It appears that my time here in New York has come to an end.  It’s been 3 years and one month since I rolled into this town with nothing more than what would fit in my car.  Now I’m packing up and heading out; destination unknown.

I’ve been finishing up some business here in the city which included the last two shows that I already had tickets.  This included Citizen Cope and 2 Skinnee J’s.  For both of these shows I went all high class and checked my coat.  It was fancy.

Citizen Cope put on a good show.  The guest vocalist was amazing; her name was Alice something.  Otherwise it was a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg; too many people way too drunk to be enjoying themselves and people who won’t dance unless the really have to.

The J’s show was totally different and not just because it was at BB Kings (interesting side-note this is the first venue I saw a show at in the city).  This show was set up as a dinner theater, which I hadn’t anticipated.  I hung back behind the sound board where I usually am in that venue.  I saw I swear to god John Cho’s younger brother.  It was as if he walked right off the set of American Pie.  Anyway the music was good and the stories were interesting, but it was an odd experience.  The guy next to me had interviewed Buzz Aldrin on NPR that morning and had played the J’s song Pluto.

Next up is packing up the Brooklyn apartment and heading out.  It’s time for a new adventure.

I have returned!  My pre-planned winter vacations have now come to an end.  The last trip was to Idaho.  I got to break out my winter gear.  I do love my hat.

I know there are some people that don’t like the hat, but I say it’s way better than this one:

I say boo to this hat.  I do.  Anyway…it was the end of the Ice Festival in McCall.  Much like in Minnesota people made stuff out of snow.  Then, of course there is a judging.  This year’s theme was Wild Idaho.  This one didn’t win anything, but it made me laugh:

Overall it was a really great time.  I had fancy food: rachlette.  Went for walks in the winter wonderland known as the golf course, and even visited the mountain.  Next time I am snowboarding I swear.  Full photo album linked with the photo below.

My gym membership has officially ended. Have I decided to take a break and go back to lounging around watching Bones all day? No! I’ve been getting up and jogging through my neighborhood. Sometimes I claim to be running, but let’s be honest here: I’m jogging. The weather has been mostly compliant with the exception of today. I awoke to a dusting of snow and couldn’t quite make myself go out. I have a fear of falling and needing medical assistance; lacks of insurance does that. (Sidenote: wasn’t my government suppose to do something about that?)

My point is cardio is good for you, but weights are better for burning fat and let’s face it, I’m no Fiona. So all last month I hit the weights at the gym. What about now you ask? Well I was checking up on my twitter peoples and someone had retweeted a link to Nerd Fitness. I believe it was Art of Manliness (I think of it as art of decent human beings). Anyhow I started reading Nerd Fitness; how could I not it had a photo of toy storm-troopers doing push-ups. I realized that this was the place that had originally linked to the 300 workout; one day I did do 40 floor wipers. So I started looking for a god body weigh workout. Lucky me, I found two. I did the beginner workout yesterday and today…well let’s say I definitely know where my bum is.

The goal for this month is to bust out the 3 mile loop in thirty minutes and the beginners body weight workout in 15. If you want to join me I’ll be the one in the oversized parka jogging along Cypress Ave in Bushwick.

Oh Internets, I feel like we have grown apart over the past month. Sure you still deliver email & twitter updates, but remember the fun times? Back when you had funny videos and memes. Now I get all of that from television. And half of what is on television isn’t even real!  No, reality happens in museums.

Perhaps this longing has to due with the fact that I must travel to get to you.  Perhaps it is because while the iPhone can do many things, it can not play videos from Facebook.  I don’t even download all the great music that you have anymore.  It’s a sad state of things I say.

I hope to hang out soon internets.  I really do.

Best!

It’s January.  That means Vampire Weekend is playing shows.  I hit the second of three shows.  The first night was at United Palace.  I went to the more intimate show at Webster Hall.  I, of course got there super early.  I even mucked about for a good long time in order not to be there super early, but alas it’s just how I roll.  I got my spot.  I’m not sure why, but I really like to watch shows from about 5 people back on the right side.  I ended up standing next to a girl with a ridiculously large handbag for 90% of the show.  The encore brought a drunk chick who thought it would be awesome for her to rub her butt on me.  Yeah…not so much.

Overall the show was a lot of fun.  Not as much fun as last years’ but close.  The kids from the L Magazine were there and apparently standing a few people behind me.  They took video.

This evening I got together with dome of the cool kids from my former place of employment. we caught up on all that is new in 2010 including one of the kids being on SNL. Sure it was only one skit and you could only see part of his face, but it was SNL for christsakes!

After multiple adult beverages at HiFi-a bar in the East Village that the last time I entered I felt too unhip to stay-Baby Michael, She Who Will Mot Facebook and I headed out to get a slice. As you may know there is forever an argument on who has the best pizza in NYC. Well, add another one to the lust because one slice actually filled me up. In fact, I couldn’t even finish it, which gets mad props in my book. We went to Artichoke on 14th street between 1st and 2nd Ave. It’s a bit pricey, but well worth it. I got the namesake slice and was not only pleased, but impressed by the amount of food.

Oh wonderous world of the 21st century. There are so many things that I get to do now that just wasn’t possible last year or the year before. For one I can now update my blog directly from my WordPress application. Thank you world. Perhaps there will be more updates now. Maybe even photos taken on the street. The doors are wide open.

This New Year’s was a repeat performance of last years without the fried chicken. It was great to see everyone & ring in the new year.

Another year comes to an end. Where have I been the last couple of months? Trapped under a pile of short stories and indie releases? Perhaps figuratively, but not literally. No, instead I’ve been living sans internet connection in ye ole apartment. This means that I have not been farming like a crazy person on Farmville–because I don’t play that. No I will not help you with your lonely cow/sheep/whatever. Nor will I be your neighbor. Deal with it.

So to recap what I’ve been doing includes the start of the college basketball season. This means that you’ll most likely find me at the Pourhouse when KU plays and provided UNC is on directly after or before I’m there as well. Otherwise I’ll be in front of a television somewhere.

I’ve also been to see Artic Monkeys (with Screaming Females as the opener). Screaming Females are awesome. If you like Sonic Youth or similar bands you will definitely like them.

While I really do dig the Artic Monkeys I just didn’t love the show.  Poo on me I guess.  I left before the encore.  Sometimes that happens.  That was the last show of 2009 for me.

My running group, Run To Eat met in mid-December.  Instead of going to breakfast after our run we donated the money.  It was the first time I’d run in freezing temperatures.  It was 26 degrees out and it was great.

Then there was ugly sweater day at work.  It was awesome.  My room is still covered in glittered.

Apparently I got hit on in the bar that evening.  I thought he was gay, but the girls disagreed.

And then it was Christmas.  My mom came into town and it was lots of fun.  I’m all caught up on movies, we saw both Avatar & Sherlock Holmes.  I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about either one of them-sorry.  We also did lots of shopping.  This included the happiest place on Earth, Ikea, Uniqlo, and the Levi store.  I got a kick ass pair of boots:

and a new coat, as well as a scarf.  I’m slowly preparing for the plan adventures for 2010.

That’s right.  I’m going to have adventures.  I’m going to Minnesota in January to go snow-shoeing and hang out with Mr. Kaleb.  Then in February I’m headed to Idaho for a little snowboarding.  According to a member of the NYC Chapter of the Baldwin Elementary Alumni Association that makes me a knuckle-dragger, but I’m okay with that.

What this year end round up will not include is lists.  Mainly because I openly mocked someone earlier this fall for the list making.  So no top ten concerts of this year, no top ten favorite books, not going to do it.  Did I think about it?  Heck yes.  If you ask me I can tell you the number ones.  In conclusion this year was much better than last, but next year will be even better.

Well it’s Thanksgiving once again which means I’ll be hanging out watching my favorite terrible movies and possibly getting up dreadfully early for a run and watch a parade.  More importantly I’ll be finishing up my apartment.  It takes me so long to move in, but only 18 hours to pack up & move out of places.  Last weekend included an Ikea run over in Jersey.  Not the Jersey Shore part, but I did see some people who looked a lot like those kids in line for the interstate.

Anyway I finally got stuff to create a desk and live like an adult.  It’s all fancy.

Also some time ago I went to a Peter, Bjorn & John show with special guests.

This week I saw the Pixies in concert at Hammerstein.  Hammerstein smells exactly like Liberty Hall in Lawrence.  I guess once you have that many hippies in one place the smell never leaves.  It was truly amazing as it was just like it was 1998 for me–except that everyone had swollen.  I was up in the second balcony.  Can you see me?