Just a Random Life Update

[rusty_halo]

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2608

SuperVegan was named one of the 21 best vegan blogs by VegNews Magazine. They called us “The Vegan Daily Show.” I am so proud!

Our incredibly-belated second birthday party also went off well. Tons of people showed up and devoured our giant cake at record-breaking speed. And I served free beer from a keg! Now I just need to get cracking on the hundred-million things on my to-do list…

But first, I need a vacation. I haven’t traveled anywhere for the entire year. (*sigh* I never found the time/money for Florida.) I’m going stir crazy. And it’s summer!

But I’m low on money and vacation days, so I posted here asking for advice. Several people told me to take a train to Asbury Park, swim, stay overnight, and take the train back the next day. So I booked a Saturday in July at the Empress (which is mostly a gay hotel but seems welcoming to everyone, has great reviews at TripAdvisor, is right on the beach, has a hotel bar, and looks very pretty).

My memories of Asbury Park are, um, grim (Uranium 235 played at the Stone Pony on Halloween 2000–I think that was the place where my friends had to switch hotels because the original hotel they’d booked wouldn’t let them in!), but apparently they’re remodeling the boardwalk and cleaning everything up, so it’s a good place to have a beach vacation while the prices are still fairly low. (At least, I hope so!) It’s heartbreaking how much is gone, though, and how such an amazing place could decline so badly.

It looks like I’m going alone–I’d rather have company, but it’s hard to find people I travel well with, and none of those I know I get along with can go. I’ll keep asking around, though, and I don’t really mind bringing a book and going on my own.

I also really want to go to Coney Island this year–I adore kitchy old amusement stuff, and I want to see what’s left before it all gets replaced by condos. :( Maybe I’ll go there for July 4? Not sure, it could be too crowded. Whatever, I’ll figure it out–I’m officially a Brooklynite now! (Although HopStop tells me the quickest way to get there is to go into Manhattan and transfer to the N at Union Square. :P)

Pretty much the entire past two weeks have been taken up by moving. I barely even had time to rant about Doctor Who! It’s getting better, though; my living space is starting to feel more like “home” and less like “empty space full of unpacked boxes.” So far I have:

* Organized my kitchen, thanks to SO MUCH SPACE and a nifty cabinet from Surprise Surprise. More-or-less by coincidence, everything in my kitchen is white, which makes it seem very modern and shiny and bright. I like it.

* Bought my cats a fountain, since Lucifer can't drink out of the faucet anymore (it doesn't drip, and I don't want to get it started). So far they haven't figured out how to drink from the fountain part yet, though. Silly cats.

* Organized my bathroom stuff (so much junk to throw away--makeup from when I was in high school!) and put it all on shelves in the kitchen, right outside the bathroom door. The bathroom is too small to fit much of anything.

* Organized my shower stuff with one of those corner suspension rods. Sadly I had to put it at the front instead of back, because the back edge has a slope and it kept sliding off. Oh well. And installed a new showerhead which is much nicer than the crappy default one.

* My bedroom is in progress. The furniture is arranged, but I still have to put most of the clothes away. (I'm still getting used to the idea that I can use all my dresser drawers for clothes instead of having to share space with trinkets and tools and art supplies.) I did get the new bed--it looks awesome! And it's very firm, which is a nice change from the crappy old one that always left me sliding in toward the middle. The drawers underneath are super-convenient, since I can store all my sheets and blankets there.

* My "office" is about half done. I've put all my desk stuff away and put all the stuff from boxes onto the shelf. Now I just have to organize the shelf. I also have a giant box of "stuff to sell on eBay" which I really need to just do because it's taking up lots of space.

* My living room is the big upcoming project. I can't organize it properly until I get a bunch of new furniture (described below--I'm getting rid of an ugly brown bookshelf and replacing it with a giant black one and a tall media shelf. And I *probably* want a dining table in there, depending on how well it'll fit.) Right now the living room has boxes everywhere, so I'm mostly trying to organize the things I *can* and move aside the things that need to wait for the new shelves. Dude, I'll actually be able to display all my books, instead of double-shelving everything! :)

I also ordered a bunch of stuff that I'm still waiting for--a new alarm clock since I beat the hell out of my last one, hanging organizers for hair and makeup stuff, hanging shoe organizers for the closet (I'm trying my best to avoid a giant pile of shoes taking up the whole closet floor), and portable wireless speakers (they're kind of crappy, but whatever) so I can listen to music (or Doctor Who podcasts) in the kitchen or living room without having to blast it from the "office" and piss off the neighbors.

My dad is coming to visit the weekend after next, and he's going to help me: 1) finish putting together the kitchen cabinet--I need a drill to put the doors in because my mom put a piece in backwards, 2) help me obtain and install an air conditioner for the kitchen window (it'll reach my bedroom better than the one on the opposite side of the apartment), 3) buy a 4-drawer letter sized black filing cabinet at Staples and drive it to my place (no more crappy plastic filing cabinets!), 4) buy a tall media shelf at Gothic Cabinet Craft (I saw the perfect one), 5) take me to Ikea and help me purchase, transport, and assemble a giant bookshelf (I think this one, though I wish it was black), dining table and chairs (probably), and possibly a rug if I can find one that's not too hideous (why are 95% of rugs incredibly fugly? and of the 5% that aren't, 4% are made of wool [which I don't buy]). Luckily there's an Ikea opening in Brooklyn on June 18.

Maybe Dad will help me put up some pictures, too (I need to get frames for my big Star Wars posters.) jaydk thinks I should put up art like a real grown-up, but this is me we're talking about. My centerpieces will be an Empire Strikes Back poster and a The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly poster. :P I might start looking in, like, edgy art galleries for interesting pieces, but really, I'm not much of a visual art person. I'd rather have cool-looking movie and concert posters. (I've got this gorgeous signed limited edition Alice in Chains one from the 600-person show I went to in Austin, and a Chemlab one from when I went to San Francisco...)

My goal for the future (like, after I pay off all these credit card bills and re-build my savings) is to replace my ugly wooden entertainment center and old TV with a big flatscreen TV on a glass or black TV stand. It'll make the room look much sleeker. And, y'know, who doesn't want a giant TV? I think that'll be a few years down the line, though. One of these days I want all my furniture to be modernist black or else wood that is red. Nothing brown. And one day I'll replace my futon with a real couch, but that's even further down the line. Oh, and I want a Nintendo Wii. And that workout program, whatever it's called. And an iPhone. Someday!

Current Mood: busy

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