Hello the internet

What's been going on so far? Let's see, I'm moving to East Bushwick. Ugh, whole long uninteresting story behind that. At the very least I'm still on the L-line which shouldn't make work commute too headache inducing. However, at this point I'm lived in way too man boroughs for my own comfort. I swear, when I hit the lotto, the first thing I'm doing is buying a tiny studio/one-bedroom so I never have to worry about moving again.

Quick rundown of life so far in actual chronological order/stream of consciousness: Kicking ass in language classes (I'd be kicking more ass if I took time to study), visit from the brother to this fine city, attended a wedding (not my own, don't freak out), student loans all paid off and I'm free from the yoke of paying this shit off every month (which means maybe I can finally seriously explore the possibility of going back to school?), found myself trying to explain to people how to apply make up during an Yma Sumac retrospective, ate rainbow pancakes in an apartment in Chelsea and got to the Pride March in time to see Lt. Dan Choi, moving to Bushwick (oh, God. The hipsters...THE HIPSTERS), and thinking about styling my next course in life to reflect Russell Crowe's body of work.

Confused? Me too! But don't worry, I'm hoping this will all make sense sooner or later.

OMG GLEE IS BACK

I've been waiting WAY too freakin' long for this.

I'm still in the "let's wait to see where this goes" mode for Glee since I'm still on the fence about how the show has presented itself as a show about diversity and the underdogs, yet we see covers like this. I'm still trying to give it another chance and all that. So it was kind of interesting how the first ep handled the idea of dealing with reality after great expectations, whether with the glee club kids seeing how life hasn't really changed since they won sectionals and both Schuster/Emma and Finn/Rachel dealing with the realities of being in a relationship after the implosion of their relationships. Sort of how my whole let down with some of the realities of the show after the first excitement. Seriously, we need to get a Mercedes storyline (And not one where she's basically just "Mmm-HM honey chile"-in' her way through it. Oh God, I'm already in a cold sweat imagining that.) soon or else I'm gonna have to throw down.

Either way it's only the first episode, also it was all worth it to see Kurt and Sue Motherfuckin' Sylvester vogue. I practically died.

Late check-in

So a little while back I said I'd check in around March about all the crap I said I'd do more of, or at least get started doing.

Languages classes have been going good, actually. So much fun. I think if I had my druthers I'd just take language classes the rest of my life. I've already signed up and started my 104 classes, and I think if I just applied myself a bit more, I can see some good results by the end of the year.

Beyond that, while I've found places for belly dancing, I haven't been able to sign up for a class yet. Mainly because these things aren't scheduled that well for someone with a shiteous work schedule as mine. While I was assured I'd be allowed to leave early enough for my Japanese classes if I wanted to take a weekday class, I knew from experience that it was just tempting fate, and I wasn't going to risk missing out on a single class that I was paying on with my own money based on a what if. Dance classes would be more flexible though, since it's more like a punch card system. However, my worry would be going through a week or two of not being able to attend class which would suck. Either way, after we push through a really grueling next month and a half, hopefully the dust will settle enough for me to figure this out.

Drawing...ha, yes not happening. Again, a terrible work schedule getting me home around 8-ish on average (if I'm not leaving the office at 8) has made it a bit difficult. I'm hoping though, that with the warmer weather, it might be easier to check out some meetup groups based around drawing. Or at the very least the weather will be pleasant enough for me to walk to the Art Student's League without much trouble.

Besides that...I don't know. I think I'm about to set into motion my "Escape from New York" plan. It's about time I left town. Or more specifically, the country.

New haircut

...my slow transformation towards becoming like Gary Oldman in the Fifth Element is almost complete.

"If fashion is your trade, then when you're naked...I guess you must be unemployed..."

I keep saying I'll try to go to bed earlier, but I guess that's not happening tonight. March 18 sign off music. Good night, internet.

The brother's comin' to toooowwwn

A little over a week until the little bro comes to visit...man, I'm mad excited for this. I'm so excited I just blew cash on a Fujifilm Instax 25. I really shouldn't have and now I'll have to figure out how I'm going to eat the next week or so since I can't use my credit card more than this (my own self-imposed monthly limit), but I couldn't help myself. It's so corny, but I just wanted to take a bunch of pictures of me and my bro when he's in town. Post...I don't know, high school I guess, I haven't had a lot of chances to be in pictures with him and I want like five million pictures of my brother and I when we're young and I don't know, I just feel like it'd be awesome to have a shoebox full of pictures of us, haha.

So i've been thinking about this for a while, tell me if I'm crazy

So for the longest time, I've wanted to do regular theme days. And by theme I mean pick a fashion theme and dress like that for a day and just hang out with people. Go to the movies, grab lunch/dinner, visit galleries or museums, what have you. Just operate a whole day dressed for the fashion theme.

"So why don't you just do that yourself?" you may ask. I mean I could, and why not, but I feel like it'd be more fun to do it with other people. I mean can you imagine walking down the street with a roving band of people looking like they straight up walked out of a Visage or Human League music video on 80s day?



Like I'd even get real specific too. Like just because I said 80s day don't mean you just show up in whatever ironic shit you pulled out of your closet. Like it can't be one dude in a Members Only jacket and pegged jeans or a girl in stirrup pants and a chick "Flashdance" sweatshirt. Whether New Wave or New Romantic, you can't be raggedy. And by raggedy I don't mean it can't be torn or tattered, I mean in the sense that it should not be half-assed and on point to a certain degree.

The idea isn't to pressure someone to spend ridiculous amounts of money or looking for perfect recreation. The idea is sort of an almost dandy-ish celebration of being able to simply be well put together. Thought out interpretations and creative license done well are all welcome and should be celebrated.

It'd be reminiscent of the Weekly Jams I used to participate in when I contributed regularly to this drawing forum. Everyone can suggest ideas, draw it out of a hat or take turns, I don't know, and no pressure to participate either. Just let everyone know if you're showing up and stick to it so that you don't have just one person showing up. And if you can't get at least three people to gather, maybe rollover the idea to the next month.

I don't know how far I'd go with this. I'd love to see if it'd be possible to get away with the theme of "Incroyables and Merveilleuses." Nonetheless, the idea isn't costume pageantry, it's fashion, style and flair. Like I'm not trying to start up a cosplay group or something like that. I'm not going to tell people, "OK, dudes. This month we're gonna all dress up as a character from Mad Men," but I might say, "All right. 50s-60s guys." It's not about being someone else, but ourselves, just in different social settings based on time, subgroups, scenes, what have you.

Ugh, this would be SO awesome if it could be done. I'm even willing to try it under a time limit, to see if it can be done. Maybe do it for 1-3 months and more like once or twice a months and see how far it can go.