prior vs present

Prior Neighborhood Present Neighborhood

abundance of healthy food options /abundance of crap/fried food
fun bars/my watering hole /I don't go out after dark
Ready, willing, & able street cleaning /trash? just throw it on the ground
lots of nanny pushing strollers /lots of pregnant minorities
blocks from Madison Avenue /99 cent stores on every corner
dropped off my laundry /people asking me for money while I do laundry
I could be somewhere in 15 minutes /have to leave at least an hour
sounds of cabs honking /loud latino music and car alarms
fresh flowers at delis /people selling bodywash and watches from tables
fast paced/get there /all the time in the world and taking up the whole sidewalk
Post office and post box /have yet to see anyplace to send mail
movie theaters /99 cent stores
starbucks /fried chicken (that they insist you eat with ketchup)
taste-d-lite /unconditioned bodegas with freeze dried popsicles

lotto

I bought my first NY lottery ticket today, the jackpot is $132M, with the thought that if I win I could move back into Manhattan. I am not saying my apartment is not great, it is, once you get to it. My roommates are very kind and have once saved my ass when I was running late for work. As a 31 year old it is odd to have to return to sharing a space and not really feeling like it is my own. I am considerably homesick and this is attributing to my thoughts of my fantastic large loft in which George feels at home as well. I am sure that my impending trip home is aiding in this longing I have.
I changed my bedding today to brand new sheets and duvet cover after getting my duvet from the dry cleaner since this cat (which is about to get shipped home in a box) decided to take her homesickness out on my bed. Suffice to say, it is miracle she is still alive right now. We are now working on tough love in which she is not allowed in my bedroom unless I am here. Luckily the roomies are very loving to her while I am away on trips and such. I am not sure how long it will take to get her adjusted and what to do if she doesn't.
While I am ranting on, I also have to say that it is a pain in the ass just to run home to change or just grab something so I wander around the city like a nomad sometimes when I have multiple things happening in one day. I am sure Chris loves that I always bring my shopping bags over!
I realize that is has only been a month and there are adjustment periods for everything so I am going to be patient with ol' Brooklyn and remember that I am saving half in rent. Plus my new bed is fantastically making me smile at the moment.

what the hell?

Explain to me this: I am usually the one who text/calls Chris to figure out how to fit him in my week. Granted I am never worried about can I call and all the bullshit that goes along with dating, it just doesn’t apply to us. He always gets back to me and usually within minutes of contact. So after our great date Monday I just haven’t called him mostly because I don’t have a day next week to give him yet. Plus, I wanted to see if he would call me. Well Wednesday night after getting off work and looking at my phone on my way up the stairs, the bouncer tells me there is a guy here to see me. I immediately thought it was Chris since he knew I was working that night. It was the St Patty’s guy, Dave and you’ll never guess who I missed a call from twenty minutes earlier. The message was that he took his softball team to the new store (where he thought I was working) and was sorry to have missed me. I asked my manager whom I love, what the fuck? He told me guys seem to have a sixth sense when they should make a move. My response was, so you guys are smarter than we give you credit for? Nah, just enough to mess with you girls, was his response.

my week...

So I have been working my tail end off lately even with the dog walking taking the month off as any good New York does. I have picking up shift with the waitress/hostess gig. On Sunday after surviving the day but in much need of a hug, I worked 1700 til 0100 at the new store and then met the roomie for after work drink and to split a cab home.
Monday I did nothing all day and met up with Chris for dinner. We went to an excellent tapas place and then I introduced him to Laurant. And there was a moment as he poured me another glass of Sangria that I thought, “I could defiantly do this for a while”. We even got into a heated discussion about the politics of cultures agreeing to disagree.
Tuesday I was back at my favorite store on the Westside playing the part of hostess. Getting off at 2300, changing and then hiting a friends birthday party at Mansion. I was showing a new flight attendant friend the in’s and outs of nightlife in the city as she just had moved. After hanging at Mansion for a bit, we headed over to Marquee and then Bungalow 8 finishing, of course, at my favorite Cafeteria.
Five hours of sleep was rewarded with pressed coffee and conversation with Laurant the next morning. I dinked around the house and spent some q.t. with Jorge who is still adjusting but getting better with her three roommates. Finally I drug myself up and back into the city. Since I never spent any real amount of time on the Westside, the plethora of trains is a bit of a mystery but according to hopstop.com I was to take the j to the f transfer at 14th to the 1 and walk a couple of blocks. Simple enough if I was paying attention at 14th and had more patience at 66th I finally got into work and ordered up a burger to curb the hangover I knew would be arriving soon. We spent the first hour of my hostess then waitress shift trying new shots. I swapped shirts and shoes and then hit the floor to wait. We had a good amount of people and I didn’t feel as overwhelmed this time. I sat a couple of guys out of my section just so I didn’t get too swamped and then ended up staying forever. Since they were a table I passed by a bunch I stopped and bantered a bit every once and a while.
I had no tables so I went back to talk to these guys and one of them asked me what I would give him if he could guess my last name. Not wanting to explain to my manager that I had to comp a drink because I lost a bet. So I told him that I would give him a kiss. He took the offer which must have surprised him and then said it. I looked down to see if I was wearing a nametag. And then I really looked at him and with wide eyed surprise figured out who his was. The guys Yoder and I were hanging out with on St Patty’s Day! I immediately blurted out, wow you fell off the face of the earth. We texted for about a month and never seemed to meet up. So with advice from Craytie and a bruised ego, I stopped trying. He thought the same about me. So some quick apologizes proceeded catching up.
Friday I headed out to LHR after meeting the lady I met on the flight home from NRT (Bali) in SoHo for lunch. I worked the first class galley on the 777 for the first time and rocked the hell out of it! My aisle girls are absolute idiots but that’s ok because it just makes me look better! Headed home tomorrow and then picked up the closing waitress shift at the Westside. Currently dancing around my hotel room to the new Rihanna, great song!

the ride

The 15th of this month held the answer to whether or not I would have a job still, whether or not I could walk away from this crazy world of going, gong, going but wait, there is a weather delay or we are totally full, or aren't you too new to know what you are doing?
Added to all of this day to day bullshit that people don't consider when you are "glamorously" walking through the airport in uniform with luggage, is when you are stuck working with a person you don't like. I was assigned this trip and immediately cringed when I saw the ISM. I hadn't worked with her before but I knew that she was friends with the ex. I went to work with that on my mind and who do you think got on the bus at Port Authority? I can't begin to tell you how uncomfortable it made me. The trip was fine and I kept to myself most the time intentional dodging the personal questions expect to relay that I am fantastically happy now. She will her "power" to tell me how unprofessional I was to be playing cards with some of my passengers. I intern told the customers the message and they wrote in three letters of compliments. And to top off the trip she along with the ex were on the bus home gossiping away. It was sure a trip I would like to forget and hope doesn't occur for quite some time if ever.


It occurred to me while walking around Edinburgh, a city transformed by annual festivals, that this ride I am currently on is not over, nor is it stopping to let me off. Like it or not.

next wave of boarding

So last night was the first night I was on the floor as a waitress. I took the shift at the store mostly because I was excited to work but also because the golf outing (which Chris participated in) and I wanted to check it out. Well, I could have picked a better store to throw myself into the action. Mind you, besides the two private parties, the store just opened so for four solid hours I ran around with my head cut off. My 11 tables would all be sat at once, and then they wanted to order at once, then they wanted their check at the same time. Finally I just went from one table to the next taking orders and then dropping off drinks. I didn't have time to be overly friendly and to be the waitress that I would like to be. I didn't even have time to pee. I would take my deep breaths while standing at the computer inputting 11 orders at a time. I had the thought that being a flight attendant and waitress...pretty much the same thing with 35,000 feet difference. Well, here is the main difference: once people are served that's it, the doors don't open and reseat people.
I made it back home at 0130 with my cab driver telling me how bad my neighborhood was and that I should move to Staton Island. How bout you mind your business and just drive motherfucker...the Brooklyn is rubbing off! ; )
So today, I am doing nothing. My legs hurt from working, I bathed then in the sunshine and they are about to get a pedicure. I have no plans to leave the hood today. The roomies are home as well and the four cats, yes I said four are trying desperately to get along. Organized chaos, right here in Brooklyn.

bella roma

Even though the other aisle gal was the New Yorker that I hope to never end up like, the ISM hated me, the other reserve under minded me and told everyone that I was new and didn't know what I was doing, I had a great layover which erased the bullshit of the flight. I got to go Rome!!! The first officer and my galley gal set off and saw everything you are supposed to while in Rome while finding time for gelato, pizza, and Italian beer. We even hit the supermarket and picked up wine coffee, chocolate, and stuff to make Chris dinner. I even got a tan while checking out the sights.
These are the trips I live for and pay the dues of UK flights for months on end, crazy crews, and rude passengers. Yes, this is my silver lining for the summer.
Love, love Italy and can't wait to go back!

sending out an s.o.s.

I land from my long ass trip with the slow crew of the year and do the exact opposite to get into the city. The guys I met on St Patty's Day while waiting for Yoder have come into town and invited me to a tv taping. I changed in the back of a cab, dropped my luggage off at their hotel, and hopped another cab up to Harlem. I arrived at the Apollo just in time to meet the guys and walk in before the door shut. None of us really knew what was going on but sitting twenty feet from the stage, we learned this was tv taping for a new show on Sundance. Elvis Costello is interviewing musicians while adding in his music and stories. Mind you I knew who he was and I knew his songs but I never linked them prior. We were instructed to clap on clue although the performances required no fakeness what so ever. So the band....THE POLICE in their very last appearance of television together. First interview was Andy then Stewart, and then Sting, and then all together. After the amazing, intimate conversations, with a few versus of chorus between Elvis and Sting their bands got together and started jamming.
Definitely one of those, Holy Shit moments in life.

my role model

I was given trip to EDI and was super excited first to return to one of my favorite cities but also to see Pam Ann. She is a comedian who makes fun of flight attendants. We were a poor showing compared to Zoom and Easy Jet but still got pulled up on stage to end the show with a dance. It pretty much consisted of us with our arms out like airplanes "flying around". Good fun with the only two people on the crew I could handle to be around voluntarily. The crew in the back, the ones I had to work with because I signed myself up for the purser position, I was about to kill them because of their slowness and unnecessary drama. Old goodie-to-shoes in the back convinced an anorexic girl that she needed an ambulance to meet the aircraft. I asked her why she didn't just give her something to eat? Thank goodness the day got better....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge_x1U2rYBo&feature=related

toto (george), i don't think we are on the upper east side anymore

I seem to pick the hottest days on record to do my moving but this time I spent the best $170 ever by hiring movers. The day prior I was blessed with getting a personal drop so I could spend the whole day packing and cleaning. The movers came at the bright early time of 0800 and I greeted them with donuts and water. Within 45 minutes they had my life loaded and I hopped in the truck with them and their absolutely looney boss. We drove to my new home in Brooklyn. Even though I had been here once to check the place out and knew that I would be "down grading" from the UES, it was still funny to see how much different my neighborhoods were. No Starbucks in sight, it was throw back to ol' Kearny but luckily within five minutes of the city, the city is within viewing of the rooftop.
I unpacked a bunch of stuff and then went home to finish cleaning up and get the rest of my stuff which snowballed into five damn bags plus George. I called a car because I couldn't begin to tell a cab where the hell I moved to and I didn't want any fuss about the other passenger. So we drove in style to the new neighborhood, leaving the strollers, nannies, and jews behind. I now live in raw Brooklyn with two French guy roommates and three other cats.
Should have some good stories coming up....