City Life

Been awhile????

2007-04-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

Just a bit. So I haven't really kept this updated because I was thinking I had to write everything all at once. Then I realized, I don't. I can blog at my leisure. So I'll update you all in increments.

Brief update since last April, I don't really know. I'm still at International Baccalaureate. It's a schools program akin to AP but way better. I have been to a lot of places with work. I went to MA, CO, UT and I'll be going to OH in June. Since being here I have also visited Boston and Philadelphia.

My parents took me on a cruise in October. We went to Nova Scotia. That was pretty cool. The stops were Nova Scotia, St Johns, Bar Harbour Maine, Boston and Newport, RI. I had a lot of fun.

I moved. I now live in Murray Hill. It's a cute neighborhood. My room is bigger and bug free. My new roommate has the two cutest cats, Milton and Marlena. Milton is black and white, long hair and Marlena is a short white cat. I love them. It takes forever to get to work now but it gives me more time to read. I like that.

Ok, more later.

Ciao

Aging gracefully

2006-04-15T14:26:00.000-04:00

Remember when you could bounce all night and still get up early the next morning for class or work? Those were the days.

I went dancing last night to a club where they were playing 80's music. It was fabulous. You remember dancing in the 80's right? We bounced. Last night I was in 4 inch boots. Not so easy to bounce. I ended up doing a lot of bouncing on the toes. Kind of like really rapid releves. We bounced for 3 hours non stop. I had the best time.

I had started the day with my friend Alan, his brother who is visiting from San Diego and Alan's boyfriend Sixten. We ate lunch at a coffeeshop near Penn Station. Then Alan, Marc and I went to Chelsea Market. That place is great. There were tons of bakery's there. Yummm! There is a fruit market, a wine store, kitchen store, gelato (which was incredible by the way), a fish market with the best looking fish, and THE FOOD NETWORK. How cool was that? We didn't see anyone but it was still pretty cool. After Chelsea Market we went and got a glass of wine. After that Alan and Marc invited me to go to dinner with them and their cousins/friends. We went to Rocco's in the Village. Not the tv show Rocco's. It was okay food wise. Nothing all that great.

Before dinner I had a call from my friend Ted. He was my first in NY and I haven't talked to him in about a year. So we met up at this dance club and bounced all night. When we left at 4am we saw Matt Dillon standing on the street corner talking to someone. What a night.

UPDATE! Ok so I wrote this like last April, yeah a year ago, but I never finished it... so that is where I was at last year.

These boots were made for walkin'

2005-12-20T07:53:00.000-05:00

Well, after much waiting and stress, the strike is on. The MTA strike that is. That would be the subway and bus system here in glorious NYC. It's a good thing we are use to walking. 60 something blocks though is a long way. If you have ever been here and know where Times Square is and you know where Grant's Tomb is in Harlem then you can understand my walking commute today. I am meeting a co-worker in hopes of catching a cab.

So here's the rub. The transit workers are unhappy with their jobs. Like we are all so happy with what we make. They are demanding an 8% raise for the next 3 years. Each year 8% raise. Have you ever gotten an 8% raise. I'm sorry but that's unreasonable. They are also fighting against later retirement. The "man" wants any new, someone not even hired yet, to have to work until 62 before they can retire. Not unreasonable. Heck I always thought we had to work to 65 at least and knowing that I will be working til I drop. Then the MTA wants to offer the union a 3% raise the first year, a 4% raise the second and a 3.5% raise the third and have new employees still be able to retire at 55 but pay 6% towards retirement for the first 10 years. The base pay for these union workers is $47,000 before overtime. Hello, that is $10,000 over the median pay in my salary band and I don't get overtime.

So the commute goes like this: No cars into Manhattan below 96st unless there are 4 people in the car. So getting a cab is not going to be easy. While cabs are able to pick up multiple fairs not a lot of people work so far uptown. Also the city has been cut into zones for taxi fares, so a cab ride to work will be about $30. Because the zone I am in, Midtown, is $10 and each additional zone is $5. Did I mention with the windshield factor or whatever it feels like 10 degrees?

I realize I sound like I complaining. Not so much, just trying to relay the facts. I was speaking with a friend last week when the strike was first a threat. My friend knew nothing of it and it seemed weird to me that something so immediate and prevalent in my life was nonexistent to all my family and friends. While the news in California was all about the Iraq elections here it was all about the strike.

I have no sympathy for the Union.

Good news though is I"ll be in California in just a few days so I can thaw out. The best way to thaw out is under water right? Cuz from I what I understand you all need an ark about now. Al says (Al Roker) that you guys are getting hit hard with the rain.

Stay dry my friends and Happy Holidays.

Brrr it's cold!

2005-12-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

Snow has blanketed the city and it is beautiful.  Of  course
wearing high heeled boots isn't so smart but what can you do?

Life in New York has settled into a nice routine.  I watch the
Today Show every morning as I get ready for work, I read the
paper on the subway on the way to work, I read my book on the
subway on the way home from work and I relax on the weekends.

Last weekend I went down to 5th Ave.  No, I'm not insane, I didn't
think.  I thought it was still early enough that the crowds would
be tolerable.  HAH!  It was pandemonium.  To go from 49th to 48th
on 5th Ave took about 20 minutes of pushing.  Yes, that is Saks 5th
Ave on one side of the street and Rockefeller Center on the
other.  I believe I will be staying away from there until January.

I saw the Rockettes this year.  You couldn't even really tell there
wasn't a live orchestra.  I'm glad the dispute has been settled though.  
The Rockettes were great. Always a joy to watch.  

I also saw The Nutcracker with the NYC Ballet.  I was a little
disappointed for although it was beautiful, the dancers were not
always together.  A little bit of Paula in The Goodbye Girl was
going on.  Except the gingerbread kids.  They were exactly together
and moved as one unit.  I haven't been able to see many other shows.  
Too expensive.

Ellen DeGeneres was in NY.  Did I see her?  NO!!!  I looked everywhere
for her but...?  I didn't get tickets to her show because her dumb
marketing people didn't figure that the show airs a week later on
Oxygen and didn't save any tickets.  Yes, I'm a little angry still,
more hurt, maybe obsessed ;-). Does she not know I'm her biggest fan?
Well, probably not but still...

I will be in California for the Holidays so if anyone is up near
Grass Valley (Sacramento or Tahoe) give me a call.  Cell phone is
the same 408 number.

Happy Holidays to you all.

It's been awhile

2005-07-06T12:30:00.000-04:00

So much news. I'll try to reader digest it.

Trip to CA:
Had a great time. Saw friends and family but not enough. Missed a lot of people when I was out there. I did see many friends in 42nd Street. It was great. Alas my trip, although about two weeks, was too short

Visitors:
Michael Pease came to visit. I saw him a couple days during his trip. We managed to see a couple shows. The Musical of Musicals the Musical and Spamalot. I didn't think I would like Spamalot. I WAS WRONG. I loved it. Even standing for 2 1/2 hours didn't matter. The Musical of Musicals the Musical was fantastic. If you come to NY, you must see it. It's apparently reminescent of Forbidden Broadway but I don't know, never seen it. It's the same story told 4 times in the stylings of Kander and Ebb, Richards and Hammerstien, Sondheim and Jerry Herman. They don't spoof the songs but the styles of these musicals. It's great.

Laura and John Blackwell/George Mauro were here over the 4th of July. We went and saw Light in the Piazza. My roommate is in the show so she let us backstage and gave us a tour. She introduced us to the whole cast. That was neat. On the 3rd there was a bbq at Laura's dad's house. That was fun. Tons of food, all great. It was great seeing all of them and the kids Sammy and Cole.

Job Situation:
Still unemployed. Well, not really. I am temping. Just nothing permanent yet. I have had a few interviews but nothing has been a match yet. I'll hold out as long as I can before I have to go back to foodserving. I felt like a real New Yorker though the last couple of weeks. I walk to the subway in sensible shoes or flip flops, get the metro from the guy at the top of the subway platform, hop on the train and read the metro, walk a few blocks to the job, change shoes into something more work appropriate, work all day and reverse. I like that. Today however I walked all the way to work since I haven't really figured out the buses yet. besides it was only 5 streets and 6 avenues. I went from 49/8 to 54/Park. It took about 20 minutes to walk it. Tomorrow I'll probably start off with a coffee for the trek.

Birthday:
I'll be in CA hopefully July 29 - Aug 7. I'll keep you updated on what birthday plans are but currently there really aren't any. I hope to see you when I am in CA

That's about it for now. I'll try to be more consistent with my blogs. Oh I created a website. It's not finished but you can take a look at www.geocities.com/kimber_gray For now it's just a work reference. I'll soon be putting samples of my work on the site. Now it's just a little about me and my resume. Take a look and let me know what you think.

a new adventure

2005-04-12T18:41:00.000-04:00

Spring seems to have sprung. The days here have been beautiful. There is a courtyard across from my house that I like to go sit in and read. I grab a Starbucks and the latest In Touch and plunk down in the sun. Some days it's super hot. Like Sunday, it was around 70 degrees. I actually got a little color. It's gone now but....

So I have new digs. I moved two blocks away and live on 49th now. My address is 334 W49th Street, 1FE, NY, NY 10019. Same phone number 408-568-5544. It's a cute apartment. Small. Very small. A real NY apartment. My window even looks into a brick wall. Well actually it looks into another apartment but their window is never open. My roommate has the front room, which if one person lived here might be the living room, there is a nice size kitchen, a real bathroom (apparently the only real bathroom in the building) and my room. My room is cozy. And if I ever gain an ounce, I'm in trouble. It's all good though because I live in Midtown and my rent is cheap. Laundry is around the corner and the grocer is half a block in either direction. The best thing is all my favorite delivery places are still in my area. Although I hardly ever order take out anymore. I cook a lot now. I have been having lots of veggies and salads. And ice cream. I can't resist buying it.

I do have to be careful with my money however. I quit my job. I no longer work at Ruby Foo's. Thank Goodness. That place was horrible. So disorganized and chaotic. I made some good friends there however. I'm going to try to get a job in marketing. I'll keep you posted on that.

My friend Traci is coming to visit and then I'm going to CA for a visit. I hope I get to see all my friends while I am there. Don't forget. If you come to NY give me a call. We can always meet for coffee.

Happy Valentine's Day

2005-02-14T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well, there are hearts and flowers all over the city today. Why is it that something that normally costs $x amount, on holidays cost $x² amount? Anyway I woke up with a craving for cupcakes after having a really weird dream about them and not having my shoes at work. So I decided to get on the train to go down to the village. First I went to the East Village and checked out a place called Pommes Frites that I saw on the Food Network. They have Belgium fries with about 100 different toppings. So I got some fries. I tried the horseradish topping and the sweet chili topping. After that I walked to the West Village to Magnolia Bakery. They have the best cupcakes EVER. Well, if you like sweet. I got some vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing and some banana pudding.

It's interesting to find the different neighborhoods every couple blocks. Each one has it's own little bakeries, corner restaurants and bars. All different kind of groceries. I don't know why it's so amazing to me, all these neighborhoods. I also don't know why I was walking all over Greenwhich in the rain just to get some cupcakes. I had fun though.

Tonight I'm going to go to a new restaurant that one of my friends opened. It should be fun. More on that later. Otherwise nothing all that exciting. I did take this week off work though because it's been so hectic there, I needed a break. They are firing people left and right and it's just such a negative space right now. I need a serious cleansing from all the negativity. Hence me looking for a new job. March will be all anew. I'll have a new place to live and hopefully a new job. That will most likely bring new friends. Springtime is the time for growth and new beginnings right?

So I'm going to take advantage of this week and go see the exhibit in the park, maybe go to a museum, see a show with my friend Jackie and explore. Jackie is great. She does PR for a lot of the musicals on Broadway right now. She is a good friend to have to see shows. I just wish she could get me Wicked tickets. Ah well, such is life.

Let it snow

2005-01-23T01:03:00.000-05:00

Wow it has been snowing all day. It's so beautiful outside. I still think so even though the snow tried to take me and swallow me up. Yes, I fell. My friends laughed. Nice right? It was pretty funny. I wasn't hurt. Apparently I fell very gracefully. I fell like in slow motion. Again, it was pretty funny.

Last couple days have been quite full. Yesterday I went to advanced wine college. We learned about Syrah's from the Rhone Valley. All I really learned is that the vines growing on the hills do better than the ones in the valley due to drainage. I got to try some pretty nice wines though. Before wine college I had lunch with a friend from work. Weirdest thing. I sit down in the class and right across from me is this girl who looks really familiar. It's Brenda. I don't remember her last name but we did West Side Story together in Sunnyvale. She works at Blue Fin in Times Square which is a sister restaurant to Ruby Foo's. We belong to a corporation called BR Guest. How weird was that.

After wine college those of us from Ruby Foo's who were at wine college went to have dessert and more wine. We had profiterelos. So yummy. I was still hungry so we went to dinner. It was getting close to 6. We went to a place in the West Village called Corner Bistro. They have the best burgers in New York and they are only $6. Pretty cool. We got there before the crowd. After that we grabbed a cab and went to the East Village to a bar and chilled there for several hours discussing life, fate and the paths we choose. It was pretty cool. BTW...it was freezing yesterday. FREEZING.

Today I went to dinner with Jackie and Katie. We just went to Cosi. They have awesome food. Then we went and saw Phantom of the Opera. So I didn't hate it. I thought the cinematography was great. I loved how it would go back and forth in time. And the beginning how they did the transformation with the chandelier going up was so cool. So I loved Minnie Driver. She was the perfect Diva. I heard that's not really her singing. But she does sing. Whatever she was great. I also like the Phantom. He's goodlooking and he made me cry. The girl who played Christine though...she had no passion. One of the guys I work with did something with her at the Met. He said they were talking and he mentioned that he had graduated from Circle in the Square and she was like no that's no good. I do Method. He said oh that works for some people and she got huffy and said it was the only way. She did Method. Apparently the method she used in the movie was to keep her mouth open. However, she is very pretty and has a lovely voice. I couldn't hate the movie because I love the music so much. Also I'm not super attached to the story. Actually this was the first time I saw how much of a love story it is. Unlike Secret Garden where I love the music but the play pisses me off. Dickon is 12 not a man. Anyway....

So all and all it was a great weekend. Tomorrow I work. If were not buried under snow that is. Supposedly there is a blizzard warning. I want to make a snow angel. I need to get to the park. It wasn't so cold today. Well my fingers were freezing. I was wearing the wrong gloves for sure. I was actually hot coming home from the movie cuz I was walking so fast. It's so neat to be walking in the snow and it's all coming down and staying on you and covering everything in blankets of white. I bet the park is so beautiful right now. The movie we saw was at 42nd street. The theaters are several stories up. The escalators are facing the street with all glass window. It was so pretty to watch the snow fall against all the neon. Like the other night when Katie, Jackie and I were at Bubba Gumps atop Times Square. It was snowing then too and you could see the snow against all the lights in Times Square.

I love New York.

Weather-what a concept

2005-01-19T01:18:00.000-05:00

As I walked home from work last night I looked at the temperature and it read 12 degrees. I didn't understand . Tonight as I walked home the temperature read 4 degrees. I still don't understand. 4 degrees. What is that? I always thought if it got to around like 30 degrees it snowed. Not so much with the snow here. It has snowed a few times. I get very excited and everyone laughs at me, shakes their head and say just wait. I still think it's beautiful. Luckily I have some other snow deprived friends at work who get excited with me. They are from Florida and have also been here under 6 months.

There are some really cool things about cold weather though. Coats for one. Wide variety of coats here to be had at rock bottom prices, and they keep you warm. Amazing. Also cute hats, scarfs and gloves. In all sorts of colors. Luckily I had lots of scarves and gloves before I came. And boots. Of course I can't afford those right now. And hats well you can bargain with the guys on the street for good deals on those. I'm trying to save my pennies for the boots though. Come spring I may have enough to get some. :-) Good thing I had a pair from CA.

The worst thing about the cold is the chapped lips. Even with chapstick or blistex they are still flaking. The runny nose doesn't seem to go away either. But you know what? WHO CARES? I'm in New York.

Haven't done too much since my last update. I've gone out to the local pub after work and had dinner a couple times with friends. I discovered Restuarant Row and Ninth Ave in Hell's Kitchen. Really great food and inexpensive prices. My kind of combination. Other than eating and drinking all I have really done is work. They just fired seven of our most senior servers. Trying to prove a point or something. So now everyone is working around the clock.

I'm still looking for a place to live. Everyone seems to be still looking for February. Hopefully the March openings will come up soon. I hate to leave this place but they say change is good. I'll keep you all updated on my new address.

That's it for now. Imagine bright sunny day and people walking around in big puffy coats and scarfs around their faces. All you can see are people's eyes. Weird right? I love NY.

On My Own

2005-01-05T04:20:00.000-05:00

Well my mom and cousins left today. :-( I had a great time with them here. :-)

We took the double decker bus and went all over Manhattan. We started with the downtown loop and we saw Hearald Square, Greenwhich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho, Battery Park, the docks...it was freezing. Well, not literally, it was about 30 degrees. Then we took the uptown loop. We saw the Upper West Side and where John Lennon was shot, where all the stars lived, the park, Harlem, the Upper East Side, where all the really rich people live and back to Times Square. Then we went and got drunk. We intended to go for one drink and then that led to a bottle of wine--for each of us. It was great fun. My mom is cute when she drinks. Actually we were at the restuarant for so long none of us felt drunk.

Yesterday we went to the diamond district. Wow, there is some pretty stuff there. After that we went to take the last loop of the tours (the busses are a 48 hour pass if you come here). It was the night loop. We saw all of Manhattan and part of Brooklyn (it was raining but we still sat up top). Manhattan is so pretty at night. I also saw parts of Greenwhich and Soho I had never seen before. Who knew Chinatown was so big? After the night loop we went to Carmine's for dinner. You gotta love their Chicken Marsalla. It's fabulous. I tried a new martini. A mango martini. That was yummy.

That's it for now. Back to my mundane life of waking up, going to work, coming home and sleeping. Maybe I'll try another dance class tomorrow. After I do laundry.

I love New York!

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone. Welcome to 2005.

I had the most amazing evening last night. My mom and cousins are here visiting me. They came to Ruby Foo's to have their New Year's festivies because I was working. At about 11:30 we started handing out hats, noisemakers and glitter (fie on glitter). That restaurant became so loud. We had a dj and people were dancing at their tables and in the aisles.

All the guests went outside into Times Square at about 11:45 so they could watch the ball drop. The restaurant is on 49th and Broadway so they all got to go out onto Broadway. The view's not that great from that far away. The crowd on Broadway was all the way to 57th street. The policeman were saying they hadn't seen crowds like that since 2000.

So while the guests were outside the employees had a champagne toast and cleaned up a bit. At about 5 minutes to midnight all the employees went out the back door to 7th. My mom and cousins got to come with us. We saw the ball drop, the screen with the countdown, the confetti flew on us and we got to see the fireworks. IT WAS SO AMAZING. Even as claustrophobic as I am I didn't mind the crowd. It was too awesome an experience.

After the ball dropped everyone came inside and danced and had dessert. We kicked everyone out around 1am. It took us until about 2:30 to clean up. Then the whole wait staff went to a neighborhood bar. It was so much fun. They kicked us out at 4:30. We then went to someone's house and had pizza and beer. I got too scared to walk home alone at around 5:30 so I waited for the sun to come up to walk home. I sure had a great time.

I hope everyone had as much fun and has a great 2005.

Pre New Year's eve

2004-12-31T00:51:00.000-05:00

Well, it's December 30th. Two days from now marks my 5th month in NYC. Wow. That flew by fast.

My mom is here visiting with my two cousins. We had an awesome dinner tonight at Del Frisco's. Hopefully that will soon be my place of employment. I'm going to apply for a job there next week. Tonight we celebrated my New Year's eve. Tomorrow, New Year's Eve, I'm working. I work in Times Square so it should be exciting. They say I'll get to see the ball drop and in safety from the crowds. It should be fun.

So currently I'm working at Ruby Foo's. It's at Broadway and 49th street. Times Square. I like it. However the managers are rather negative, hence my looking for a new job, but I have made quite a few friends. I'm loving New York. It's so alive. Currently I live in Times Square. I live across the street from Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. I l0ve it. Times Square, to me right now, seems like the heartbeat of the city. I have to move though. My roommates lease is up in March. She's moving to Jersey. I hope to live either around here or in the village. I like the UES and UWS but it seems so far away from everything. Right now, I live in the middle of everything and all is but a few subway stops away.

That's really it for now. Happy New Year to everyone. Best wishes to all in 2005.

Kimber