows of color in large draperies and everywhere you look. Keystones of the principles Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who founded the company in 1981, set forth for the company are transparency - everyone can see what everyone is doing, and the same data - and a flat hierarchy, where no one really has a title over anyone else. Keeping that in mind, they designed the building with glass walls for every room, so everyone can see who is where.

Some cooler features of the building include a curved escalator - one of apparently 6 or 7 in the world - and a green room with polarized glass where you can see in but not see out. Film studios are right there in the building, and you can see the filming live. There are 22 evocative fishtanks, a koi pond among them, througout the building as well. And there are 3 "pantries" where you can walk up and get whatever you want to eat for free. It's truly comfortable and beautiful!

I'll be working the R&D department, under a project involved with "EMS Core Systems" or something... I have no idea what that is... But I will soon! For now, I'm in intern training until Tuesday. Today, we learned a lot about the Bloomberg proprietary software - which they call with narcissism "a Bloomberg," and I find that kind of odd... "Did you log into your Bloomberg?" Like saying, "Have you opened your Keleher lately?" But whatever, Mike's the mayor of NYC, and the founder of this company, and donator of probably a billion dollars to JHU for the building in which I have classes and a cappella concerts, so, I'm not complaining :).

Ah, I must sleep. I'm over my bedtime by a lot, but I wanted to write for posterity. Look for some pics soon. Also, I ran for a mile and a half this evening! Kudos to me. Looks like everything's turning around :).