This Summer & New York

I am sitting in my apartment in NYC right now. Rachel Hunt is in the bathroom straightening her hair. I will soon be doing the same to mine so we can take some lovely pictures of ourselves not looking like sisters. When I came to town for my grad school interview in March, Rachel met me here. It was particularly overcast one afternoon and we needed to walk east to get to the subway station we needed to get to in order to meet Jendar for Indian food. We asked the closest person to us who happened to be an old New Yorker with his old New Yorker friend. He looked at us for a second and said, "You two are not sisters. You may look like sisters. But you're not." Then they told us west was east.

I ordered a mattress and memory foam from overstock.com. They arrived yesterday but I don't want to pull them out of the package until I get a bed frame (I killed a very-many-legged creature on the floor yesterday and don't want any very-many-legged creatures in my bed). So I had been sleeping on a mat on the floor and a sleeping bag Damien left me. But since Rachel came, we threw our sleeping bags over my roommates bed and slept on that. She isn't going to be coming back this semester so I may possible have this huge apartment to myself. I wish I could sublet my room, but there is a strict fire code for this building (which is also right next to the fire station-- it gets pretty loud). Since this is a Columbia subsidized apartment and I am getting it for relatively cheap, I should probably not try any funny business.

I took an overnight flight last Wednesday night since I needed to be here to sign my apartment contract on Thursday morning. I was pretty tired when I got here and didn't sleep much because the airplanes were so cold. I shouldn't have worn flip-flops, but I usually get pretty warm in any other shoes. When I reach La Guardia airport, I only had about an hour before my housing appointment. I hustled to the escalator and got on. Behind me, a very rickity old man attempted to get on the escalator. We've all seen this before... He stood there for a moment trying to time when to step on so that he wouldn't fall over. Well, right after I stepped onto the escalator the man stepped on. He lost his balanced and used me to catch his balance. I felt some arms swing around my neck. I had been lugging around my laptop and three hard drives in my backpack so I had a lot of weight on me. I grabbed onto either side of the escalator railing and squeezed my leg muscles tight to stay standing. The man used me to push himself back upright. I started laughing and turned around. He was stunned and in his thick New York accent said to me, "You saved my life. You've done your good deed for the day."

I gathered all my luggage and headed to get a taxi. I had such a terrible experience from there on out! Partly because I am naive. A man near the taxis who posed as a taxi driver asked me if I needed a taxi and I said yes, of course. He grabbed both of my very heavy suitcases and took off running. Ugh! I followed and asked him how much it would be. $65!!!! Outrageous! I told him I knew they were normally around $35 from La Guardia. That's part of the reason I flew into La Guardia in the first place. But he wouldn't stop running. He ran into a nearby parking lot and threw all of his stuff in his "taxi" which was a brand new Ford Explorer. I got in and he was part of a car service company from what I could tell. This guy was sooooo creepy. He kept trying to get my phone number and I kept saying no but he was being very demanding. He was middle eastern and fulfilling the forceful stereotype that I so often see in silly movies. He kept touching me and I kept moving further away and telling him to stop. At the end of the trip when we got to Columbia he locked the doors and told me to take out my cell phone. He demanded I give him my number and he would call it to check to see if it was actually mine. The whole car ride was precarious because I really just wanted to get to my destination without upsetting him. His mood was volatile. One minute being totally normal, the next acting like a jealous stalker. It was so strange and I didn't want to do anything that would cause him to drive us off a cliff or take me somewhere and kill me. I asked him if he would unlock the doors if I gave him the number and he said he would. I made him do it first and he did. I got my luggage out and walked to the corner with the most people I could find since Damien wasn't there yet. I was so angry and to top it all of the ride turned out to be so expensive. I hate being trapped in a situation like that but kind of felt like there was nothing else that could be done. I will definitely be more careful next time.

It was rainy when I arrived at Columbia and about ten minutes later Damien met me on Amsterdam to walk over to the housing office. I was so grateful he was in town (mid-return to SLC from Paris) and could help me lug around all of my things. I was late for my housing appointment but everyone I have met who works at Columbia has been so kind. I was able to go to my apartment and get my keys from my super, a very large black woman named Delores. She very sweetly calls me "Dexter" since I look like the girl on the series "Dexter."

I was so so so so tired when I got here. I vaguely remember going to the Chelsea market with Damien that day and eating at Ronny Brook Farm & Dairy with one of his friends. When I got home I crashed and woke up the next day.

The next day I spent going up to the Bronx target (about 30 minutes up the 1 train-- I get on the 116th stop and got off on 225th). I bought a bunch of cleaning supplies, towels, and a plastic drawer set for my underthings. I hauled it all home and cleaned all day. I think the kitchen floor lightened two shades.

The next day I wrote all day and edited one of the two shorts I have made ("Duck Falls in Water"). The other short I made ("Ivan Sings," named after my favorite Aram Khachaturian piano piece) was fairly easy to edit since lots of the takes are long. I also watched "Roxanne" written and starring Steve Martin on my netflix instant play. I think I watched a few other movies but not so notable after all.

Sunday, I ventured off to church which is off the 66th exit near the temple. The ward is very big and I made some friends including Makiko who just started Columbia law school. She grew up in Shizuoka and spent her summers in the states. We have a lot in common and it was fun talking with her about Japan. I saw her in the 166th st. subway before church and suspected she might be going to the same place. She lives very close to me in Columbia law school housing so we rode the line home together.

Sunday night Lee arrived which has been nice of course. Monday, Rachel came and Monday night Rachel, Lee and I ventured down to Brooklyn to go to Ikea. I bough a few items and Rachel and Lee kindly helped me carry things back to the upper west side through the hot and humid subway.

Yesterday I worked on a script all day and waited for my mattress to arrive, which it did! Huzzah! Liz Lee came into town (she is going to NYU to get a masters in social work) so we all went down to the Barnes and Noble down town to see Regina Spektor play a free show. I heard one song and then headed down to the chess section with Lee. After we came back up town and ate at "Pinnacle" - a pizza place near my house that I have frequented almost daily since I've been here.

Besides the taxi incident, my time here has been really good. I have been productive and absolutely love my neighborhood. It is very cozy and clean, and despite the fire station, there isn't a lot of partying or loud music. It seems relatively safe (although going into the Morningside Heights Park alone is not recommended) and it is very beautiful. I live right next door to a great cathedral and of course, Columbia campus is beautiful in and of itself.

More to come! I am going to go straighten my hair now so Rachel and I can reply to Jendar's "Me, Myself, and I" f-book post.



This summer has been very filled with traveling and movie making.