Short Post To Say That I'm Alive

Hi all,

I apologize for the slow updates. I've been super busy with job interviews and house-hunting that I kept on putting blogging aside.

I just want to say hi and that all is well.

I am listening to music a lot lately. Going back to some of the older songs I used to listen to. There is a Chinese song by the Taiwanese band F.I.R. that touched me when I first heard it, and is still special in my heart. Thought I'd share it with everyone.



Ba Ai Fang Kai (Let Go of Love) ~ F.I.R.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FrFLmCvFp8

Opening Quote:

"To see her falling apart, utterly helpless... I suddenly realize that this has all been a mistake.. or should I call it a challenge?

We never looked back. For the first time, I feel.. afraid... about destroying someone"

Quote on Screen:

"If I can still hold you with my arms... I only gave myself one chance for regret...

and yet... neither one of us looked back..."


Lyrics:


"When you began to chase the freedom you seek,
you let go of our tightly held hands...
and took away my love and my sky.

I don't know what to do.
I thought I would understand...
Our love.. our love.

When I walked alone to the End of Time
Memories brushed past me...
took with it your love and your smile.

I can't take this anymore,
this last bit of heartbreak.
Our love... our love.

Let go of love, let go of our hands
if your heart is no longer here.
Let go of love, I will not wait.
Your tenderness is just a blank sheet of white.
Let go of love, open up my heart.
This time, I've decided to walk out of our memories and start over.

So let me hurt utterly, and wake up completely.
So let me hurt utterly, and wake up completely.

Insert:

"This is the first time we understand,
what gut-wrenching pain feels like.

There is no "badness" in my world;
no "promises" in his...

Through his eyes...
I saw a different world..."

When I walked alone to the End of Time
Memories brushed past me...
took with it your love and your smile.

I can't take this anymore,
this last bit of heartbreak.
Our love... our love.

Let go of love, let go of our hands
if your heart is no longer here.
Let go of love, I will not wait.
Your tenderness is just a blank sheet of white.
Let go of love, open up my heart.
This time, I've decided to walk out of our memories and start over.

So let me hurt utterly, and wake up completely.

[Bridge]

I finally understand that our love is no longer here.
From now on, there is nothing else for me to rely on.
What else can I look forward to?

Let go of love, let go of our hands
if your heart is no longer here.
Let go of love, I will not wait.
Your tenderness is just a blank sheet of white.
Let go of love, open up my heart.
This time I've decided to walk out from all of our memories and start over.

So let me hurt utterly, and wake up completely.
So let me hurt utterly, and wake up completely."

[End Song]


So that's basically how I felt the night I made the decision to come to NYC.

Overpriced Grocery Stores, McDonald's, and Men in Suits

I love how I live across the street from a USPS truck dispatch garage, down the block from a supermarket, a Catholic church, a Jewish hospital, a 99 cents store, a bar, a karaoke place, and near the NYU trolley tracks. (NYU has purple trolleys! That school is screaming out to me -- "Apply Kat, apply!")

I love the diversity, I love the variety, and most of all, I love the convenience, and all of the spur-of-the-moment entertainment options available to me, 24/7/365.

Too bad I can't really go out this weekend. Thank you Hurricane Hanna. Be nice to the Florida folks, and please don't make too much of a mess along the coast. The U.S. of A. will greatly appreciate it.

I worry for my friend down in Louisiana, the nasty Gustav. I hope he evacuated in time.

Many people have told me they are too afraid to move to NYC. I would love to play host to them sometime. I love this place. I don't know why, but the transition was seamless. I am already making plans for the next museum to see, the next Broadway musical to buy tickets for, and the next restaurant to call for delivery.

I watched as my mom struggle to adapt, complaining about the heat, the people, the traffic. I am surprised, given that she has lived in Hong Kong longer than I have (I was born there and lived there for 11 years). I guess we all take things for granted when we live in privilege. In her case, air conditioned office space, driving her own car, walking down crossroads where pedestrians and drivers actually obeyed traffic laws. I bet she misses California right now. She will be back in a week, but I hope she will take this experience with her as a reminder that life doesn't always suck as much as how we perceive it.

I am having a blast in this place so familiar and yet so new. There is a local produce store down the block from where I live. It is a small operation, fairly well-stocked. Priced like Nuggets (no surprises there). I drop by every once in awhile to pick up necessities. The store is always filled with the older folks, strolling along the aisles in their walkers. The simplicity of the locals' existence folded into the chaotic layers of a city life -- a beautiful waltz between the old and the new, a common ground for the rich and the poor, a sturdy root for the dreams and hopes that has lifted America time and time again.

A few blocks down, the eye-catching yellow M on red stood out amidst the solemn 9-to-5 crowd. I stepped in to get a large Diet Coke (Can't shake my Diet Coke addiction). After a pleasant experience at the Times Square McDonald's, I was expecting an equal level of service in this East Village location. Unfortunately, it took them about fifteen minutes to pour my drink into a plastic cup (and spilled it) before leaving it on the counter while the staff attended to other customers. No wonder people say that New Yorkers are rude. I think it is more accurate to say that the customer service in NYC is less than stellar. I cannot recall the number of times when orders have been mixed up, or missed altogether, when the entree was carried out before the appetizer, or when the customer was ignored for a good fifteen minutes before she was serviced.

I guess I can't expect much in a big city like NYC, where everyone is constantly on the go, rushing from place to place. Who has time to say thank you or please?

I must point out, however, that most of the New Yorkers I have met are truly wonderful and caring. There is definitely a strong community spirit, a genuine concern for the environment, and the people truly want to make better lives for themselves. That is inspirational.

I must also add that, for a girl who has her eye on well-groomed, well-dressed, metrosexual yuppies, NYC is an absolute paradise. Just thought I'd throw it out there = )

Here are a few more pictures I didn't get to post last night. Hope you like the blog!

Love,

Kat

The First 24 Hours

Here I am, in the Big Apple. I cannot even begin to describe the feeling of being back in a big city. It's like being home, but without the overprotective parents or free home-cooked meals. I felt like a New Yorker the moment I stepped off of the plane, and was completely at ease.

Let me talk a bit about the flight. This is the first time I have ever flown with Delta Airlines. I have five luggages (I'm a pack rat) and two of them are very much overweight. I also have 4 guinea pigs to carry with me as carry-ons. All of these special circumstances cost me about $700. There goes my entire paycheck. Booo.

It was a 5 hour and 30 minutes flight... which means, a lot of free time to be stuck in a very tiny space. I usually would read a magazine, watch the in-flight movies, or relax with my Nintendo DS. However, I was severely sleep deprived (thanks to my tendency to procrastinate on packing) and decided to just nap. That was unsuccessful, because Delta has an in-flight trivia challenge where everyone on the flight can play against each other. As a trivia enthusiast, I immediately logged on. (Why didn't they have this technology when I was on my 16 hour pan-Pacific flights from Hong Kong??)

Anyway, it was fun. I spent the whole flight competing with others. Let me tell you, it is mighty useful to know that Beethoven is famous for his 5th Symphony, that there are nine layers to Dante's Inferno, and that Kenny gets killed in every South Park episode. At one point I was number 1 on their All Time Top 10 list. Yay for my 15 minutes of fame among 150 strangers. I hope Ken Jennings is proud of me.

I took a cab to my vacation rental. It took about fifteen minutes to get to where I needed to go because of the rush hour traffic. With my mom's help, I hauled all 5 heavy luggages up to my 4th floor apartment. I hope I will lose some weight after doing the stairs here for a month... it definitely was a good work out.

I have attached some pictures here for you to look at. I am settled in for now. I am now looking for a more permanent place for October and beyond, while also going to job interviews. I sure hope things will fall into place soon. I still have my Sacramento phone number, so call me whenever you need to. I will get a P.O. Box in a bit and I will give you that address, in case you want to send me mail = ) *hint hint*

The bag to the left is from one of the larger pharmacy chain stores here in NYC called Duane Reade. They are like the Rite Aid of New York. They can be found every two to three blocks. I have also visited a CVS Pharmacy (which bought out Longs in California), and passed by a Rite Aid. Is there really a need for so many pharmacy/drug stores in such a cramped city?

But then again, do they really need a Bank of America ATM vestibule on every other block? There are more BoA ATMs in NYC than Starbucks. That's pretty scary. I also saw all the banks of my childhood on one street: CitiBank, HSBC, Bank of America. NYC really takes me right back to my baby-days. I am suddenly home sick for Hong Kong.

Now I would really like to point out one particularly cool thing that I have discovered about NYC. Look at the picture below. These are hard plastic take-out containers. The great thing about these is that they are sturdy (like tupperware), washable, and microwave safe. This means that after I have finished with my food, I can just wash these containers and re-use them as tupperware. Davis restaurants should really consider switching to this environment-friendly alternative. I am definitely keeping mine. (Free Tupperware!) I am also impressed at how well these containers retain heat. Our Chinese take-out was steaming hot even after sitting in an air-conditioned room for an hour. Yay for awesome containers. (I have a thing for containers... like bags. That's why I have so many bags.)

Check back often for updates! I am going to hit Chinatown and Midtown this weekend. I am definitely very interested in checking out the local cafes and restaurants. So many choices! I wish I have money to eat out every day. I can't believe I found a Burmese restaurant! (Hungry for some mo-hing-ah [Burmese fish noodle soup]) and and and Thai, and Malaysian, and Japanese, Korean, Indian, Mediterranean, Polish, Italian, Mexican, and a ton more. I love love love this city!

Now I just need a permanent housing and a job... then life will be good = )

Miss you all!