Why Calamari and hard licquour don't mix

When going out to drink for the evening, the key thing you should consider is, have I eaten? I always like to eat a big meal before a debaucherous evening with friends. However the last time I went out, I failed to eat, thinking I could grab something at the bar. As I arrived at the bar in my area, I ordered some fried calamari, one of my favorite dishes. I hadn't drank too much, a couple of shots and two beers at that point. I hastily ate my calamari, relishing the taste and appreciating it's chewy goodness. Things seemed great as I began to drink more and finished my fried meal. An hour or so later things began to get creepy, I went to stand up from the bar and my legs didn't seem to work so well, I had drank much more in the past but this night something seemed wrong, my brain was saying, "walk you fool walk, you aren't that drunk, why won't your legs work?" I didn't know the answer, as I exited the bar everything went fuzzy and I fell forward into my friend who luckily caught me before I fell on my face. 45 puke filled and excruciatingly disgusting minutes later I had purged the evil calamari from my system, and was starting to feel semi-human again. Note to self, when Calamari goes bad it goes really bad, and it often doesn't smell like its bad, does anything fried really? It's such a great feeling to be prostrate on the sidewalk as people walk by staring at you and wondering what the hell you are on. The sidewalk actually feels quite comfortable in this state, nice and firm on the back, if you have to puke, try not to puke on yourself, this just makes things worse and leaves a lasting memory of last nights exploits for you to find on your jeans, shoes, or other article of clothing you wore the night before. There is no shame in puking your guts out in the street. If one measured all the bodily fluids secreted in the whole of New York City over its long history, how much would that be? Would it fill swimming pools full of fetid, stinking fluid? Would it fill football stadiums or maybe Olympic size swimming pools? Hard to say really but I am sure it is a large large sum of liquids and lets leave it at that. Some people say it's good to drink milk before drinking, it coats your stomach and helps you drink more, however if you are lactose intolerant this can cause a rather unsafe stomach condition and its definitely not a good idea if you are on a date, who wants to be the guy who has to keep getting up to fart? Ahhh alcohol, that lovely poison that we legalized, and a plant such as Marijuana, which grows naturally in nature is illegal, go figure. We all have different tolearnces to things, it helps to know your body and know your limits. I have learned my lesson folks, no more bar food, it's just mostly bad, greasy but is also good to coat the stomach, next time its going to be the chicken fingers, and pray that the stomach can handle it. Peace and hair grease.

Ahh the Job Hunt, the best way to depression via computer

I have to say that the phrase "looking for a job is a job itself" is so true. Since finishing my degree in January I, like hundreds of thousands of other unemployed New Yorkers and Americans, have started the job hunt. Now mind you, I have not much to complain about, there are others out there that have exhausted their savings, ran out of unemployment benefits and are two steps away from resorting to selling their bodies (if they are hot enough to) or jumping off the nearest high building. Ok, a bit dramatic true, but you get my point here. So where does one look for jobs these days? Gone are the days where you would look in the New York Times help wanted section, it is almost non-existent. Of course, you can go on popular sites such as Monster.com, Jobs.com and Careerbuilder.com etc. Honestly, I have had no luck from these sites, zero in fact. I sometimes wonder if the jobs on these sites even exist, or is some evil little gnome sitting somewhere at a computer, deep inside a bunker at Monster.com headquarters, entering in jobs that don't exist and giving an evil chuckle as he sucks on candy canes and drinks too much soda. That is a weird visual and a scary one and I think it might just be right. Of course there are other schools of thought, network with everyone you know via facebook, twitter, myspace and the like, but that has its own problems, you get sucked into playing mindless games and reading peoples updates and wondering why their lives are so great and yours sucks. In my case most of my friends can't help me or don't want to hear my snivelling, whiny rants anymore and have long ago given up on me. Yet I continue to try of course, because we have no choice do we? A few good friends have tried to help so that can't hurt. Any other ideas? As I talked about in earlier posts, "The Sign Guy" as I dubbed him had a good one, stand in the street all day with a suit on with a big sign saying "I lost my job can you help me?" Or "Will work for food" is always a good one that gives me a chuckle. But alas, these don't get the job done and working for food alone won't pay your rent or electric bill. Now, the city is gradually warming up so one could realistically stand outside all day in a suit with a sign and look for work that way. I never saw the sign guy again after a while, I keep the hope alive within myself that he finally did get a job and got off the street. My dark side thinks however he froze to death or left the city to hobo around on the railroads from place to place, seeking redemption in the long forever of the U.S. landscape, a bottle of cheap whisky in his hand, staring blankly out from the open boxcar and wondering where it all went wrong. Ok maybe this is overly dramatic, but these are dramatic times we live in, we all desperately want the 90's back, where jobs were plentiful and there wasn't a natural disaster happening every other week. So here I sit writing my woeful articles and wondering if anyone reads them, maybe this is just my way of therapy. A way to exorcise the demons stirring within my tortured New York soul. We all need this, it helps and is cheaper than drinking ones liver into swollen oblivion (which I don't do thank God). Depressions come and go in history and you have to just weather the storm if possible. If you can't, well it's getting warmer so you hopefully won't freeze to death if you are forced out of your home due to joblessness and hopelessness. New York is a shitty place to be homeless in, the shelters are disgusting, not that I would know, but I can only imagine. I would think being homeless in South Beach would be cool, there are showers on the beach and it's warm enough that you won't freeze to death. Maybe you can even be a travelling poet and sell enough poems during the day to afford a couple of cans of food that you can eat right out of the can, how romantic no? Well maybe not, but hey it beats freezing to death while sleeping over a subway grate in New York City. Keep the faith people, we can't be in a recession forever but I feel that this recession is different, the game has changed and I think somehow the U.S. got left behind, we are slowly being knocked off our pedestal of world power and maybe someday, we will wake up and we won't be the big kid on the block anymore, just a bully with alot of weapons and no jobs. I hope this is wrong, America used to stand for something and I hope we get our "mojo" back, I love my country and love New York City, but I am slowly forgetting why and that bothers me. So I go online each day and type and search until my eyes blur and my back aches and have less and less to show for it, but I still try because that is the "American way", we don't quit when the going is tough, we get tougher. More to come soon and keep the faith people, fate has a funny way of coming back around when times get hard. Peace and hair grease.

Where have all the egg creams gone?

For those of you who have never had one, an egg cream is a delcious drink. It consists of milk, seltzer and some vanilla syrup if your having a vanilla egg cream, if your having a chocolate egg cream, it's seltzer, milk and chocolate syrup. This drink is not to be confused with a malted. A malted is with grated ice, mixed in a blender and then adding chocolate syrup, milk and blending. There used to be many places in New York to get egg creams. There still are a few but it seems to be a vanishing beverage much to my consternation. There used to be many soda fountain type places in the city that served this beverage. Some diners still do but less and less so. According to some historians, the egg cream was a New York product, first sold mainly in Brooklyn and then spreading outwards. You can go to many places outside New York City and ask for one and the people will have no idea what it is. I recently was down south and asked for a bagel at a diner and got a look of consternation from the waitress, truly disturbing. The egg cream is a vanishing item and it is sad to see. It is one of those drinks that reminds me of my youth. Many people, when talking about egg creams, especially chocolate ones, say that it has to be made with U-bet syrup. I think this is the best way. If you can believe it, an egg cream has neither eggs in it or cream. This recipe has several legends as to how it was created, one legend is that it was created by a Jewish candy store owner in the early 1900's named Louis Auster who came to America and opened a candy store on the lower East Side. I am not sure who created the egg cream, but it is a miraculous drink. It was never able to be bottled because the ingredients tend to seperate after a while and the drink is best consumed freshly made. There is an old type soda fountain store on Chambers Street between West Broadway and Church Street where they sell them. However they put vanilla ice cream in them which is not the traditional way to make them. When I recently got one and saw the guy putting in vanilla ice cream I asked "what are you doing? That's not how you make an egg cream!" to which the guy smirked at me and told me that's how they made it there. It sucked! When I was younger, I worked in an ice cream store and I made very good egg creams. In fact there is a method to the madness, you have to make it sweet and add three pumps of vanilla syrup and just the right amount of seltzer, the old seltzer bottles that are pressurized work best for this type of drink, they are rare and hard to find but still sold by a few companies. It is depressing to see this great beverage, which is so much a part of the New York landscape and history, vanishing. Unfortunately so much of the old New York I love seems to be vanishing. The city is changing so drastically and the small things which gave it its identity and local flavor are slowly passing by the wayside. This is depressing to me, someone who grew up here and never left and I hope the trend reverses itself. If you are ever in a diner ask if they make egg creams, maybe they will and you can taste this great drink before it vanishes off the face of the earth forever. It is one of those special New York City only drinks that is wholly a part of the New York City landscape, that's how it should be. More to come soon, keep the faith, the worm shall soon turn for you too.

A storm was heard in NYC today

I have to apologize for not writing here sooner. I guess life throws you curve balls repeatedly and if you can't hit them well you fall into a deep dark hole I guess. I was also finishing my degree and now am on the job hunt along with millions of other unfortunate souls. We had a storm blow through the city today that I thought would shatter my windows, heavy winds were recorded of up to 100 mph, which for NYC is unheard of, things begin to get blown off buildings and when the buildings are 30, 40 or even fifty plus stories that can be like killer projectiles flying through the air. Imagine walking down the street and get cut in half by flying glass or some peace of whatever splits your skull and you never saw it coming. Freaky stuff to consider but hey tomorrow is never promised right? The city right now has around a ten percent unemployment rate which is really high considering that means around 800,000 plus people are out of work. I go online every day and feel that hopeless sinking feeling that i'm not going to find anything, or if I do it's going to be at some shitty job that I can't stand and makes me want to contemplate suicide with a butter knife. Well a bit dramatic sure but these are the times we live in. President Obama inherited a world of shit left over from the bush years and it's going to take a while to fix it up if that is even possible anymore. Too bad they gave AIG all that cash, we could have used it, AIG never did me no favors, I thought that if you mess up in a caplitalist world, you go under that's just the rules. These guys play with a different set though, they fuck up and the government bails them out, enjoy those bonuses boys while I contemplate if I can make it through the week on rice and beans and hot dogs as my lunch and dinner, skipping breakfast saves a few bucks! I sometimes wonde with all the natural disasters happening, (Tsunami's, Earthquakes, etc) maybe the predictions are true and 2012 will be it for us. It seems rather fitting if you ask me. I think God might be looking down and thinking, well I gave them two chances and they fucked it up again! Have you ever wondered how many innocent people have been killed, murdered, raped and pillaged just in the last thousand years, it's mind boggling. We have done a pretty good job of killing each other in the 20th century alone and the 21st is starting off with a bang. I'm ready if the end is near in 2012, i'm going to get a bottle of grey goose, sit out on my terrace and watch it come, hopefully with some close friends. I know this sounds glum people but hey these are dark days so a bit of darkness is par for the course. How many more signs do we need to convince us? I don't know, part of me wants the world to go on also, if we can just manage to get along with each other which seems more and more unlikely. I saw an interesting character today, the below picture was taken a few months back, of a way cool dude in a green fur coat with matching hat. Where else can you see a guy who is this confident in his style to rock this coat in public. I wondered if he was a pimp but then again maybe he just has pimp sensibilities whatever that means.



Anyway I think this guy is awesome, it takes alot of moxie to rock an outfit like this even in NYC where the weird is oftentimes overlooked or actually even blends in. I mean can you picture this dude walking down the street in some small town in Alabama or something? Shit that would be something i'd pay to see. On another note, I was recently out in the city with some friends, one of whom drinks way more than I can, I somehow drank seven shots of grey goose that night along with four beers and managed to keep standing, well I was down for the count once but that was a balance issue. However my other so called friend, who doesn't drink and was sober left us in the street when it was time to go home, you never leave a drinking buddy out in the street in that condition, so I was left the shitty task of taking a cab all the way uptown to drop my friend home, he lives way uptown i'm talking almost riverdale or in the 200's streets and we were in the village. You can get to the airport cheaper than this ride, it took every cent I had to get him home but at least I didn't put him on the train to get mugged or ride the rails all night in a drunken stupor. To you drinkers out there, you never leave a comrade behind, especially a drunk one and of course don't drink and drive but in NYC you don't need a car really its a luxury to have one and the parking sucks. Suffice it to say I arrived home with two bucks left over, smoked a cigarette while walking the deserted streets a few blocks from where the cab dropped me off. I love walking the city streets really late, when no one is around and its just you and whatever vermin happen to be scurrying around. It's funny though you don't see many rats in the winters, even they go hide when the winds swirl and that cold wind comes off the Hudson River. Any night you get home alive and unharmed is a good one in my book. Being a statistic just sucks. Peace and love, i'll write more soon.

Sorry for not being here, that is if anyone is here to read that i'm sorry for not being here. Get it???

Well I am back after a bit of an abscence, that is because, going to college at my age is freaking hard!!! Sorry, but it's true, however I am proud of being on the deans list almost every semester at school so far but one. Ok enough of the nerd stuff. We are slowly creeping into the dreaded New York Winter, I guess it's not as bad as I think but when that wind hits you off the water on either side of the city, east or west, you feel it in your bones. At times you may turn a corner in New York and be literally slapped in the face with a cold wind that literally takes your breath away and not in a good way mind you. I never wear a hat either, even though my mother is always insisting that I do, maybe that's why I don't? I rebel against her every wish and she argues with every observation on life or any topic I make. I am watching the sun set now at four pm, truly depressing, I hate these short days where the night takes over like a slow rash that encompasses you. I need to get out more and experience the city, you would think living here I would go out alot, I don't, I used to but not anymore. I am dating a lovely woman who I am in love with. Maybe that's it? Well sorry for the personal stuff, i'm sure you are not interested. Today I saw a woman walking two Russian Wolfhounds, a large breed of dog for sure. They are truly scary to be near but also gentle and a kind breed it seemed like. I wouldn't want one of them trying to rip out my jugular though which they woulnd't even need to get on their hind legs much to do. I was just watching one of those nature shows, after watching something about the holocaust, which now mind you i'm a jewish guy but, wow they play way too much holocaust and nazi stuff on that channel, Lets try to move on people we all know Hitler was evil lets take a break. I have a picture to share which I think sums of the essence, vibe, feeling, mojo, funktitude and overall flavor that is New York City.The Gentleman in the picture was not part of a movie set or a video shoot to my knowledge, I snapped his picture with my cellphone. As I walked past I simply turned and with the thumbs up told him "I'm digging your coat man" to which he grunted something in acknowledgement and I was on my way. I just love seeing that there are still free spirits among us, then I wondered where one might buy a coat of that color. What a world of consumerism we live in. Speaking of which I would urge anyone interested in things of the world that fly under the radar, specifically water and food, watch the following free documentaries. A World Without Water

And also The Future of Food






Both these documentaries take a disturbing look at how corporations in some instances are seeking to patent life and monopolize the seed market in the case of Monsanto. Water is such a precious resource that most Americans take for granted, but there are millions of people who don't have access to clean water, this documentary shows how even people in the United States don't have access either. They take a disturbing look into the quest by some corporations to dominate markets and control the most vital things in our lives, food and water. I'll be back sooner rather than later to share some more of City life, my life and more. I am graduating school finally, my quest for my degree complete, two papers left to write and I am free to get back into the world. Of course there aren't many jobs and i'm not setting my sights too high, but a man can dream can't he? That's all we really have power over is our minds. Try to step outside yourself one time a day and look around at your surroundings, hopefully in a nice place and just snap out of it for a moment. That's how I feel, like the stumbling automaton, buying what they tell me to buy, doing what society says I should do. But we have the power to get out of that matrix like world if we look around hard enough. Peace and love.

From NYC. or as Jay Z Ms. Keys put it, "Concrete Jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do." Peace.

I'm back

Well I haven't been blogging like I should, maybe its summer in the city syndrome, its been a cool summer here in NYC. We haven't even hit 90 yet which is nice I guess, the city can get hot and humid as hell in summer. I love the heat though to a point. Things are going well here, we got tons of rain, so much rain that it seems as if we should be under water. I guess we need the rain however and it's good for the plants and all that. There's something about summer nights in the city, everyone is out, hanging out, drinking, eating, talking, etc. It's a great time of year. The winters here suck and I hate the cold which lasts for so long. When summer finally comes it's a welcome relief. I love the beach too and went to Rockaway last weekend. The waves there are some of the biggest on the east coast and the surfers were out in force. The beach however is small, maybe due to beach erosion or something. I never saw so much seaweed in the water however. I don't know if that's good or bad. I guess it's better than jellyfish or sharks however. The water was perfect and warm after you get into it. I got battered around by the waves while avoiding the surfers and their boards. I threw my shoulder out too which sucked and got too much sun, I don't put sunblock on which is bad but I like to get dark and that's the only way. I paid a price the next day when I was so burned I couldn't move well. But hey, we all make our choices right and we have to live with the consequences. I haven't seen the sign guy who I wrote about in earlier posts, maybe he got a job finally? Let's hope so. I am looking for part time work and have been unlucky in finding any, whether that has to do with the thousands of others looking or that my resume might suck I don't know. I know that I can do alot of things it's just a matter of who you know here, not how talented you actually are. I am trying to write a T.V. script for an idea I have and just have to work harder to plan time to write. I will try to write more here to as subjects arise that are interesting to me. Hope to write more soon when the feeling moves me. Peace and love until next time.

Rafa Rules

Well it was a match for the ages down in Australia. Rafa Vs. Roger, the match we all love to see. Many including myself thought that Roger had a slight edge going into this match due to Rafa's marathon match with Verdasco and also that the match was on hard courts which Roger's game is more suited to. What myself and many people might not have thought about was that Rafa has the heart of a lion and is the most fit player on tour and possibly to ever play the game. Five sets taking 5 hours and 14 minutes? The longest match in Australian Open history with Verdasco just a day and a half ago? No problem, five more sets with one of the greatest players of all time? Not a big problem either. Rafa outlasted Federer in a match Roger should and could have won. After going to 5-5 in the first set, Roger lost serve and the set and had his chances to break Rafa many times throughout the match, his first serve abandoned him and at one point he was serving under 40% of first serves in. That is a death sentence in most matches and against Rafa even more so. After losing the first set, Roger stayed cool and turned his game up a notch, taking the second set easily with some spirited tennis 6-3 after winning four games in a row. The third set was epic, involving some of the greatest shot making I have seen in many years if not my whole tennis life and I have been around. I have watched the greats play, from Connors to Mcenroe to Borg and beyond and I have rarely witnessed more superb shot making than this set and match produced. Angles, 15 shot rallies, 18 shot rallies and more, Roger threw everything but the kitchen sink at Rafa in the third set and had his chances to take it many times. He just could not seem to convert the key break chances he needed and he couldn't hold his serve when he needed it, letting Rafa back into the set and finally losing it in the tiebreaker 7-3. He was never in that tiebreak. Rafa seemed to have no nerves and Roger seemed to feel the moment more than Rafa did he had some key double faults in this match something he rarely does. While he tried in vain to flatten out his backhand and stay away from the slice that has hurt him in the past with Rafa, Rafa played the buggy whip top spin forehand that bounced up high to Roger's backhand and Roger didn't seem to have an answer for it. While Rafa was telegraphing his first and second serves, serving 100% of second serves in the same spot in the deuce court at one point, Roger didn't seem to pick up on it or didn't want to run around the backhand and attack Rafa's second serve which is probably his only weakness still. Roger woke up again in the fourth set playing spirited tennis and coming into net more. Breaking Rafa finally to take a lead which he never relinquished. Both players had some easier games on serve both having love service games. By the fifth set however a change seemed to be occurring, maybe Roger thought Rafa would run out of gas but he never seemed to, while Rafa called for the trainer briefly in the third set, for a massage, his legs held up and carried him to the end. This match was a back and forth battle. If Roger had served better and been able to convert his many break chances the match would have been different. It just seemed that Roger was tentative when he needed to be aggressive and Rafa had a will of iron and played the points the same no matter their importance. Could this be the changing of the guard? It was long the opinion of some that Rafa couldn't win on hard courts. That myth has been dispelled and the question now becomes, can Roger beat Rafa on any surface anymore? While it's true that Roger didn't play his best, he did at times play brilliantly, if he had served up in the sixty percent range he probably would have won the match but that's a big if. If Rafa's body can withstand the pounding of the next few years, he might retire Roger, although Roger is always a threat in any tournament and Rafa has to make sure he doesn't over play and destroy his body, but this could be the changing of the guard in Men's tennis. While many believe Roger has a few good years left in him, it is hard to say if Rafa won't be the spoiler to Roger's destiny. Now we await the French open in a couple of months where Rafa reigns supreme going for his fifth straight title. We shall see what the future holds, but for now, Rafa is still number one and there doesn't seem to be anyone but Roger who even has a shot at beating him. Rafa is 3-0 in the last three meetings of the two and is 13-6 career, a stat no one else even comes close to. Roger was attempting to tie Pete Sampras' record of 14 grand slam titles overall, that will have to wait. Maybe Wimbledon this year will be Roger's best bet, the odds of him taking the French open are not good unless some clay court specialist can oust Rafa from the dirt in France and they will be their waiting. We shall see. After the match, Roger seemed crushed by the defeat, and in a show of support and respect, Nadal put his arm around Roger at the trophy ceremony, a true show of respect and admiration. When have we seen the winner consoling the loser after a final? This shows us all what great champions both these men are and what a great rivalry this is. Rafa said to Federer, “Roger, sorry for today. I really know how you feel right now. Remember, you’re a great champion, you’re one of the best in history. You’re going to improve on the 14 of Sampras.” That says it all doesn't it? More soon.