A Fresh Start In Sunnyside
July 22, 2013 § 3 Comments
I’ve finally settled in to my new apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, and I must say it has been very enjoyable so far. The apartment is beautiful (photos below!), the neighborhood is charming, and my daily commute to Times Square takes literally the same amount of time as when I lived in East Village.
It’s almost that easy.
Here are just some of the benefits:
-There’s a trash chute on every floor, which means I never have to drag my garbage downstairs!!! THIS IS A BIG DEAL.
-Because I live in an elevator building, packages actually get delivered to my door instead of me having to make time for the post office’s inconvenient hours and long waits.
-I live much closer to the train station than I used to — 6 minutes walking instead of 15. The distance seemed reasonable when I lived in East Village, but when I went to pick up my deposit last week, it felt like forever.
-My new apartment building has a lobby. An air-conditioned lobby with couches and a coffee table. Before, I’d be forced to squeeze past delivery bikes or strollers just to get up the stairs. (One time, someone inadvertently wedged their bike between the door and the stairs and I literally could not get inside. That’s how tiny the space was.)
-I never, ever have to worry about being kept awake by noisy garbage trucks or barhoppers. Or my roommate’s crying kid.
-My room has a built-in AC/heating unit! I won’t have to mooch off the living room AC anymore! For some reason, though, my machine is in Celsius and I don’t know how to change it.
-I used to have to pay almost $100 a month in utilities and cable (WTF!). Now it’s half as much — and our Internet doesn’t get disconnected every 10 minutes.
I have only a few minor gripes:
Why I’m Leaving Manhattan And Moving To Queens
June 18, 2013 § 5 Comments
In two weeks, I will be moving out of my East Village apartment all the way to Sunnyside, Queens. Some might wonder why I’d leave such an amazing neighborhood for some bufu land that even many New Yorkers have never heard of, but you’ll understand by the end of this post.
As you might recall from my move-in post, for the past nine months, I’ve been living in a two-bedroom with my roommate Catherine and her daughter C, who just turned 4. People give me weird looks when I tell them I live with a toddler, and I guess it’s for good reason. Who would want to live with someone else’s kid? And perhaps those people are correct. But more on that later.
My main reason for moving out was economical. Rent cost me $1180 per month, which is reasonable for the location, but with the additional $40-ish for utilities and astronomical $60 for cable/Internet (she subscribes to HBO/DVR/etc.), I paid almost $1300 every month. Of course, when I say “I paid,” I mean “my parents paid,” which makes me feel awful for being such a leech. In contrast, my new apartment in Queens is around $900 a month. That’s a $400 difference!! What the what!
That in itself is compelling enough, but there’s more!
Last Days Of The Juice Cleanse And Why I Wouldn’t Do It Again
May 17, 2013 § 3 Comments
A lot of the unfortunate things that happened during the final two days of my juice cleanse are undoubtedly my fault, but it’s safe to say that I probably won’t ever do a store-bought cleanse ever again. (Day 1 here)
DAY 2
I woke up on Monday feeling groggy and ill (even after 8 hours of sleep), like I was hungover. It was probably dehydration from not drinking anything the entire night.
The nasty All Greens juice was actually quite refreshing first thing in the morning, though it still took me an hour to finish. I could feel my shriveled insides absorbing the liquid; the constant peeing didn’t start until 1.5 hours after I started juicing. I made sure to have lotion with me, otherwise my hands would’ve gone raw from all the hand-washing.
Liquiteria Juice Cleanse: Day 1
May 6, 2013 § 4 Comments
A juice cleanse isn’t meant to be taken lightly. Not only is it expensive, it’s also not as delicious as one might imagine (though maybe I’m the only one delusional enough to imagine such things). Such is what I learned on the first day of my Liquiteria cleanse.
Sunday started with a trip to the gym, where I biked while watching Bizarre Foods America (I learned that Andrew Zimmern hates oatmeal, of all things). The dishes might’ve been unusual, but it all looked delicious — even elk heart tartare topped with raw turkey egg yolk — and I started missing solid food before I even got any juice inside me.
auradis 