nick cage and the bad seeds

nick cage I'd an amazing performer. I might not get him or think all his songs are good, but he is so charismatic on stage. he also has an amazing wibbly, pervy dance. it was also at the beacon theatre which is one block from my place and meant I was two minutes from my bed to the bar. I love living in zone one.

pork slap

after the high of getting the electricity in our apartment connected and eating my first spinach knish from zabar's, I went to a dive bar - not sure what made it a dive bar other than the fact that they had a lot of tat everywhere. for the first time ever (discounting our classy bag bar session on new year's eve in Vegas three years ago) we had a relatively cheap night of drinking. I'll give the Americans this, their array of beers is very impressive, including degrees of trashy beers, which are apparently cool. Phil  had pints of toasted and I had cans of pork slap - classy. we were out with Phil's work colleagues, who I really liked. when you go out with people and you have no friends and you do really want to see them again, it's just like after a first date and you're willing then to call and say they had a good a time as you. I hope they will.

electricity

huzzah! for the first time in new York didn't fail some kind of check. we will have electricity in our new apartment and i didn't need to put down any kind of security deposit. 1 - chan, 17 million - new York.

light at the end of the tunnel

today started bright but I felt glum. too much whirring in my brain, my back was sore from sitting in a crap chair. fortunately the day turned round although the weather went downhill. we signed or lease for our flat in a beautiful room, which had the original, gold lift as the main feature in the meeting room. the strangest thing was when they declared the four cases of bed bugs there'd had in the past year and handed us the pamphlet about the lead paint. apparently there was an epidemic of bed bugs two years ago and this is now standard practice. then I had a massive walk around downtown ago and saw some cute restaurants and an amazing looking art Deco furniture shop. the sky was grey but I felt perky. randomly what made me feel good was going through China town. it may not be as cool as Soho or as flashy as fifth avenue. but it's real, and is what I know and reminds me of home. it doesn't matter where you are in the world, China town is always the same. then for a comforting gyu kaku meal. exactly the same as in Japan so reassuringly the same. also great to hang out with Jo and bishop again and to be ourselves. this was a few blocks from our new place and Jo and bishop could get the f train all the way back. life is good.

tough day

today has been tough so far. 8am Skype call followed by another at 11 am and the a webinar at 1pm. I have been glued to my desk, hearing other people on the end of the line but I can't touch them. they probably wouldn't like that though.


hen or lease signing, which was supposed to happen at 4pm got cancelled as we haven't got the cheques for our deposit. so still not sure whether we get the ace apartment. oh, I also found out that the post office has skanked us out of 500 quid. we have not much in the way of dollars and have even fewer dollars still now. they'd better give it back to us.

fail

I wasn't able to buy a pay as you go with a reconditioned phone for thirty dollars yesterday. another epic fail. give me strength.

oops

completely didn't talk about what I meant to in that last post. we have few American dollars but sterling in the bank in the UK. so Phil and I are trying to reduce or spending. this means multiple veg dishes and pork and cabbage made fifteen ways as I bought it in bulk the other day. ichi man in seikatsu for those of you who remember the show in Japan.

cash flow issues

second day at work and I declare at 850am that I'm over working by myself. but them I go to the foundation center and fell reinvigorated. then go to the hairdressers and get an ace haircut, so fell great again. so many Japanese hairdressers here, by the way. came home to find a million emails. mainly good news; we got the apartment we wanted, though issues with Phil's work issuing cheques when we don't have a signed contract. won't be tempting fate and giving out the address until we have it in the bag.

first day at work

today is my first day at work when I will get out of bed to the other side of the room and diy down at my mini desk to start as a fundraiser specialising in American foundations. will have to see how I get on working by myself and whether I go stir crazy.


last night was interesting. definitely had that Sunday feeling with the Monday morning doom hanging over me. of course, at the same time there was that holiday feeling, which was weird as the Boy was ironing his shirts for the week. our week ahead will be work and setting each other as we have no life yet. I suppose the highlight will be going to IKEA if we get the apartment. roll on dem meatballs.

highs and lows

im finding that everything in new York consists of extreme highs and lows. the kids will know my penchant for recalling the highs and lows of the day so in many ways I was born to live here.

firstly, nothing is when you're a foreigner. trying to to up my lsundry card was so hard that we went to the local launderette after two hours of trying to do wading done in our building. however, you then get the flip extreme of an amazing night in Brooklyn when we had craft beers and delicious seafood and i got to eat my beloved lobster roll. we then when to a local gig venue for some old school funk, which the hipsters in dalston would have gone mental over. check me out with my tiger and head band.

Saturday

flipped out again because we weren't able to do out laundry in the basement. spent about 30 minutes setting up an account in order t to load credit onto a card which allows me to access two machines in the building. computer says no, big time, as the card is already registered to someone else. on the way back from a launderette - i gave up with the one in the building - i saw a massive queue outside the bakery on or road. i joined it and asked the girl what's good there. here is the massive chocolate chip and walnut cookie. it'd better be good as it cost me four dollars but massive queue of French tourists gives it the stamp of approval for me.

more food

Pete's place for lunch, which is the oldest running bar restaurant in town for meh pasta and clams - the choice was red or white sauce - then tsampa for Tibetan food. so very different. tangy and refreshing. hopefully round the corner from our new ranch but don't want to jinx things so going to keep schtum...

advice

new Yorkers love giving you advice. especially about good places to eat. last night on the train a guy saw we were taking home some leftover pizza in a box and suggested we go to dean's on second avenue. then today our realtor took me to lady mendl's tea salon because add Brits qr must be dying for a decent cup of tea. did look flashy to be fair to her.





s

is this the way it's going to be?

so we went for drinks and food with the boy's work colleagues tonight. it left me agitated and grumpy, not because they weren't nice people but just because we're so at the mercy of other people.

I'm too grumpy and brutally honest to make new friends and I miss just being me and at ease. with new people you have to watch what you say. its so annoying. I also have no idea when my next social event after Saturday will be - although I'll be catching up with Jo soon i am sure she doesn't want to see me all the time! I miss having a strong network of friends. as the boy says, he and I will make our own fun.

cheating on realtors

so I went on more Boeing's today and it sounds like h you're actually supposed to treat realtors like boyfriends. you're supposed to dump one before moving onto the next rather than two timing them and I'm really not sure you're supposed to tell them about each other. oops! 

  had amazing xian cumin lamb noodle soup for lunch and walked past ippodo which looks like a super fancy ramen place. i should have taken pictures of my noodle soup. was spicy and punchy with delicious homemade noodles. loads of pictures of famous TV food critics splashed all over the walls. yum.

  it has been suggested that i add more pictures, which i will do as soon as i upgrade from my 2008 push button mobile. stay tuned.

s 

Jason, Jo and ann

 'hosted' drinks at or studio last night for Ann, Jason and Jo of JET fame last night and then went for Mexican street food. was yum. super educational dinner sitting next to Jason, who is a chef, talking about how you make corn bread in the north of America compared to the south. lots of ingredients I've not even heard of.

  was great to see them but did feel a little odd. felt like we're on holiday and that we shouldn't be setting them again for another three years or so. why are talking about emailing each other next week to meet up? so weird. will be ace to visit ramen places with Jo and visit wineries with Ann but it all sounds fictitious still. not sure when we'll shake this feeling.

the boy's first day at work today and dinner with his boss tonight. also woke to an epic fail at work. a donor event that was supposed to be happening that i had organised has been postponed. that's two for two now that have been cancelled. pfffft.




  and it's grey again.

15 apartments

we saw 15 apartments in total today. some in Soho had windowless hallways for living rooms. others had panoramic views on the 28th floor with a sun deck overlooking union square, with health club and swimming pool.

 we have a lot to learn about apartment rentals in Manhattan but one thing's for sure, living here is going to be a lesson a minute.

viewings

after yesterday's mini meltdown at the social security office (when the doorman told me to 'have a nice day' even though I was bawling my eyes out) we had a spot of Good news. the Boy found or marriage certificate in our laptop case. sincerest apologies to Giuseppe for the hour- long text exchange as we frantically instructed him to look in all our box files which we are storing in his loft. if it's any consolation, the Boy's first reaction was not of relief but 'you're going to kill me' when he found it.
 tod
ay we have a full day of Boeing's (the predictive thing on Terry the tablet keeps putting Boeing's instead of viewings. i might leave it as is).

  meryl, one of our estate agents got really offended when she found out we'd found our temporary place through someone else. it was like i had dumped her and the Boy had to come back and make peace. she only deals with him now. anyway, we have Boeing's with her in the afternoon and Jeremy in the morning. hope we don't bump into her anywhere..


feels weird that we're looking at flats to rent. feels like we're on the world's worst long weekend trip to nyc at the moment.

first day

mini bout of hysteria in the social security office today when the clerk asked to see our marriage certificate. this is difficult as the piece of paper is sitting in a shipping container at city airport in storage. (apparently going through two months of paperwork to secure or visas isn't enough proof that we are married.)

  things improved this afternoon when we walked along every single street in downtown Manhattan.

  and then the best thing in the world; the best supermarket in the world. so many tomatoes! amazing!

lying in a lumpy bed in NYC

our adventures have begun!


  we arrived yesterday to horizontal snow and grey skies and spent the night in with a bottle of lovely bubbly and not so nice stir-in sauce and filled pasta. the realisation dawned on me that it will take months to recreate my cupboard of herbs and spices. we spent $60 in the supermarket and i don't even have salt pepper or oil. how will i cope? and i saw my first ever mandarine yesterday - a bag is only $7!

  the miniature studio isn't as bad as expected, though I've had to create a fortress with our suitcases in front of the door to the terrace as it doesn't close properly. not sure we'll get much use out of the terrace over the next month.

  today is social security day when we become real resident Aliens - you can't do anything without a card by the sounds of things. hope the rain stops soon...