Monday, June 4, 2007

Almost a week in

It's been nearly a week that I've been here. I've yet to start truly making friends, but I think I'm on the path towards that.
Given that I could in theory post 5 or so days worth of material, I'll try to keep this in some sort of logical order.

Rooming
I've moved into Brooklyn Heights, and the apartment is ridiculously good looking. A wonderful view of the city. It's really too nice for two (one?) college student to have. Boris has yet to move in; it seems he keeps being to busy to get his stuff here. Poor kid. I texted him asking if he wanted help, but he assured me he has it under control, but that seems to be a recurring theme.
I got a bunch of silverware from a couple in the apt today. They apparently got a set of silverware as a wedding present and wanted to get rid of the old silverware. I jumped at the opportunity. The wonders of free stuff.


Work
Work's okay. The people around me are nice, but there's no real community or highly welcoming atmosphere. Nothing's off-putting, but it's quiet and there's no real socializing, at least not yet. My sole other fellow intern, Sabrina, is a rising senior at BC. She's nice, but it doesn't seem she's interested in being friends outside of work. Fair enough. At least I have someone to talk to while I'm there, even if the conversations aren't highly stimulating. Maybe I'll put a little more effort into them. I feel like I could improve a lot of things, but I don't want to step on anyone's toes just yet. I talked to my boss about the Obama thing, and he nicely advised that I stay in NYC because Obama is always coming into NY and I could probably meet him there if I really wanted to. I read a transcript of the debate today on nytimes.com and there was a shout out to the (national) League of Conservation Voters (to which the NYLCV is loosely and informally affiliated) by one of the lesser known candidates (Richardson? Dodd? I can't remember!). Check it out.

Social life
Pretty much non-existant so far. I met up with Roxanne over the weekend and met one of her friends, both of whom will visit me tomorrow. Tonight I went to meetup.com and signed up for a bunch of groups that I'd be interested in (psychology, NLP, debate, math) that might interest me. They all seem to meet in Manhattan, and I'd certainly be fine with treking over there to make some friends, even if they're a few years (perhaps even a decade?) older than I am. I'm not one to be picky right now.
I was supposed to go to an NLP workshop this Thursday with Mia, but she has yet to respond to me. I may or may not sign up anyway. The NLP meetup group meets during my dinner with Gladys. I might call and ask to reschedule, but I'm not sure about that. Advice, family?
I've also started messaging H students in the area asking to meet up with them. I know a few Brooklyn-ites who arrive in a few days. Maybe I'll meet up with them soon. People seem to be out for most of the summer (my old cross-the-hall mate is leaving for Italy on the 16th; Brett for Spain around the same time -- seems I'm not the only one living away from home this summer).
Matt (not Richmond, but from H) called me to ask if he could visit. I enthusiastically invited him for any weekend in June (figuring it'd be easier than planning around July stuff, and wanting friends sooner rather than later). I also talked to Aja and may convince her to come here instead of going to Cali to visit one of her friends there -- the idea of seeing both Matt, Garrett (perhaps? not sure there) and I seemed appealing to her, I think.
Michael IMed me today. Seems like he's enjoying summer in Cali -- emerging from his shell. Good for him. Ironically, I'm retreating into my own. But I still am able to emerge. I've taken to starting conversation on the subway with great success in the non-rush hours. Rush hour, everyone (including me) is too stressed to want convo.

Odds and ends:
Haven't done the hot compress yet, Mom. Is it necessary? I'm feeling lazy. Will it just go away on its own? That'd be nice. And is a hospital visit necessary?
Still not sleeping that well. This morning I got up super early for breakfast and went to the gym (it's nice!) at 8ish. I was almost late to work -- the subway took a long time to get to the station (I showed up 20 min before work thinking it'd be a 10 minute trip as Shari had told me, but I got to the office, out of breath, at 10:00:55 or so).
The Duane Reed pharmacy was unable to fill one of my perscriptions so I was sent to another one to pick up 1/3 of my amount, with the stipulation that they'd get the pills for me and I could come back later for them.

3 comments:

themasc said...

Addendum: Boris just called and said he actually is about to move in. Looks like I'll get a roommate! :)

steven said...

cool beans, by Steven from the U. Josh be careful about sparking great convos with ppl on subway, dont scare anyone, or dont annoy someone into scaring you. sounds like things are going well, and im sure the whole friend situation will work out with time. take care

DanBand said...

Josh, usually the nicest people of all are the scariest-looking ones. Those are the type of people you should try to engage in a nice, hearty chit-chat. Toodaloo.