Back to reality

Sigh... Back home and back to work. Though it's a great feeling being back home amongst family and friends but nothing beats the carefree feeling of being overseas/on holidays.

I'm not looking forward to seeing that CC bill either, lalala....

Anyway, stay tuned for stories on Tokyo on the return trip and more photos!

Hobo Chic

The broke traveller (or for the traveller that uses her budget on her addiction to watches) will:

1. use a grocery bag as a laptop bag

2. live off beauty samples (there is a soap shop near work that ALWAYS give free soap samples - I now ensure my route includes walking pass there, I just hope she doesn't notice - though she probably does - see no.8). Having connections at Saks 5th Ave is also handy for beauty/perfume samples. No need to buy toiletries

3. have huge holes in her shoes coz she's too attached to throw away her only traveling companion

4. make pizza last more than a week

5. make great meals out of $3 10-pack of 2min noodles

6. (more lazy than broke) - have no make up

7. have crazy hair - damn those free samples

8. (more due to the weather than being broke) - wear the same thing practically everyday because stuff she'd bought are spring/summer items (therefore soap lady noticing)

9. have a beaten up bag with bits falling off coz its been dragged everywhere - I actually really like this said bag.

10. have cuts and bruises that she doesn't remember/know how they got there

The lime green one is mine

Proof that NY is so fashion-forward. Before you know it, chain stores will be stocking these wonderful puff of fabric magnificence and your local street fashion victims sporting these latest clown upchucked meringues.

Actually, being the dutiful M.O.H that I am, they are my suggestions for Mel's bridesmaid dresses.

Actually, these were taken in the prom section at a department store, do anyone actually buy these?!!!

Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of the whole rainbow wall, and these snippets don't really do much justice to the blinding eyesore, how handy to be colourblind at this point.

Immagini di NY

PS: Bah.. no matter how exact I crop my photos, Blogspot just resizes the photos to all uneven widths and messing with my layout. You know i'm anal with alignment!!

Messages from Home

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been sending me emails and sms', they keep me sane and connected to home. They also make me laugh and cry and I miss you all terribly. Thank you for the random checking up on me and worrying if I hadn't replied/contacted you for awhile (because of my on/off internet in the apt). Thank you for giving me US/NY contacts when I felt alone and thinking about me. Thank you for reading and commenting on my ramblings-on on this blog. You all know who you are and I appreciate it with all my heart and feel blessed to have you all in my lives. I can't wait to be back home and see you all again and to be 'stupid' again hahaha.. gotta stay young at heart eh eh eh.

Yo, check dis out yo! I want to make a special shout out to mah sista Michelle, who sent the above postcard. I opened my mailbox expecting another bundle of previous tenant's bills and Papa John pizza coupons but instead on this rainy monday I see this cheesy, garish AUSSIE AUSSIE postcard staring back at me. It made me laugh out loud and really made my day. Shame on me, since Im the one who's meant to be sending the postcards (they're coming.. ) but this was a really nice surprise. Thanks buddy for taking the time and effort to send a little cheer my way, it may seem like nothing much but considering my whinges, it was really thoughtful.

Thanks again and see you all soon :)

Found my Alessi

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh, as per previous post, I have been on the hunt for this Alessi watch (the grey one) since I saw the white one in Tokyo. To be honest, part of my decision to do a second stopover was to hunt for this watch (struggling with the language barrier and crazy numbering of Japan streets) but who knew it would be as easy as just walking less than 5 mins from work to the Soho Alessi store? And with English speakers, what a bonus.

They also had this coffee bar in there that served semi-decent expensive coffee but i must say, the barista knows his art.

So, much to the relief of my new Tokyo travelling buddies, I will now not need to drag them allover Japan for this watch.

That now brings my watch haul for this trip to 3, and i have two more i have my eye on (not counting ones i may stumble upon).

Whingey McWhinge shall whinge no more

'allo gov'ner!

Tis seem this 'ere blog 'ave been sounding a tad bit down and whingey... but funny how something so simple and little can really turn things around.

All those 'horrid-ness' mentioned below has been redeemed by a discovery of a pair of sneaks over powerlines. Well technically, cardboad shaped sneakers hanging over traffic lights. To those that know of my Shoefiti Project (pics on MySpace), know how excited I can get upon discovering an instance of shoefiti, so to have stumbled upon this by myself and in another city other than Sydney, I was a quabillion-ly more excited than usual and it put a smile on my face for the rest of the day and turned my (only sometimes) surly outlook right around! This one is particulary special as well because the shoes are cardboard. Unfortunately the angle this was taken doesn't show the pair too clearly, I may have to go back and reshoot, though it kind of goes against the fun of the spontaneity of the moment.

I have one more yet to take in NY that I know of, it will also be a 'special edition' one so stay tuned!

Simple Pleasures

When feeling beaten down nothing cures better than:

1. Repeatedly watching snippets of Arrested Development on You Tube, ah.. Mrs Featherbottom.

2. Listening to The Strokes

3. The Fratellis - Flathead

4. Shopping

5. Harrassing friends/family on email while they are at work

6. Talking to my Pnut

7. Beard Papa/brownies/gelato (not all at once)

8. Reading trashy online celeb news

9. Cleaning (clears the mind and quite therapeutic)

10. Sleeping

Second Impressions

1. Everything is "AWESOME"!!!!!!!

2. Cheese is a fluorescent yellow, rubbery thing.

3. Everyone seems to hate their jobs or have never heard of customer service.

4. The 10 cent coin is smaller than the 5 cent coin. Confusement!

5. There is such a thing as marshmallow spread. WTF?

6. I haven't seen a Krispy Kreme anywhere, nor a 7-11.

7. There is a Starbucks on every corner.

8. Alot of people on the streets talk to themselves or just shout out questions/comments to noone in particular.

9. The subway system is more confusing than Tokyo.

10. Everything has about 10 bags of sugar in it. Even the salt. (Who's that? Is that you, diabetes?)

Food-skis

I have been dying for a meat pie so thanks to my friend the inter-mah-net, I was able to hunt down an Aussie meat pie shop near work. It was actually pretty good. The cafe was also selling lamingtons, tim tams and caramello koalas! Hoorah.

As you all know, brownies are my achilles heel. These I found at Chelsea Markets and I must say is THE BEST I have ever had! Dry and crumbly on the exterior and an intense, chewy and moist center. That's right Syl, better than the cheesecake brownie I had at Surry Hills. Mmmm.. brownies.. luckily the shop is not across the road, otherwise I would be there everyday. Whoa, did the seams of my jeans just rip?

I'm not really sure why I'm posting this one. It was a little organic pizza cafe I stumbled onto on the Upper East Side. It was pretty yum, .. oh yeh it had a nice crust.

This photo is dedicated to Stef and Neen, both who share my obsession with peanut butter. Anyway, peanut butter AND Jam in the one jar?! Pure genius! Apparently there is also a peanut butter cafe here, must hunt that one down too.

PS: ¿qué sucedió a mis hombros? las cosas guardan el caerse .

Cuadros del NY

Faded

Managed to do more touristy stuff lately which I'm quite enjoying. Photo is of me at the top of Empire State Building, and represents how I've been feeling lately. I haven't had a proper conversation in over 3 weeks, and I feel like I am losing my social/conversation skills. Have also been looking/feeling quite rough resulting in multiple comments of "Gee, you look tired". I don't feel it, but THANKS!

Let me tell you kids, the world don't treat you so well when y'all be lookin' so rough. You kinda get looked over and brushed under the carpet. Maybe I am tired, because I've past caring. Hey is it home time yet?

But when all else fails, listening to The Strokes always cheers me up.

Hrm.. this blog sounds whingey, I don't mean to be but wheres the drama in just posting the 'fun' stuff?

MoMa - at last.

Amazing! My favourite place so far. Must. Go. Back.

Funny things I saw today...

C'mon peeps, place your orders now. I'll take 3 of the MK47s please. (oops, this is a bad angle, its a gun shop if the big gun model isn't obvious enough).

School bus in SOHO, yellow school buses, just like on TV! hoorah! (well, this one is a cop out coz its only half yellow but i'll snap some more if i see some more.)

Leftover lunch. Ah.. the saviour of the broke traveller - 2 meals in one! And look, they do come in these boxes, just like in the movies! bwhahahaha. FYI: These are 2 mini boxes, not the regular size. Though I didn't get a fortune cookie ~_^ mmmm.. cookie

More snow pics and status of Chuck III

Just walked and walked on the weekend (though chuck was dying) and came across union square where some parts of the snow were still undisturbed, very pretty. Also posted is a pic of chuck not looking too healthy...

Yay! Snow!

Today was a day off from work, and I had planned a lovely walking trip to MoMa (and to those that I've talked to - knows I can't wait to see it), and the soup nazi. However, the weather had a different plan for me. My building has centralised heating thats been on full blast these couple of days. This poses a problem for me, as it makes me drowsy and hard for me to get up in the morning ... or afternoon for that matter. So friday, I ended up waking at about 2 pm, i look outside and its raining/sleeting/snowing. So i decided to postpone my MoMa trip again and walk around the neighbourhood and stock up on some more groceries and take some nice snowy pics.


Plus my ONE pair of shoes i have with me (Chuck III) was showing wear and tear from pounding the streets in Sydney, Tokyo and now nY. More specifically, a hole one the left sole that let water through. So no further than half a block my socks were already wet from the multiple puddles i stepped in and a near slide 'n'stack. The snow was also 'cutting' nicely into my face. As horrible as this sounds, i quite liked it, as seeing snow without having to go to Thredbo was exciting enough. Unfortunately i didnt have enough hands to take some nice snow shots so this one from my kitchen window will have to do for now.


With still funny eating patterns, i did manage to grab a sandwich from a cafe, its so strange how they serve potato chips with it?! Apparently its quite common. Sure. Ok.

Work this week has been pretty tame, I think its because everyone is busy doing their own thing, I'm pretty much left to my own device (is that how the saying go? - doesnt look right). Plus I'm still very half asleep, so haven't really been myself, just basically bit of a wallpaper this week, hopefully im more upbeat next week. Plus trying to understand people on the phone is a fun task, i dont understand them most of the time. Lalala... I am quite pleased to announce the magazine has been nominated for awards, which is exciting. Fingers crossed it wins! Most of the people are nice and some just ignore completely, oh well its only for 2 months i guess.

I think its going to snow some more tomorrow so hopefully i can get some nice pics and i dont wake up too late again. hehehe. Think i might try going shopping for shoes, some waterproof ones might be handy, but im not ready to say goodbye to Chuck III yet. Oh i did see a cool leather pair of Chuck velcros, you know i like those old school velcros. Though what i really need are some wellingtons/gum boots.

Plus Im on the hunt for this watch http://www.alessi-watches.com/watch/al10000/watch_al10000.html , saw the white one in Japan but I have more than enough white watches, i think the black or white grey would be cool. So if anyone sees this, please let me know.

First Impressions

you know when you build something/someone up in your head and when you come to experience/meet them its not quite what you thought?

Not sure if i'm half asleep half the time but my first week in NY has been so-so. I'm told NY-ers are great, helpful and friendly people but theres a few I have encountered that are just rude/obnoxious and self centered. Asking for directions is met with a glare like I had asked them for their kidney.

There are also a few with short attention spans. They seem curteous enough to ask you questions but I'm probably too boring to keep them interested enough that they cut you off and become distracted. Could be why they are so loud and self centered, its coz they have to try and keep each other's attention long enough.

I'll probably get deported now.. doo doo doo...lalala.

Well it is only the first week, so I am hopeful it will pick up.

I just hope I don't become jaded, though I am finidng myself dressing like a bum, putting a bitch face on the minute i walk out the apt doors so as 'to blend in' and not be targetted as a tourist hahah. I must look like a fright, and it doesnt help when work is in SOHO, where all the too-cool-for-school fashionistas hang out. I'm dfinitely feeling Ugly Betty.

Internet in the apt is on and off so blog entries will be erratic.

I miss you all :)

Hello NY

Flight to NY was good, slept through most of it and it didnt feel that long at all. I got a 4 seater all to myself and again, excitedly, i spread myself across, and again, waking up about an hour later there was a business man sitting on the other end. Erm.. excuse me, again?! I must be some magnet. but this guy was like a statue, didnt move through the whole flight, just sat there and drank beer all trip long. didnt even spread himself across the seats, just sat there, weird but at least better than the first guy.

i left tokyo abt 11am thursday morning and got to ny 9.30am thursday morning, bit of a head trip and I am still jetlagged. Finding myself sleeping at 5am and getting up at 3pm.. dooo, doo doo.. So havent really had the time to explore.

My apt is nice, clean and big, but in such a dodgy street i've been sleeping with one eye open. I have a liquor store, adult video store and a parole office conveniently locatd on the sides of my building, and also a homeless shelter around the corner. My super is an over friendly old greek guy that i cant work out if hes granpa nice or sleazy. he keeps trying to hug and kiss me and said he wanted to take me on a cruise, but i couldnt really understand him. I've devised a tactic, eveytime he comes close to hug me i would start a coughing fit, doesnt seem to work, so now i just put my arms between me and him and turn my head. yargh. He even brought me dinner the other night, thoughtful but im cautious.

and at nights here, theres always creepy noises, omg.. wondering if i can get out of this lease.

besides that, NY is pretty cool, always busy and noisy, people have funny accents.

Friday i got taken to lunch at Rubys in SOHO ( some aussie cafe i think) - food was good, it was the first proper meal ive had in days. After lunch i wanted to checkout MoMa but got distractd by shopping. So weird here, noone checks your signature when u pay by credit, they just swipe and "oh.. here u go, ur card back".. wow such security.

Saturday, woke up at 3pm and worked on freelance until abt 5am, slept and woke up about 3pm sunday. I wandered over to the giant Macys for a looksy, they had this prom section that was hilarious, the dresses are so garish and crazy, im goin back to take a photo - Mel > maybe we can get the bridesmaid dresses here? muahahaha.

Internship starts tomorrow, wish me luck!

Crazy and Frustrating Tokyo

The flight to Tokyo was good, I had a 3 seater to myself, excitedly i spread myself across and went to sleep, waking up about an hour later, some business man is at the end of my 3-seater.. er excuse me? grrr. and everytime i needed to go to the bathroom he would get annoyed and refused to even move slightly making it really hard for me to get out. Um.. excuse me, youre the one that moved to my seat! pfft. So i then decided to do as suggested and drink plenty of fluids just to annoy the crap out of him, and each time i had to go over him i made sure i nudged him well.

First nite (arrived there about 9pm saturday nite) it was so frustrating getting the train from the airport then trying to find the hotel. i was wondering around ikebukuro looking for my hotel, there was a moment where i thought i would never find it that nite and would end up sleeping on the streets, i even tried to get a cab but he kicked me out for some reason, i couldnt understand what he was saying. i was ready to cry, plus that area was totally dodgy. luckily i found a girl (which thinking back now was prob a call girl) but yeh she was nice and helped me looked for the hotel. so i really hated that first nite. the following days were then a bit better, i had fun but def more fun if youre with someone else to bag things out with etc.

i avoided buying much coz i was anticipating walking 6 blocks with my over 30kg luggage for the airport bus, it was hell. So i just ended up going to museums, galleries and shrines and managed to get some nice pics out of the SLR, though I'm not really liking my lenses or more truthfully i dont really know how to use my camera but anyway thats another story.

So Sunday i took it easy at Ginza (as i knew i wouldnt be buying anything around there, why yes, I'll take 6 LV bags pls), wondered around looking for the graphic gallery but later found out it was only open during the week, yes well. Went to the big toy store and surprisingly came out empty handed.

Monday i went to Heinjija Shrine, which by the way is in the middle of the business district and had to ask about 3 security dudes where it was. So taking advantage of having my SLR with me I decided to head over to Roppongi (the nice side) after the shrine and took some more building shots. I found a Japanese version of Starbucks, called Koots (i think its japanese) and instead of coffee everythng is green tea. Green tea, iced green tea, green tea latte... you get the picture. I had myself an iced green tea with pearl, it was weird and nice at the same time. I then wondered over to shinjuku for a bit of a shop but came out with nothing again. there must be something wrong with me.

Tuesday I went to MoT, http://www.mot-art-museum.jp/english/ and spent about half the day there. MoT was again in the freaking middle of the suburbs (who wold put a museum there?!) and i had to walk about 15mins thru maze like residences to get there. But..once there it was really nice. There was a really amazing exhibition called something along the lines of Darkness or whatever and it had walls of LED numbers, some crumbly white stuff on the ground, all displayed in dim light or darkness. There was another exhibition by a Japanese artists whose EVERY painting consisted of trains, schoolgirls (in a rude ways) and boots - really weird and i was quite disturbed after seeing his artwork. i got excited when i saw the had free internet thing but to my disappointment I could not check mail, only the museums site and other sites of galleries and museums. Pfft.. you call that internet?! whatta scam!! I then headed for Harajuku to shop some more and just got a few things for the family. On my way back looking for the train station i somehow ended up in Shibuya... WTF?!! so i just kept walking and walking (sometimes in circles - gee, didnt i walk pass this shop before?!) and finally found the station. Mich - I had a strawberry crepe thing to relive the days and went to Daichu - which has now totally gone downhill, its jus now a bunch of random cheapo $2 crap but not at $2.

Wednesday, I first walked to a bigger fancier hotel near mine to buy a ticket for the airport bus, buying this ticket proved to also be challenge. Why is nothing easy?! I went to the airport bus man and told him i wnated to buy a ticket. he then told me to go inside the lobby to get it from there. When i askd the girl there she said "no.. outside" smiled and turned away. ok.. I then went back to the man outside who told me.. no get the ticket from the girl inside. i seriously went back and forth to each person about 3 times and wanted to punch one of them. Finally the man asked if i had a reservation for the bus in which i said no i need to make one. ah bingo! i actually needed to book a reservation with the guy first then take my slip to the girls inside to pay for the bus ticket. OMG!! some signage would help.

I was then itching to find internet and heard the International Forum in Tokyo had them, so went there, wondered around and of course nothing. I was met with "this girl is crazy" looks from the information booth ladies, FINNNNEEEE theeeen. having not eaten properly for days, i decided to go get breakfast at Bagel and Bagel and had - you guessed it - a BAGEL! and an interesting strawberry hot chocolate. I was there by myself when in the space of seriously about 2minutes the place became packed full of japanese business men, i felt a bit awkward but took my time eating anyway muahahaha. I then proceeded to walk around Maranouchi looking for stores that were no longer there.. hrmm yes- superfuture maps.. USELESS!!. After that, I went to Shibuya (intentionally this time) and shopped. Managed to get 2 watches to add to my collection (for those of you that know about my obsession with watches - it was very hard to stop at 2. One of them is a really cool retro casio watch, reeeeeeally old school like your dads wouldve had). I then decided i wanted somehting by a japanese designer as a reminder of the trip and figured it would be cheaper here. I ended up getting a Tsumori Chisato top, looking at the tag, i thought wow thats cheap, only to find out later when i got back to the hotel I had misread the tag and the top cost me over $400.. ah crap!! super special occasion only then! hey anyone wanna buy a tsumori chisato top? eh eh eh? you know u want to.

I was disapponted i missed out going to Akihabara this time, i wanted to get a lense for the slr and a hot pink in-ear headphones i saw a girl had. Surprisingly for such a techy city, everyone had HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE mobile phones, super chunky, must be some magical phone that can do everything... even your laundry. Each person also had at LEAST 2 of these chunky phones..whatda.. very puzzling indeed my friends. What is also puzzling are the lack of luggage the japanese carry. They say they are big shoppers but how the hell do they fit everything in a tiny overnite bag !?! even the people off my flight had tiny luggages and by the time they get on the tain the bag gets even smaller, what the hell is going on? is there also a magical bag i dont know about? weird.

Food -wise i lived off takoyaki, starbucks, 7-11, food from the department store basements, and the free breakfast from the hotel (curried fat anyone?).

Thursday morning - Flight to NY. Stay tuned :)

Farewell Drinks

Thanks to everyone that came, it was nice to see you all before I left. Thanks to Cara for the funky invite too. Wish me luck and see you on the other side of 2 months.

T minus 2 days before the flight and still very disorganised. Yargh.