Chrissy's Blog

I went to Brooklyn for a friend’s birthday party. This picture was actually taken in the wrong neighborhood. Her street ended in Avenue, and I went to a street in Brooklyn with the same name but ending in Street. Bah! I made my way there, though. This was a lovely sunset. I really love Manhattan, but I also truly enjoy not being in Manhattan sometimes, like enjoying a bonfire without getting too hot all the time. Does that even make sense?

Being the bookworms that we are, I took my mother and sister to The Strand Bookstore. Something about rows and rows of books makes me feel pure joy. Not even joy, pure optimism. Like there is just so many more stories to read, beautiful books to spend time getting to know. Lord help me, I do LOVE books.

During this time of difficulty, my lovely lady relatives came to town. My mother and my sister came to force feed me, brush my hair as I talked on and on about the disappointment, and force me out of that depressing apartment. On this day, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While it was wonderful to have them in town, I definitely needed some serious alone time. At the museum, I made my way away from them and towards the modern art section. I enjoy modern art. Not the what-the-fuck-is-that-modern-art, but the modern art that isn’t just a painting of Madonna with child. I consider myself an artist of the word, especially when it comes to crafting poetry. But there is something to visual art that I respect so much. This piece took my breath away. There were pages of my journal dedicated to how I feel. I spent hours on the phone with friends trying to put words to what I was experiencing. But this picture. Me looking into this modern art mirror. This is it. This is exactly how I felt. Beyond words. Beyond a logical explanation. This was me at that moment. Even beyond the break-up, which I often feel is just another event in a long line of difficult challenges that have been thrown at me over the last year. My life, Chrissy in 2011 is this photograph.

It was been a while. But like I said, I’m not giving up. The last six weeks were truly spotty for my project, but I’m getting it all back on track. The project, my life, my goals.

This was actually the day of the break-up. Not a good one in my life. But on the bright side, this was also the first day that I hung out with my friend Brehnan in New York. He contacted me at an awkward moment, but he didn’t shy away. He insisted that I not sit home and wallow, that I go out and pick myself up. No easy feat at that moment. So, with red, swollen eyes, no makeup, and a dazed attitude, I trudged with him to a local bar. I hadn’t eaten at all that day, so he made me eat a veggie burger, and we drank a LOT of beer. This thing was called a tower. We didn’t drink it all, but we made some friends who helped us out. It was incredible to have my mind on something else for a couple of hours. I even laughed and, dare I say it, enjoyed myself. Brehnan has proved an amazing friend in not letting me mope or get myself down. I needed to go out that night, because there was hell awaiting me when I returned to the empty apartment.

This was a crazy day for me. When I went to bed a little after midnight, I felt like I had been through four distinctly different days. For purposes of privacy and simplicity, I will only talk about St. Patrick’s Day!

It was actually pretty fun. It was a beautiful day outside, warm and sunny, and there were people everywhere. By noon, the bars were overflowing, and people were dressed in green/Irish/drunk themed outfits. There were bagpipers in the street, and, oh yes, lots and lots of firemen. Travis and I went out a bit after nine and hit up a few different bars. It felt like New Years Eve or something, there were so many people spilled out into the streets, all drunkenly stumbling around. We actually only went to two bars now that I think about it and got a Guinness each. Mostly it was nice to walk around the streets, see the festivities, and just enjoy the nice nighttime breeze.

St. Patrick’s Day is a pretty big deal on the East Coast. So much preparation goes into it, it almost feels like Christmas. My boss (who is from Ireland) gave me some amusing advice for my first St. Patty’s Day in New York City.

1.) Beware of vomit in the street.

2.) You will not receive a glass at any bar, it will all be plastic cups.

3.) There will be peanuts on the floor to absorb moisture.

4.) There will be more firemen wandering around, then I could have ever dreamed.

All of this was in fact true, except for the peanuts thing.

Our apartment has high ceilings which is nice, because it makes the 700 square feet feel a lot less cramped. My only issue with it is the kitchen, where I can’t reach things a lot of the time. We have mostly non-necessary things on the top shelf. But this night, at 10pm, when I decided I wanted a cookie, I found out that my tall boyfriend had shelved them on the top shelf. I am on my tip-toes in this picture. Is this not the saddest picture I’ve ever taken it? It makes me want to cry.

Thanks to Travelzoo.com, we got a really awesome deal at this swank Tribeca Mexican restaurant. Travis took his big test today, and we decided to hit the town to celebrate. Our waiter was super nice until he saw our coupon, he proceeded to look down his nose at us the rest of the night, throwing a bevy of “no’s” in our faces.

Me: I’ll have a peach margarita?
Waiter: With your coupon (sneer), you can only have a regular margarita.

Travis: For our two appetizers, we’ll have the guacamole and…
Waiter: Your coupon (sneer) counts the guacamole as two appetizers.

Travis: I’ll have the Seafood Enchiladas…
Waiter: No…..(sneer)

He also neglected our table which was particularly irksome since the rest of the restaurant was relatively empty. We tipped him on the low side, but still substantial, which kind of annoyed me, because he forced us to live up to his expectations.

Why not, eh? I’ve always considered law school, and I just want something to work on. I still write, but I don’t know where that is going, and I just want to be back at school, learning something new. So, why not? I took the three hour chunk out of my Sunday, sat down and took my first practice exam just to see where I stand. It was ROUGH. But, I didn’t do too bad. I did amazing on the Arguments Section.