New York, let's be friends!

Updating on here has been horrendous lately because I am like, the laziest little dreg (yes, dreg, singular. I'm not sure if you can do that) of the earth right now. If there's any doubt in your mind, you just need to ask me "Shan, what kind of pants are you wearing?" and you'll find a clear answer. Yesterday I spent the whole day wearing gray Old Navy loungepants that go back to gym class '07. Those were the pants I slept in the previous night. And then today I spent the majority of my day in the baggy holes-at-the-knees "boyfriend" jeans I've been known to pair with a tie-dye shirt because it makes me look like a stoner, and I kind of love that.

I can't find the motivation to do anything. Anything productive, I mean. Frivolity, as usual, I can handle. Naturally my mom has been scolding me about all the frivolity, because its her job. Pretty much ever since I found some sort of a social life in high school I've been hearing the admonition "you've been doing too much laquacha" nonstop. The best definition of laquacha that I've found in the internet is simply "gallivanting and shenanigans." God, laquacha-ing is like my all-time favorite past-time.

 honestly no idea what this quote means

Friday I needed to go to the Japanese Consulate to pick up my visa (oh, Japan, that's a topic I definitely need to get to... [frown]) but I also laquacha'd my way to The Museum of Modern Art with Jackie, which was fabulous--maybe even fantabulous, depending on how much gay fairy dust you sprinkled into your coffee this morning. The weather came out surprisingly good and not rainy. And Jackie was impressed to the point of incredulity that I, Shan who possesses a fundamental inability to plan anything + an appalling sense of direction, actually took the lead on this one and successfully brought us to where we needed to be. Using the subway and everything. I was also crazy-impressed with myself.

The key to my metro mastery, I realized, actually came in the form of the douchey/beloved line of notebooks known as Moleskine. Mmhmm. The Moleskine city notebooks, you guys. I am obsessed with them. **can someone buy me all of them??

Ordinarily I do not like Moleskines. Like a lot of people, I become too intimidated by really cool, pricey notebooks of quality, and end up never writing or drawing in them. You think "Oh God, this thing is meant to be treasured forever, I better put some really mind-blowing thoughts in here." Just thinking about it gives me the willies. That's why I have my greatest success in creative and emotional expression when writing in a notebook that costs $1 and is falling apart (if the lameness of that sentence offends you, I'm sorry). Point is, I understand your fancy notebook hesitancy.

But these cities journals are totally bangin' and the best investment ever if you are traveling to a major city. I'm talkin' Barcelona, Dublin, Copenhagen, Beijing! etc. etc. They've got public transportation maps that fold out and full maps of the city, marked with the important landmarks. And then blank pages which you are supposed to fill up with all the important/cool things you discover/visit/experience in that city. I wrote the addresses of awesome restaurants, names of delicious beers so I wouldn't forget them, and jotted down notes in museums. "The first guide you write yourself", man. Also, that it's "dedicated to the city and to urban life, to travelers and residents, to independent and free-thinking people." !!! Moleskines are douchey and pretentious, as is the latter part of the previous sentence, but these are so practical! And they're conveniently small. And if you're lost you can discreetly find your way without looking like one of those goshdarn tourists just begging to get mugged, what with a big 'ol map held out in front of you.

It was Jackie who got me started on this. She bought me the one for Berlin as part of my birthday present, and it may have been the most useful/awesome gift in the history of gifts I've received. And I've gotten a silver bedazzled fortune cookie that opens up and and the fortune inside it has the engraved message "Fuck it, you got this!" (thanks, Cassie!) so you know I'm not messing around. Dudes, if someone you know is about to embark on a trip, this is a no-brainer.

Right, so I bought the NYC one because I happened to see it on supersale for $4, and you know I bought the Kyoto one. And really, I should get the Tokyo one too, now that I think of it...

So, some pictures of both times that I went to NYC this month:

was sort of praying that Tina Fey or Alec Baldwin would pop out of there

Rockefeller plizazza

St. Patrick's

Loved this view from inside MoMa

 
I can't imagine going to a modern art museum without a friend, because you need someone who will laugh at all the ridiculous crap with you, and agree with you when you see something that's actually awesome. This is a problem sort of unique to modern art because at regular museums you don't have to question whether the stuff is even art, because you're staring at, like, Boticellis. And also it might be nice to go by yourself and be absorbed in your own thoughts/inspired, maybe holding a Moleskine, ha ha.

Now that I'm not subway-challenged anymore I will definitely be looking for excuses to go to NYC all the time. There was so much we didn't have time to do on Friday! Like, I wanted to buy a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery! Mmmm. Aw yeaah.

I've been to NYC more times than I'd be able to count, and I'd even dabbled with the idea of being in debt the rest of my life and choosing NYU over Rutgers, but I feel like only now am I starting to understand why the place is so awesome (And maybe turning 21 and being able to bar hop in the citay will also help, whoknowswhoknows just a thought.) Here I am, so close to this hub of culture but I don't really take advantage of it as I should. And that just won't do. Sure I've seen The Daily Show and Important Things with Demetri Martin filmed live, but I could still be doing MOAR. So. New goal!

NYC adventures and London flashbacks

Darlings, I am beat. I don't even recall what I did with most of my day, but I am beat. Oh God. Realization that part of what I did was watch no less than three episodes of Glee that were on demand. Glee is just one of those things I've resigned to not like because it's kind of annoying and enjoys popularity. Much like the stance I took on myspace for years. Haters gonna hate, right? I don't know, I just like to put up a bit of a fight before digging into a giant slice of pop culture. The principle of the thing.

But mostly the show is just so far-fetched (I'm sorry, does the wheel chair kid always have to dance?) and I hate when it gets all cheesy after school special-y, with such themes as Be Yourself! and Bullying Isn't Cool, You Guys! And the romance triangles and quadrangles... whatever. The show does have good moments, and it is, unfortunately, kind of addicting. The fact of the matter was, I exhausted all of my other On Demand options (watched all of the episodes of Perfect Couples and I really am liking it, I have to say).

Anyway, that was my Gleetastic morning. I'm sick with a cold, by the way. It started on Friday... mum and I were actually in NYC that day, dropping stuff off at the Japanese embassy. We took the subway and didn't get lost or anything, ha-ha. We're both really bad at navigating New York. Werqing the U-Bahn in Berlin and Vienna? Piece of cake. So straightforward. But on my home turf, more or less, I am helpless. It's the turnstiles and junk (which I didn't see in Germany) that makes all the difference, I think. Plus Berlin and Vienna are Cities, but New York is a CITY. It's massive.

My super legit paperwork-visa-business will be available on Wednesday, so I'll have to head back there. I must take that opportunity to do Something Worthwhile, you know? MoMa is in the area and, I am ashamed to say this, I've never been. Actually, I'm not that ashamed. When I think modern art I think of total and utter bullshit. But hey, I got something out of the Tate Modern in London, didn't I? Although there was deffo some bullshit in there too.

Friday what we did after the Embassy was look around Saks Fifth Avenue. I've never been to any of those big 'ol department stores in NYC either (travesty!). I have only--quite tragically, really--seen them from the outside, when they're all closed, gazing at their stunning window displays at Christmastime. Usually while munching on some cashews purchased from a Nuts4Nuts vendor. So it was pretty neat to be inside one... it reminded me of Harrods, only nowhere near as cool. Harrods is just a totally boss place. If I lived in London... Oh Jesus. Seriously.

Because at Harrods it's not just clothes and shoes and Hermès scarves (by the way, as a scarves fiend it is a personal goal to get my hands on one of those damn hundreds-of-dollars silk scarves) but there are whole rooms, gorgeous rooms, devoted to Tea and Coffee or like, Sweets, and it's utterly delightful. I nearly died from the visual smorgasbord. So while I cannot and possibly may never be able to go to Harrods and just pick up a Herve Leger dress, I am able to window shop and treat myself to their crème brûlée, and that is what's most important. Little luxuries can be just as sweet as big luxuries, you know. That's why whenever I go to Wegmans (j'adore Wegmans) I am sure to buy a small round dessert with lots of berries on it. Mmm. Can someone take me to Wegmans tomorrow? And also TJMaxx or Marshall's, as I'm in a designer shoppin' mood and I don't wanna pay retail. (Digression: they had this adorbs red Kate Spade crossbody bag with a tassel at TJMaxx last time, I just had to buy it. It made me kind of deliriously happy).

Flashback time!

You just stare at that beautiful building and know it's a Shopping Establishment.

Uhhhhhh. Right, so Saks. Yeah, I felt kind of poor wandering around there. Not as poor as when I visited Rodeo Drive, but still pretty much poor. But really, who pays retail ever? Who does that? Today at the mall (yes, I accompanied my mother to the mall, even though I'm sick and miserable. But not as sick and miserable as I was yesterday) I managed to get a pair of gray skinny jeans from American Eagle for $13, which I'm counting as proof of how opposed I am to buying stuff that isn't on sale. 


This post is getting a bit lengthy so I think I'll continue it in another, sooner or later. Sooner preferably but it's nearly one ante meridian. I'm sleepy, ya know.