Monday, July 05, 2004
A look back
Okay, this has nothing to do with life in Korea, or at least I am not plannig that it will. But I'm here in my apartment in Mokdong, looking out the window at a fairly impressive Seoul cityscape (it's not a Manhattan cityscape, but it's pretty cool).
One year ago, I was living in the Bronx at C's house, although she wasn't there. It was obnoxiously hot, and I was working a lot from home. Our room was effectively a greenhouse, letting in light and heat but not letting any of it out. The upstairs was unbearable unless I pointed the fan straight at myself all the time. The neighbors would turn on loud Indian techno music, but would turn it down or off after about 2 minutes. It was very strange. Johnson and I were in full swing with UMU, and I was starting to plan out the new 700Level.
Like I said, C wasn't there. She was away working at the summer camp. She would call about once a week and start a screaming fight with me over the phone. So, needless to say, my nights were very stressful because either I was expecting her to call and fight with me, or she would call and ruin my night. Seeing each other was better, because we would fight early and then she would collapse, exhausted, and pass out for a few hours.
What the hell was I thinking?
Right around this time, I found the apartment in the East Village. I put a deposit down on it and contacted Marisa. I moved in at the end of July and I have to say that my life significantly changed for the better with that apartment. It sounds dumb and only has a little to do with moving out of the Bronx, but that apartment changed a lot of things.
For one thing, it is right downtown. Right in the thick of things. I mean, one day I left my apartment and there was one of the guys from "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" about 30 feet from my building (later, the whole cast was there). "Temple" has become part of my life to the point where I can just stop by to say hello and not eat. During the blackout, people just came to my place and hung out/crashed there.
Another thing is the back yard, which makes my apartment hands-down the best place in New York for parties. There have been a number of hardcore ragers there, and only one ended in disaster (C was involved, otherwise it would have been one of the better ones). Sure, there's been a few minor injuries, some people have passed out on the patio, but the bleeding has been minimal. And once we took the batteries out of the smoke detector (sorry, Marisa, that was me) we didn't have to worry about that anymore.
That's about it for what I was up to a year ago. I've come a LONG LONG way since then, and this post doesn't do justice to the things that have happened to and around me. People have left my life and I miss them. Some have left and it's for the best. Some have come back (here I am thinking specifically of Sabina ... I'm going to email her right after I finish this), and some interesting new people have come into my life.
In New York, unlike any other place I've been, things happen so fast. You know how you have a crazy week or month where things just change so fast? That's life in New York all the time.
One year ago, I was living in the Bronx at C's house, although she wasn't there. It was obnoxiously hot, and I was working a lot from home. Our room was effectively a greenhouse, letting in light and heat but not letting any of it out. The upstairs was unbearable unless I pointed the fan straight at myself all the time. The neighbors would turn on loud Indian techno music, but would turn it down or off after about 2 minutes. It was very strange. Johnson and I were in full swing with UMU, and I was starting to plan out the new 700Level.
Like I said, C wasn't there. She was away working at the summer camp. She would call about once a week and start a screaming fight with me over the phone. So, needless to say, my nights were very stressful because either I was expecting her to call and fight with me, or she would call and ruin my night. Seeing each other was better, because we would fight early and then she would collapse, exhausted, and pass out for a few hours.
What the hell was I thinking?
Right around this time, I found the apartment in the East Village. I put a deposit down on it and contacted Marisa. I moved in at the end of July and I have to say that my life significantly changed for the better with that apartment. It sounds dumb and only has a little to do with moving out of the Bronx, but that apartment changed a lot of things.
For one thing, it is right downtown. Right in the thick of things. I mean, one day I left my apartment and there was one of the guys from "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" about 30 feet from my building (later, the whole cast was there). "Temple" has become part of my life to the point where I can just stop by to say hello and not eat. During the blackout, people just came to my place and hung out/crashed there.
Another thing is the back yard, which makes my apartment hands-down the best place in New York for parties. There have been a number of hardcore ragers there, and only one ended in disaster (C was involved, otherwise it would have been one of the better ones). Sure, there's been a few minor injuries, some people have passed out on the patio, but the bleeding has been minimal. And once we took the batteries out of the smoke detector (sorry, Marisa, that was me) we didn't have to worry about that anymore.
That's about it for what I was up to a year ago. I've come a LONG LONG way since then, and this post doesn't do justice to the things that have happened to and around me. People have left my life and I miss them. Some have left and it's for the best. Some have come back (here I am thinking specifically of Sabina ... I'm going to email her right after I finish this), and some interesting new people have come into my life.
In New York, unlike any other place I've been, things happen so fast. You know how you have a crazy week or month where things just change so fast? That's life in New York all the time.
