New York, I Love you

I’m about to head out to Seattle.  Stopping through Portland and LA, I will be arriving to NY eventually as it would be my primary visit this summer.  As a pre-New Yorker, it brings me back all the strange indescribable emotions whenever I visit that city.  I’m staying at unfamiliar neighborhood, still meeting new friends and old friends, adventuring out more.  Still, New York is what it is.  A city with lifestyle whiche you won’t find anywhere else in the world.  I was listening to LCD Soundsystem’s “New York, I Love You. But, you are bringing me down”  – a greate lyric.  You will understand truely if you were once a New Yorker.

New York, I Love You. But, You Are Bringing Me Down
by LCD Soundsystem

New York, I Love You
But you’re bringing me down

New York, I Love You
But you’re bringing me down

Like a rat in a cage
Pulling minimum wage

New York, I Love You
But you’re bringing me down

New York, you’re safer
And you’re wasting my time

Our records all show
You are filthy but fine

But they shuttered your stores
When you opened the doors
To the cops who were bored
Once they’d run out of crime

New York, you’re perfect
Don’t please don’t change a thing

Your mild billionaire mayor’s
Now convinced he’s a king

So the boring collect
I mean all disrespect

In the neighborhood bars
I’d once dreamt I would drink

New York, I Love You
But you’re freaking me out

There’s a ton of the twist
But we’re fresh out of shout

Like a death in the hall
That you hear through your wall

New York, I Love You
But you’re freaking me out

New York, I Love You
But you’re bringing me down

New York, I Love You
But you’re bringing me down

Like a death of the heart
Jesus, where do I start?

But you’re still the one pool
Where I’d happily drown

And oh.. Take me off your mailing list
For kids that think it still exists
Yes, for those who think it still exists

Maybe I’m wrong
And maybe you’re right
Maybe I’m wrong
And myabe you’re right

Maybe you’re right
Maybe I’m wrong
And just maybe you’re right

And Oh..
Maybe mother told you true
And they’re always be something there for you
And you’ll never be alone

But maybe she’s wrong
And maybe I’m right
And just maybe she’s wrong

Maybe she’s wrong
And maybe I’m right
And if so, is there?

 

The Submarines @ Mercury Lounge

Some of you might have heard their song on iPhone commercial. Two members(there are three memebers) of The submarines are Blake and John and they are good friends of my good friend so I have seen their performances few times here in NY. The first, at the Joe’s Pub (2004?) and the second time at the Mercury Lounge last summer. I like how they always remembered my name and pronounced it perfectly. Last summer when I was visiting NYC, my friend told me they are in town and we went to see them performing for our catch up. They just released their new album and it was great.

Again, we’ve been trying to find a time to catch up again during my visit to NYC this winter, and he sent me an email that The Submarines are playing at the Mercury Lounge. I thought, wow, again? They tend to be in town at the same time I’m! The shows were all sold out and it was very crowded and I could see they got even more fan this time. The performance was great as usual and they are really cute people. If you talk to them, you will know what I mean.

They said my name out loud with a joy when they saw me and were very glad to see me and their good friend(my friend) who kept catching up with me during their performances like it’s a routine. Well, to be fair, he didn’t know they were in town until the last minute and I didn’t mind at all. I love live music & it was lovely to see them. They will be heading back to LA after tour and so am I next week. GO THE SUBMARINES!

If you haven’t seen them performing live, here is youtube video of them singing. It’s better to see them live of course. Enjoy!

 

A new citizen

A new citizen’s brunch

With Friends at The Magician celebrating my citizenship. (Sonia’s photo set)

OK. I did my oath ceremony in the morning of July 18th, 2008 in South District Court in New York City. I finally belong to somewhere because I’m legally a US citizen now. (Please note that I’ve been holding two different alien’s registration cards in both countries.) The process took about 6-12 months but, in order for me to make a decision to give up a citizenship where I no longer lived for the most of my life but, was born was still a hard one since it took me over 20 years. While waiting about 3 hrs at the oath ceremony, you realize that it’s a significant change. Obviously, it won’t change who I am nor where I came from but, it’s an action I took with a serious responsibility & it’s a significant change of my status. Now I will be saying I’m an american instead of saying a korean.

Beside some sentimental notes on being a new citizen passing my mind, I celebrated with some good friends who were able to make it to The Magician in LES, NY. Due to my frequent small to medium accidents and my nature of clumsiness, some were very nervous about me getting hurt again once I set up for another T.N.O.(Thursday Night Out) gathering. Sonia offered me to stay at her place to watch me over & she made me all american brunch with flags and banners, mmm, stars. (see above photo) The weather was scorching hot and we had no intention of walking more than two blocks out so we made some more ‘Bloody Hudson’ (a sweet Bloody Mary cocktail version by Hudson Hotel & she got the recipe!) Well, Bloody Mary is a full blog entry to write about one day. I’m just enjoying various kind of Bloody Mary in the US as it’s a rare find in Seoul to taste a good Bloody Mary.

 

Return of Stupid Pet Trick

As I gave my students at Interaction Design Studio to do a weekly assignment called, “Stupid Pet Trick” to keep the ITP physical computing tradition, I got a fully finished project that was performed. It’s by Leo – please see below.

Beside that, I was looking through any documentation of old projects and I found my own stupid pet trick assignment. Ha ha. Very crude with Director 5 (Lingo) & Basic Stamp I … (omg, that was a long time ago! )I should re-document it here before I completely forget about it.

It was a sun ray gun. I put a photocell at the opening of gun point and hooked it up with Basic Stamp I & Director file that was communicating with serial connection.

If you point this sun ray gun toward the monitor screen where a movie clip is playing, it will create different color of sun ray effect (the ones from photos) in different shades of yellow depending on the amount of lights it’s getting. It’s a video clip of the window at my old apartment in E. Village, shadows of leaves were dancing in silhouette. A very simple, non-purposeful practice, stupid pet trick – but, it brings a joy whenever you make it or see one. : )

The screen grab of old 90’s monitors are very rough and crude but, you’ll get the idea.

 

follow up – Back in NYC story

After not-so-great week since my accident, I’m finding my old self pretty rapidly. My wounds have been my biology project to observe intensively… (it’s always amazing how our bodies can heal.) For one week, no going out, no museums, no drinking, no dancing, no bikram yoga, no snowboarding…, I’ve managed to get enough sleep. ah~ much needed sleep. I went to my follow up appointment with my burning unit doctor and they seemed to think I’m healing pretty well. I just have to make sure not to get any sunlight for… hmmm not sure how long. I guess few months? They gave me 3 pairs of tight leg warmer thingy (it’s stretchable cotton bandage thing that keeps pressure on my legs) & told me that I probably will have to wear them for about a month. I was thinking ’since leg warmers are in, why not buy another pair and wear them over?’ I asked my doctor if I can drink wine or beer now and his answer was, “Yes, of course! But not too much so that you will hurt your legs again!“

Right!

Anyway, I started to feel great and it didn’t hurt walking anymore this Friday. After working a long afternoon & evening to fix some designs, codes with Michelle at Park Slope, I was wondering when I was having drinks as A called me the night before. I only got one text message at 8:30 pm as “where are you?” I sent few text message explaining where I was and when to meet. No replies or no answering my calls. Oh, she usually doesn’t answer any calls… Anyway, I tried to reach her until morning to figure out what happened but, wasn’t successful. Oh, well…, She is such a good friend who even was at ER with me but, it’s not good that I begin to be skeptical about any plans with her now. In New York, we all have many different excuses & last minute misunderstandings. I just have to remember the pattern. I’ve encountered several friends who just flaked on me without any messages in numerous occasions & I’m starting to wonder if this inconsistency was here before in NYC and I just began to notice that since I’ve been away from the city for a while… Now I appreciate reliability I get from some friends since I begin to understand being reliable is one of good qualities in friendship.

I arrived back in E. village after a long work day. It was hitting almost 11 pm but it was Friday night. I called up Sonia and she asked me to come out since she is in LES with her friends. It was pretty close enough so, I decided to drop my backpack and join them. The bar is called “The Dark Room” Entrance is very grundgy. I had a hard time finding it. I may have passed that bar many occasion since I lived near there but, never noticed this bar. When I walked in, there were some crazy drunk guys and I had to find her quickly before any of those drunken crazy man talks to me. Then I found them dancing on the floor. I was quickly introduced to her work friends. Very nice people. They were all dancing so I decided to join with a glass of Stella beer. The music was a way to mainstream but, we were also singing so it was fun. I couldn’t believe myself but, I’ve danced few hours I think. It was definitely fun.

Even when I got a strange remark, such as, “You are very stylish for a Korean.” I immediately replied, “What is that supposed to mean?” That statement has a full of strange remarks. Is he saying Korean girls are not stylish enough and/or is he saying I’m stylish despite of my handicap of being Korean? Was it compliment or insult? That was pretty dangerous remark to say to someone like me but, I thought he meant well (somehow) and was delightfully drunk so I decided to let him pass this time.

We walked out for a social cigarette break then, we saw two boys yelling ’sexist!!!’ on the way out as they were bounced off from that bar. Then Sonia’s friend talked to them and realized that the bouncer guy wasn’t allowing any guy without a girl accompanying them. (Since when did we girls have to take boys to the bar?) So we decided to help them out. Sonia and I claimed to the bouncer that they were coming to join us and we’ve known them the whole life (well, she said that ) The bouncer guy seems like half believing but, he let them in. They thanked us & got in.    After two glasses of Stella and two hours of dancing, I think I had enough for a night after my fast recovery. But, I couldn’t find my hand knitted Melino wool scarf. I found my hat and coat but, my scarf was no where to be found. Oh, no… Sonia and I were going through a pile of coats and those two guys who just got in felt obiligated to help us so looked for it as well. At the end, I STILL LOST IT!!! Well, Ce la vie. Good bye, my scarf. I’ve only worn it a little more than a month but, it was good to feel you on my neck. Still it was a good Friday night… On the way home walking, someone behind me pulled over my hood as he passed me, “HEY!” I screamed like a New Yorker.

It’s like a jungle Friday night at 2 am.

***Note: these photos are nothing much to do with my post except they are taken in E. Village, New York about the same time.

 

Life is full of surprises

It’s been exactly one week since I arrived in New York City. My friends were giving me warm welcoming and helping me out where to stay as much as possible. I feel really lucky to have such friends in my life & it’s been always my pleasure to hang out with them. As my resolution for 2008 is taking care of myself – be healthy and not getting stressed, I got my annual exam from my primary doctor, got a flu shot and some medication for stomach problem I’ve been having. I still had some problems with sleeping but, I guessed it’s something to do with jetlag.

I was so excited to reconnect with my friends here and was just happy to be back – even it’s temporarily. So, I’ve organized alumni gathering 2 weeks ahead of time. My plan was to see my alumni friends as many as possible in a given time. I have a friend who is coming up from Philadelphia and several I haven’t seen for over a year now… This morning I woke up late (since I don’t fall asleep until 4 am these days) then leisurely preparing to get ready to see my accountant for tax, thinking what to wear to alumni gathering and so on… I wanted to take a shower and was hoping there would be hot water since I had a luke warm shower last time. This is an old apartment of my friend who has stayed here over 10 years. Most people are not familiar with how old apartments in E. Village can be but, there are many with tilted floors which make squeaky noises when you walk… this is one of them but, very homey and tastefully decorated. The bathroom has a great looking four legged bathtub. Nice? I was happy to find out there was hot water… a bit too hot at the beginning but, it was nice to take a shower and wash my hair.

Then it was after shower that accident happened. When I was closing down the water, I must have turn hot water wrong way and it broke the valve and boiling hot water poured out. Oh shit! I jumped back right away but, it was too late. I had 2nd degree burn on my legs below my knee. I couldn’t figure out how bad it was so I just breathe deeply for few seconds. I put on clothes carefully and try not to touch my legs and I keep them in cold water as I called emergency. Paramedic came and they seemed a bit horrified at the sight of my wounds… yeah, they ain’t pretty. It started with, “What happened?!” They did some emergency treats and took me to the ER with the burn unit.

My friend, Juliette came to the apt immediately and Annette came to ER room and kept me in company for 3 hours. After I got some pill that made me loopy, I was laughing and joking with her the whole time. Once they cleaned my wounds and after 3 hours, some redness of 1st degree started to disappear. They looked a bit better then. They gave me some anti-biotic cream to put on and covered them with some gauze that seems like new techno texile. Then they pull up fishnet stocking like gauze to hold the first layer of gauze. How cool? I wanted it a bit more inches but, they were a bit stingy. I have managed to get some good 20 inch though. It would make really nice fishnet stocking… although they are white. After they released me at ER., we walked out. It was dark and rainy. Great! I didn’t have my shoes with me. We took a pair of socks at the drawer from hospital so, I was okay until finding a cab at rush hour. Hew!

My accountant got the news so we postponed the meeting then I had to make a hard decision of not going to the gathering I am hosting. I’m sure they will all understand. I was so looking forward for this gathering then, life has funny way of surprising me. Now, I’m in bed in my bandage leg warmers for the whole day. Is it because I’ve been running around with people to meet & things to do? – I’m forced to lay down and rest. It’s definitely a forced vacation! Who knew?

It just became a bit painstaking to explain to friends why I got 2nd degree burns on my legs but, I owe them explanation. I also think I’m lucky that I’m not terribly hurt. It could have been worse. Also, I gotta respect this funny surprising curve ball that life threw at me. I will be okay.

I guess it won’t be an option for me to get leg modeling career, huh?

(left: Day 2: ridiculous amount of gauze over the injuries. No, I will not share the horror sight of them. right: Day 8: They gave me this tube to keep the pressure on my injuries. It’s to prevent any scars forming. I need to wear that for many months until everything is back to normal)

 

NYC – single friendly city

After staying in S. Korea for about 4 months as an independent professional who is a single, returning to NYC brought me back my good old appreciation for how comfortable it is to be a single in this city. People say there are so many singles living in New York City, perhaps too many but, whether it is because there are so many of them or because city is great for singles, if you are a single and you are living in New York City, you are in the right place.

When I wake up and walk into a cafe in Lower East Side and order a cappucino and read a newspaper, almost everyone in the cafe are alone starting their days with a morning coffee and a newspaper just like me. I can just blend in easily into the scene. When I walk into a favorite restaurant for a lunch or a dinner alone, there are many comfortable bar sittings ready for me and I see other likely single eaters inside and nobody asks me such a question like I get a lot in Korea, ‘Did you came alone?’

Not to forget to mention those strange stares which prevented me from going out alone and I often ended up ordering in instead of walking into a restaurant for that reason, although that didn’t really prevent me eating alone in restaurants in Korea.

I like the fact that I could leisurely read my book or newspaper or work on my laptop (LES free WIFI rocks!) among other similar customers at different cafes and restaurants. I really didn’t hesitate to walk into a restaurant or cafe here and I actually really enjoyed my peaceful moment of thoughts and observing others in the scene. I think everyone needs some time alone to reflect their own thoughts or their environments whether he/she is a single or not. Why everything has to be with someone all the time? Sometimes you get to reflect a lot of your environment and yourself when you are alone in public places. When you are spending your time with someone significant or family members all the time, it’s very difficult to look at yourself and reflect upon. It’s easy to lose yourself. hmm…I should consider to keep this habit time to time even if I don’t have to. A thought to myself.
When I explained my delightful reappreciation about this characteristic of New York city to some friends here, they just told me, “That’s why you belong here…” Then I guessed slightly if they really know the difference.

 

back in Lower East Side, NYC

Ludlow street, LES, NYC – enjoy the view before they build another hi rize Co-op building

It’s been like 5 days since I got back to the city after a long, almost unbearable plane ride. Well, it’s still worth it. I always find that it takes about few days for myself to register where I am actually… meaning it takes few days for me not to startle when I jump into the subways and crossing street and walk in the street of these two very different cities in different languages and culture, Seoul & New York.

I’ve met some friends here and there and caught up our lives… mainly updating about my life back In Korea… since it’s new to them. Beside waking up and falling asleep during wrong hours here, I’m slowly finding myself home in my old neigbhorhood, LES & East village. I’ve been hanging out at the familiar restaurants, cafes first… such as Pink Pony’s, Boxcart Lounge, Marumi, Esperando, Cake Shop, Jeeb, Clinton Bakery & co., Bagel Zone then, I visited some new places I haven’t been before like 1492, Heathers and 88 Orchard street. OK, that’s a lot of places I’ve been for last 5 days, then I’m not at my home so it’s rather hard to arrange myself to cook. Also, there are all in walking distance in downtown where I’m staying.

Now, I need to get to the main story of the day - it’s involving both Ludlow and Orchard streets… I was really beginning to enjoy not having to go to work – since I’m in working vacation (whatever that means) and it’s New York, where all singles eat alone without being noticed! I went to cake shop for a large cup of Cafe Au lait and their free WIFI… worked about 2 hrs there then got tired which I knew that’s the sign of hunger that my stomach is giving sign due to my jetlag. So I thought why don’t I visit the lovely Thai Tapas, “Jeeb” It was all peaceful until I almost finished Tom Yum soup and crab rolls sitting alone at the restaurant since I was the only customer by then.

Suddenly, a guy rushed into this narrow restaurant and ran across toward back door to the garden area… passing right front of me. For moment I thought, ‘is this guy running away from someone?’ then I saw the waitress chasing after him with menus probably wondering what he is up to as that was pretty strange… then he was nowhere to found and the cook came to me asked me, “did you just see the guy ran here? did he go to bathroom?” I said, “he didn’t… he went straight to the backdoor” still chewing my crabroll… About few minutes later, next thing I knew was that there were a dozen new york cops rushing into the scene and looking for that guy. They questioned the waitress where he headed and etc…. she pointed toward the back yard where he ran off – toward Ludlow street. When I finished paying my bill, some officers were leaving while commenting, “enjoy your lunch~” I smiled back… ‘right, I’m enjoying… how entertaining!’

It was really lovely afternoon. Perfect dry weather with blue sky… white cotton clouds floating nicely. So, I’ve decided to go for some manicure which I do once or twice a year… turning around the corner heading into Ludlow street and then realized it’s where the back garden of Orchard street leads into… I saw the same group of cops searching the empty construction site… next thing I know was they had him – took him handcuffed… then did more search to find some kinda evidences. I was dying to know what this guy was arresting for but, just simply figured that he must be handling some drugs.. or something. I guess New York City is warming welcoming me back. This is, I guess everyday scene… Honestly, I thought it was really exciting and wasn’t scared at all. It’s just an everyday life thing here. Now, I finally adjusted myself to this city once again.

 

Two sad news this weekend

I had a pretty good weekend this week. I finally got to catch up with some friends and met some interesting people and I watched a musical, “Thrill Me” & saw some interesting Pop Arts today.  I will write about it later because I got two sad news this weekend.

One is that one of my favorite live music club, Tonic is closing soon and the other is that one of my favorite writers, Kurt Vonnetgut has passed away at his age 84 last week.

Tonic is located on Norfolk Street near Delancy street in my NYC neighborhood, LES (Lower East Side) and they have a basement dance lounge called, “Subtonic” where often ITP’s interactive sound performances are held as well as artists and musicians explore their ways of expression. I once went to see an afropunk band playing live in Tonic and was amazed that they were open near huge construction site (yup, another expensive condo was constructed) oh the show was awesome.

I saw an email titled, “tonic is closing –> CULTURAL EMERGENCY – demonstration @ Tonic 4/14″   Musicians and Friends: It is time to Claim what is our Right!   I hear them! I hope their demonstration was successful and hope that Tonic can survive late fast development of LES area.

For Kurt Vonnetgut, I like his sense of humor and line of thoughts… his writing style reminds me of ‘hyper text’ and that’s a lot like how I think. I know my friends often find it hard to keep up with my conversation which jumps to different subjects… goes out and come back, if you know what I mean. hmmm

Anyway, I found an interesting writing about him online that I like to share on my post.

“Kurt Vonnetgut’s 8 Rules of Writing Fiction”

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

– Kurt Vonnegut

 

Sleeping with my laptop

I’m a female geek with a geek school degree called, Master of Professional Studies but, I also have degree in Fine Arts so I guess it would make myself a bit cooler.

I live in LES, New York. This might add a bit more to coolness.

I like to design amuzing things that requires rethinking with engineers and programmers. When I finish making a prototype, it brings me a great pleasure. I’m helplessly creative.

But, I’m also helplessly addicted to laptop + internet… Yeah, I sleep with my laptop time to time. My powerbook lays right next to me sharing my bed, taking one side – after I decide which side I decide to sleep on.

I’m going to sleep with my laptop again tonight…