The Pending Vacation

But first: Congratulations to Chrissy and Dirk!!! They just had their healthy baby boy yesterday, July 25th. His name is Ryan McGreggor.

And now... one more day! Only one more day and I finally get that long-awaited vacation. It's been too long since I've been on a substantial trip. I travelled extensively when I was working on that 2004 election series, but I was working and I mostly saw the insides of buildings and airplanes and hotels. I've been up and down the northeast by car, but those were weekend getaways. I've been back to Michigan several times, but that was time to visit family. I haven't actually been on a vacation like this since I moved to New York 4 years ago. Needless to say, I am psyched. Woo!

Harry Potter and Big Drunken Shindig


Book 7 came out on Friday, and I decided it was high time I'd attended one of those midnight release parties. After all, this is the last of them, and this is also a major current collective pop culture phenomenon that I'm happy to participate in. Furthermore, I like the Harry Potter books and I couldn't wait a few more hours to get my hands on the last installment. Like so many others around the freaking WORLD, I am a Potter-head. I wish I had a magic wand and can cast lots of awesome spells. Who doesn't wish that, really?

So I dragged my non-fan friend to a "Harry Potter Party for Grown-Ups," meaning a party at an independent bookstore in SoHo full of 20 and 30-something urbanites and some alcohol. It was PACKED, and also lots of fun, and short, because at the stroke of midnight everyone hurried to get their books and go home.

There's Always Something

Every year since I moved here, New York has experienced some kind of massive, crazy and often unexpected event that impacts almost everyone. Some of these events were bigger and crazier than others. 2003 featured the mighty Blackout; I moved here just in time to experience that big mess: I rode my boss's bike all the way up the west side of Manhattan, talked to many strangers, ate an orange on the sidewalk in Harlem, and finally was able to get out on the roof of my building without setting off a highly annoying alarm. Fun times, to be honest. In 2004, NYC hosted the Republican National Convention, a week-long protest extravaganza that was actually quite incredible, not to mention incredibly fun (despite the fact that the city was practically a police state). I participated in the now-infamous Critical Mass bike ride -- the one where the police arrested many of the bikers and kicked off an endless court battle. I also participated in a massive protest, and went to several events including speeches and street art. 2005 brought the transit strike, which I wrote about here and here. I suppose nothing happened in 2006.


So 2007 we have this big steam explosion in Midtown, and while it wasn't a city-wide event and didn't exactly affect everyone, it did frighten many people and interrupt our commutes for a while. I also happened to be right there, with my friend John, who had a camera and took the photo shown here. We all wondered if it was a terrorist attack, because like good American sheep we are taught to fear and even expect that sort of thing. Also, Britain experienced some exploding cars recently and I thought that maybe... but no, it was steam, and fortunately few people were injured, although many more people were scared. John and I were not too worried, although unnerved, and we did try to put some distance between ourselves and the steam before we knew what it was. The best part was when my mom called to check up on me when she heard the news:

Mom: I hear there was an explosion in Manhattan. I just wanted to find out if you were okay. I assumed you'd be back in Brooklyn right now.

Me: Nope, sorry. I'm right there. (cue sirens)

Getting Ready

In a week and a half, I'm flying to Chicago to meet up with my boyfriend and from there we are going to drive aaaaallllll the way across the country to San Francisco, and then to Seattle. Holy crap am I excited. I just bought the ticket to Chicago last night. I plan to update my blog along the way, if I can feel motivated enough or distract myself enough from the awesomeness of it all. I will also be posting images to my Photobucket account. Or at least I will make a plan to do so.

This has been a summer for trips. I've already been to Boston, Baltimore, and Michigan. I had to create a seperate folder in my email for e-tickets. It's been a dream for me.

I am also excited about taking part in the crazy massive pop-culture event that is the Harry Potter book 7 release. One of the things I love about NYC is the fact that people here can throw a good party, and I expect no less from them. I hope it doesn't rain, and oh yeah, I'm bringing my camera along for sure. I planned to skip the damn thing, until recently when I realized that I probably shouldn't miss this.

Finally, I'm anxiously awaiting news about Chrissy's new baby. What will they name him?? We'll find out very soon!

School Update

I'm halfway done with my master's degree! Hooray! Now I have to concentrate on the fan audience thesis I plan to write about next semester. I was doing slash fiction, but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't cross over into some other kind of fan audience territory. Even so, I'm doing an ethnographic study in August and am currently following some fan audience message boards for research, and for something to keep me busy during a slow summer at work.

Oh, and my marketing class? I got an A+. I didn't even know they gave those out.

I have a feeling, though, that this will not be my last degree. But I don't know what kind of degree will be my next one: could be anything from a PhD to a 2-year certificate to a Bachelor's or another Master's. Educating myself after work hours isn't the easiest thing to do, but I never want to stop learning, and I may want certification for my continuing educational efforts.

Too much to write about

Much has transpired over the past few weeks, and it seems like whenever there's a lot of activity in my life I tend not to write about it, even when I have the time. I must feel overwhelmed by everything I want to say, so I just don't say it. Don't worry, nothing life changing has happened to me, unlike my friends who are having babies or buying apartments or moving to new cities. But there have been a great many things on my mind, and too many to put down right here right now. I will give some of them a shot, though.

For one thing, my 2nd blog-versary has passed, as has my 4-year New York anniversary. As you can tell, I like time markers. They allow me to reflect on what has transpired, my current situation, and what the future may hold for me. But the NYC anniversaries are feeling less and less monumental. Although I don't plan on staying here for much longer than 5 years, it still feels like I'm so settled in that the passage of time hardly means much anymore. It's no longer like graduating from one grade to another; it's more like the fluid forward motion of regular life.

I had more to write about the class issue stuff I wrote about below, and my fears of falling out of the middle class (probably not an uncommon fear) and everything that could transpire to make that happen. How middle class security is a sham, and I shouldn't worry about it and just do what I want, and how our current economic system is set up so that people like me with creative energy and drive are scared into working our dull day jobs rather than going out and contributing new ideas and creations because we really do have a lot to lose. And how health care is a huge part of the problem. Maybe more on that later.

I also went to visit Michigan, which was nice and relaxing. And I finished my class, which was uneventful at best.

I went to a script reading for this movie. It was funnier than expected. Juvenile penis jokes, but still funny. And Dave Foley was there!

At the top of my mind lately, though, is this damn cartoon that I've become obsessed with. I liked it at first, and then one day something snapped in my head and all of a sudden I LOVED it and I wanted to look it up all over the internet and watch it whenever I got the chance. In a way it's the same feeling I get when I read a book that captures me so intensely that I can't tear myself away: I just devour it until it's done, and when I can't read it I'm thinking about reading it, and then I research it online for a while afterwards because I'm not ready to let it go just yet. But this is torture to feel this way about a tv show, because I can only get little 20-minute injections here and there instead of watching it all at once.

I know I SHOULD be obsessing about some high art or literature, but there it is. I like cartoons :)

There are other less fun issues in my life, but now is not the time to write about them. Now it is time for me to get back to work.