Photos

Tuesdays are odd. They are nowhere close to the weekend, therefore they suck, and often Tuesdays are the time when you kind of forget what day it is because it's so unimportant in the grand context. Today on the way to work, I rode down without a hitch. No one cut me off, I didn't fear for my life and I got there at a decent time. On the way home, however... well, let me illustrate using skills comparable to MS Paint:

I was riding home, being careful to look out for cars who weren't looking out for me, and riding on the sidewalk because I find it to be safer around these Connecticut maniac drivers. Cruising along and all the sudden, out of nowhere, this woman pulls out from the parking lot of this ethnic grocery store, about 3 feet in front of me. I wasn't expecting it (obviously), and I gripped my brakes as hard as I could and swerved. It's actually a miracle I didn't fly over her hood, but my swerving combined with a Flintstones style foot-scraping along the pavement kept me from slamming into her tank-like SUV. I'm beginning to think that maybe Ol' Blue may be a bit too old.

The rest of the way home was alright. I avoided getting run over, but I did get honks and a whistles from on-looking male drivers. Have they not seen a lanky girl on a bike before? One of my biggest challenges so far here has been how to ignore and avoid comments from men who see me walking or biking. On my way home from the train station the other day, a man stopped with his window rolled down and talked to me, but I had my headphones on so I just ignored him. He drove off but then turned around to bug me again. He drove off, honking, but as I turned the corner down my street I looked around to be sure he wasn't following me. Where the hell am I? Why can't a girl walk home without being bothered? For now I'll just put on my "I will kill you" face and keep walking, but it is a bit disconcerting.

So, this last weekend I went to see my cousin Audra in the big city. She lives in Tribeca which is near the financial district which is near the water and this amazing park and the most beautiful part of the city I've seen as of yet. She took me to see the waterfront along the Hudson, where you can look across to Jersey. She took me to her favorite diner right around the corner from where she lives. We walked all over Chinatown, Little Italy, Bleecker street and then she took me to Magnolia, a famous bakery with apparently famous cupcakes. The lineup to get in was around the block. Oh, the hype:

Through the window I watched a woman worker slather the sugary green frosting atop chocolate cupcakes. She swirled it with a flat knife with precision until she had created the perfect spiral. It was a mechanical motion, but all the same artistic in its repetition.

Audra decided we'd take the banana pudding and cupcakes we'd purchased to an independent film: You Kill Me, starring Ben Kingsley, Tea Leone and Luke Wilson. Hilarious. I recommend it. Never seen Ben Kingsley in such a dumbed-down but hilarious role.

We got some sushi afterward after encountering a balding man in sweat pants who asked us if we wanted to go get drinks with him. Audra, who just turned 28, and I realized that we have so much in common but we never really knew because of our age difference. She grilled me on my reasons for being quasi-vegetarian and shared her own passions against farmed fish. Good times. But I think I may have been too quiet. How is a young aspiring , silly environmental journalist supposed to talk to an enterprising financial business woman? I'm not sure. She is an amazing woman and I've always admired her ability to go out and do her thing, despite what the family said.

This is her puppy, Sabina, who is absolutely precious.

So I guess I failed on the photo side of things. I promised photos and brought back... nothing. I almost feel silly taking pictures in the city. I don't want to look like a tourist. To a certain extent I feel like I've "been there, done that," and I don't really need the photos to prove it. Sorry yall. But, I do have photos from prior events that I shall share.

These are my roommates, Tony and Samantha:
It was Tony's 31st birthday. Here we are with Juan and Leon:

Tony was so excited for his birthday dessert:


Three boys crammed in the back of Sam's car:


And also from pics from the Renaissance festival. Dani and I in the shuttle (AKA a yellow school bus. I'm so excited).

This is the guy Tony and Sam attempted to hit with tomatoes:


They let Sam move up a few steps.

Dani threw axes and got a kiss:

And Sam tried on a helmet that was way too hot.


So, in all seriousness I've been here for over an month. I turned to Sam and mentioned it today and she said "It doesn't feel like it." It doesn't. I'm having more fun than I expected I would for sure.

The dogs and cat have gotten pretty used to me. Look, Cleo, and I are buds:


Tomorrow I shall valiantly ride to work and continue my environmental crusade. Tata!

I live for the weekend

The beginning of this week was pretty fantastic. I got my clip online (http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3814), I'm working on some great stories and all the sudden my editor comes in to my little corner office. "Do you want to go to Peru?" I was kind of dumbfounded. "Well, yeah." He proceeded to tell me about a press trip to Peru, all expenses paid 10-day cruise on the Amazon with a naturalist guide, local chef, trips into native villages etc. etc. He said, "It's August 8 through the 18th. Do you think you can go?" I thought about it for a second. This is why I'm out here, to take opportunities like this. So I told him of course I could, put my name down as being interested. He asked the other two interns if they wanted to go but they couldn't because of school conflicts so I turned in my forms and papers, had Matt send me my passport and now I'm just crossing my fingers that the firm who's inviting us thinks E's coverage is what they want. It's one of those things I'm really trying not to get my hopes up about but it would be insanely awesome if I got to go. Wednesday I woke up to pouring rain. No way I was going to be able to ride Ol' Blue in this weather. Luckily Tony was up and gave me a ride into work. Biking around Norwalk has been very difficult. Cars don't look out for me, they drive too close and the other day some lady cut me off and I almost rear ended her. On top of that, one set of brakes is starting to poop out. Aww, Ol' Blue: Isn't she pretty? Wednesday night was Tony's birthday dinner. Sam and I concocted an amazing plan to take him to Mike's restaurant (he's a sous chef at a fancy restaurant in North Haven). Tony brought his two South African friends who live in White Plains, Jean and Leon. They're all from Cape Town, South Africa which is basically on the southern tip of the continent. These guys are both what I'd consider "white" but their first language is Afrikaans, a mix between native African languages and Dutch. Tony's parents are Afrikaans also, so these three big guys are crammed in the back seat of Sam's car, buzzed on more than a few light beers yelling in this crazy language to each other. Sam picks up bits and pieces of it, mostly the inappropriate parts. After about half an hour of the rest of the car inhabitants trying to convince me to go to the strip club with them after dinner (I just kept telling them, "Not my thing. It's just not my thing"), we arrived at the restaurant

After we'd ordered our drinks, Mike came out from the kitchen and Tony finally realized why we'd driven so far for dinner. Mike greeted us and then said he'd be sending out appetizers for us that weren't on the menu. We had tuna sashimi on top of watermelon ice on spoons with jalapeno on top. We had salmon tempura with wasabi mayo dipping sauce (my personal fav), antipasto, shrimp, so many delicious things I can't even remember them all. I ordered a salmon entree with an eggplant glaze and our dessert was to die for. I don't think I've ever had such a great dinner experience. He more than impressed all of us. These are the perks of dating a professional chef. I'm working on getting pictures of that night and I'll post them later.

The next day Mike and I headed to Rhode Island to hit up the beach (I take Thursdays off sporadically). The weather wasn't fabulous. But we had beer. Which we weren't supposed to have on the beach. But we drank it sneakily. So it was okay.


MikeyShawno

Confused self-shot on the beach.
So after the beach we went back to Mike's mom's. She gave me three cucumbers from their garden and her dog Cassie, a Welsh Corgy attacked me with her tongue. It was nice to chill in a nicer suburban area for awhile. Quieter. Greener.

How is anyone supposed to be productive on a Friday after a day at the beach? This is what I'd like to know. I got answers back from some of my sources, sent out some emails...

Last night I rounded up Jessica, one of the other interns and we met Mike and some of his friends at the Greenroom, that cool bar out in Black Rock.

Danielle (check out her Music is ART blog.) and Bill.

Mikey and John
Didn't get a pic of Jessica and I (damn). And Optimus Prime didn't show up (double damn) but we did see E's managing editor Brita, who supervises us both. And boy was she drunk. I wonder if she'll remember we saw her.

John Clary Davies called to inform me that the reign of Jersey had fallen (all the boys moved out) and he's bought a car and is now couch hopping at various friends'. I don't think I'll ever be able to handle someone else living at the top of Jersey street.

After the Greenroom we headed to a diner for some drunken eats. All I had to say was "I'm eating toast," and it got Bill and I laughing our heads off for about half an hour. I gotta keep this kid around.

Jessica took me home. We got there at about 2:30 and I was fumbling so much with my keys that Tony came down to let me in. "I thought you were here already," he said. Nope. Intern outing. It had to be done.

So now I need to go catch the train to Grand Central to meet up with my cousin Audra. This should be a fabulous time. Pictures shall follow!

Hear ye, hear ye.

Well, it's Sunday which is a good day to blog.

This week was so boring at work, but I'm working on a pretty good story. Apparently a new sustainable community in Vancouver BC is going to use the heat from sewage to heat their water and home. Completely sustainable except that the sewage still only goes through primary treatment and all the heavy metals, PCBs and other nasty stuff gets released into the ocean. I've interviewed two city stiffs, one of which denies that their sewage goes to the plant which I have confirmed it goes to and next week I'm talking to an activist from the Georgia Strait Alliance. I'm also talking to a man named James, movement coordinator for People Against Outfall Pollution (POOP), an organization that protests Victoria's waste management practices. James dresses up as a character called Mr. Floatie, a 6-foot piece of poo who urges people to write the mayor of Victoria to change its ways "Mr. Floatie, the ocean poo. If you poo in Victoria, I'm from you."


I spent Thursday looking for jobs online. I applied to a fall internship at Plenty magazine: http://www.plentymag.com/

And I'm applying to a general assignment job at the Tacoma News Tribune, and also a similar position at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in Bozeman, Montana. I'm just trying to keep my options open because I'm fairly sure Audubon is not going to hire me.

Friday I went for sushi at a place called Ocean Drive in town. I wasn't too impressed with their salmon (it was the color of pink lemonade) and the waitress poured my soy sauce for me (I had to put the whole glob of wasabi in to make it spicy enough) but hey, it was good. Then headed to a bar called the Greenroom in Black Rock where I met the real live Optimus Prime... or a guy who was high on "flake" and just kept calling himself that. He was hilarious, clean cut guy who would be fine one minute but once people stopped laughing at his jokes he started "transforming" and getting all robot on our asses. One of those guys you're happy you met on a night out.

The bar was awesome too, long couches and pillows everywhere, usually live bands play there and an awesome area outside to chill with some lanterns. Very cool, and honestly I couldn't think of any bar in Bellingham that is similar.

Yesterday I went hiking with a kid named Matt. Scruffy kid, calls himself a hippie but he's far from the Bellingham standard, but he is going to be my link to the great outdoors of Connecticut:

So, folks, this is it. Connecticut is as flat as my chest sophomore year of high school. There's nothing to see here. No snowy peaks, no rolling hills even. But the hike was strenuous for sure. We climbed up an almost vertical rock face for what seemed like forever. I was a little pompous because Matt, a smoker, kept having to stop and cough up a lung while I kept scrambling upward on the hot rocks.
At the lookout was a view of... a university. I climbed up rocks hot enough to fry an egg for this? Well... Sleeping Giant (the park we hiked) is only 739 feet above sea level. I try not to be condescending about how beautiful Washington is compared to here, but it's so damn hard. Matt took me out for pizza and beer at Eli's on Whitney St. (ha?!) and thank god they actually had beers I recognized for once. Yay Sierra Nevada Pale. Then he took me to Milford, where he seemed to know everyone because he's in a band that frequents there. We bullshitted with the bartender about mid 80s tv shows like Punky Brewster, Charles in Charge, etc. It was good times for sure. Not sure if I really like Matt's overt cockiness but if he wants to take me hiking, I'll let him.

Here's some other photos from the hike. We hiked up to a fire lookout that was made like a castle:

That's him in the corner.


Today Sam, Tony, Danni and I went to the Renaissance festival in Ansonia. Danni is a HILARIOUS German friend of Sam's who nannies some kids in a big beautiful house out in the boonies (like most of Sam's friend do). We got there and I was like... alright... Renaissance fair, I can handle this. For sure, lots of total weirdos there. They had people playing life-size battle chess, kids in full armor, women in corsets with their boobs up to their chins, etc. Sam threw tomatoes at a guy for 9 bucks but didn't hit him. We saw swords, helmets, dragon art, boobies boobies and boobies. Good times, indeed but I was eager to go home and get something I could actually eat.

I realized that Wednesday will be my 3 week mark and that's practically half way to being done here. Depending on a lot of things, I may stay, but at least I'll be home in August for the wedding. Staying here won't b so terrible. I've found I'm alright at getting used to places, but I miss my friends terribly.

I got a check from my great uncle Paul and great aunt Therese in the mail and it almost made me cry how far away I am from everybody who cares about me. I look forward to seeing everybody again soon. Please write me and keep me up on your stuff.

-Shawno

Two Week Mark

Today was my first day riding Ol' Blue (my new/old bicycle) to and from work. Downhill is glorious. Uphill, drivers get too close and pushy and the hill I had to walk. But I'm working up to it. I banged my foot pretty hard on the right pedal today because I was riding in flip flops, and now I have this really awkward limp going on.

At work today I lamented for a bit because I felt like I had nothing to do. Bitches weren't calling me back, my editors were out of the office and I was in my little corner checking facebook 5 times an hour. But then! The two main sources I needed for stories I was working on actually called me back and I cranked out some stuff and went home. It's funny, I get all this anxiety about interviewing and doing the whole journalist thing, but when I actually write something and accomplish a story I feel so good that none of the rest of it really matters.

I got home, watched the Reno 911 movie with Tony (way too low class for Sam) and laughed, then I hopped on Ol' Blue right before a thunderstorm started. Rode to the Stop & Shop which is funny because I'm doing a story that discredits their stance on the Bottle Bill, and then went to the liquor store. I wandered aimlessly, trying to find a wine I recognized besides Yellowtail and I think the shop keeper noticed. "Can I help you, Miss?" It's funny because they actually call younger women "miss" out here as opposed to everyone being a "Ma'am." I told him no, I'd just never been in the store before so I was just looking around.

Stuffed that booze in my backpack and headed home just as it started to pour. Nothing like a hot rain on you as you're trying to bike home. I can safely say this is the smelliest I have been in a long time. Humidity + Bike riding + an already overactive sweat gland = Stinky Shawno.

But the bike riding, overall, will kick my butt and get me in shape (yay!).

I'll post a pic of Ol' Blue soon. Hopefully she's not getting too wet in the back yard right now :(

Gogol Bordello is playing in NYC a week from Friday. I am determined to attend. That is all.

Live Earth

So Friday night I was in the car getting ready to go out to dinner with... somebody... ;) And my editor calls me:

"Shawn, remember those tickets I told you about earlier? Well turns out Doug's not going to use them so they're all yours if you want them."

A Smart Car dealer hooked up E with some tickets to Live Earth, the first annual concert aimed at curbing global warming. Kind of like Live Aid, but for the environment this time. The line up at Giants Stadium (in alphabetical order): AFI, Akon, Alicia Keys, Bon Jobi, Dave Matthews Band, Fall Out Boy, John Mayer, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, KT Tunstall, Ludacris, Melissa Etheridge, Roger Waters, Smashing Pumpkins and THE POLICE!

It took me like .00001 seconds to say "yeah I'll take them." Luckily I was able to get out to Westport to pick up the tickets from Doug's house before dinner. I was so excited but I wasn't sure how I was going to get out to Jersey without a car. I asked the roommates if they wanted to go but they had a wedding to go to. Called my cousin Audra who lives in Manhattan to see if she wanted to join... everybody was busy. Another big city adventure for me!

Yesterday, headed for the train station at at about noon. It'd get me to Grand Central by one. I could catch the 7 over to the Port Authority to get a New Jersey bus to the stadium. It was much easier than it sounds, surprisingly. Normally I'd never want to do a trip like that, let along a concert on my own. But you can't let opportunities slip by when they present themselves, I say.

On the train to Grand Central, two little boys and their mom sat next to me. The older boy was reading a really corny joke book aloud. Who lets their child do that on the train? And why was my mp3 player dead? We were about 20 minutes away from Grand Central and the boy turned to me and asked where I was getting off and when I told him he said, "Us too. We're going to see the Empire State Building." Then he started asking me all these questions "How old are you? Where do you go to school? What year are you in school? Why are you going to New York? What's your name? How much do you weigh?" At the last one, his mom smacked him lightly on the leg and said, "Patrick, you never ask a woman that." I was entertained.

So got to Grand Central and eventually to the bus which took me to Giants Stadium. I sneaked my camera in to make sure I got a lot of pictures for you guys. Following the other cattle to the stadium:


When I sat down (awesome seats), a lady came up to me and asked me if I was from E and I was like, uh yeah, and she gave me this:

Hospitality pass. Gets you free alcohol and food in an air conditioned room below the grandstands with all the other hoity toity types. I got a real good buzz on a couple of New Castle browns. Ah, the perks of being an unsuspecting intern.


AFI:


Zach Braff:


John Mayer (amazing guitar player. Wish he'd stop playing that pop bullshit):
Melissa Etheridge (she's kinda preachy):
Al Gore:
Jane Goodall!!!:

DMB! They only played two songs. It was lame.

Bon Jovi was actually way cooler than I thought they'd be:


Smashing Pumpkins did not dissapoint:
I just about pissed myself when they started playing "Roxanne."
Kanye West kept running across the stage so it was impossible to get a good photo of him. But he's an energetic performer. The whole shabang ended with "Message in a Bottle" with John Mayer helping out on guitar and Kanye West going "uh, uh, yeah" a lot.

I got home at 3 a.m. after waiting in line an hour and a half to catch bus back to the Port Authority, taking the 7 back to Grand Central and then waiting even longer for the train to Norwalk. I walked home from the train station and just as I was about to round the corner to my street, some Mexican guy goes, "Hey baby, how much?" I wanted to run but I just laughed and kept on walking.

WHAT A CARAZY AWESOME DAY. Today we're gonna get me a bike and go to the Italian festival. Oh and I did some laundry today and hung my clothes on the line outside. It was actually kind of relaxing. This is my underwear tree because I refuse to dry my delicates where all the crazy Mexicans who think I'm a prostitute can see them.


FIN.

Shawno in the Big City

Today...

I got up absurdly early. I made sure I had my portfolio all ready, I had a couple issues of Audubon to study up on when I was on the train. I had the powder to make my face look less shiny, I had the bagel with cream cheese on it for sustenance, my cell phone in case I got completely lost and I dressed the part:

Tony drove me to the train station just before 11. He told me a good route to walk home since nobody would be picking me up, which was helpful. Both he and Samantha have been so helpful and supportive. The zookeepers are okay people.

The fat man at the ticket counter was on the phone. It seemed like he was talking to a buddy he talks to every day, maybe setting up tonight's poker game or talking shit about their mutual buddy. I didn't know what to do so I kinda just stood there in front of the booth.

"Hey, Miss, where are you going?"
"Grand Central, round trip please."

Without hanging up, fat man gave me my credit slip to sign and my ticket. I sat down. Right over the air conditioning vent and opened up one of the issues of Audubon my dad had given me to study. I thought of all the different questions they might ask me: "What section do you like best in the Magazine?" Global Almanac. Bam. "What elements of the magazine do you like" Photography and first person, sincere writing. Shabang. It was like studying for a midterm where you haven't really been to most of the classes. Not that I've ever done that.

Got a nice seat to myself on the train and rode on in to Grand Central with some tunes playing in my ears. All I kept thinking to myself was, "hey, just look like you know where you're going and nobody will bother you." Got off at Grand Central:

Again, didn't take the picture but this is what it looks like. It's quite an architectural marvel. Walking out of track 23 and seeing that clock in the middle of everything was familiar.

Now... I have a keen sense of observation. And when I saw people walking around with Starbucks, I knew just where to go. Ordered a double tall non-fat vanilla latte and got a tall decaf vanilla latte. Maybe I need to articulate more. (Northwesterners are coffee snobs).

Hopped on the 4 express, transferred the R and got to 8th street just like that. I'd given myself plenty of time to get completely lost, therefore I was there an hour and a half early. So, I went into American Apparel, a couple of doors down from Audubon, and bought myself a black dress. The guy working the cash register was horribly attached to NYC. He asked me how my day was going, where I was from, etc. And when I told him he said, "Oh man, I'm from Long Island and when I go 'out there' I'm always waiting for something to happen. It's so boring out there."

Okay... Please don't come to the northwest with language like that. Kthanxbye.

So I arrived at the lobby of the freakin' Audbon society. The lobby guy was fantastic. Old. New York accent. Totally didn't know what he was doing, but he made me sign in just for kicks. I told him I had an interview and he said he hoped I did okay.

Went to my interview, and again, the woman with whom I'd been communicating was much younger than I expected. I had three editors asking me questions, I showed them my clip file which I felt like they were pretty impressed with but when everything was done, they shook my hand, showed me the out door and said goodbye.

Went back down to the lobby and the lobby guy (I'd like to call him 'Mac' I think) asked me how it went. "Okay, I guess?" He smiled at me as I pushed open the door onto Broadway.

I got right back on the train (hey, no mistakes on the subway, look, Ma!) toward South Norwalk. I bought Kite Runner from the bookstore at Grand Central. Read a few chapters then retreated to Rx Bandits. I was angry. I think it's because they won't take me seriously because I'm from the west coast.

I got off at South Norwalk with the Bandits in my ears and walked the hills home.


Dad says this is how most interviews go. He got turned down by Frank Russell five times, he said, so don't get discouraged. Mom said they have to be very neutral when they're on an interviewing committee. She doesn't want me to get it. I could tell by her comments:

"Well you know, you're used to achieving every goal you set, and maybe this one just won't work out."
No, Mom. The only time I ever fail, I know exactly why. This time... no idea what's going on. I will email the editor tomorrow and ask her when I should expect a reply about the job. I know she means well. Hell, I'd be out here until the end of January if I got the job. But... the opportunity!

Tonight I was alone in the house with all the animals for a few hours. Just as I turned on the Soccer channel, Maverick started playing with me with his tennis ball. He'd roll it to me, I'd kick it somewhere for him to catch. This kind of symbiotic relationship is beneficial to both parties. He cheered me up by wanting me to kick him the ball and I entertained him by kicking the ball around. Belle and Cleo were hopelessly lost in the midst while Mav and I played some soccer as I made some Mac and Cheese (Annies).

This weekend I shall go with Sam to the Italian festival (yay!) and I also have a date tomorrow which was supposed to celebrate me getting the internship, but maybe now it will be a kind of "let's feel sorry for Shawno" time.

Oh well, I get to come home earlier and there's less of a chance y'all will forget about me. That's what I'm counting on.

One week mark

So today is one week in CT, but truthfully, it feels like its been a lot longer. Getting used to living in the zoo, trying to figure out how to get around town and going to my first couple of days of work have been mostly stressful and trying. But I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Yesterday we had an office picnic at this beautiful state park called Sherwood Island. It had sandy beaches and perfectly landscaped lawn. It was a bit chilly but I was glad to be out of the more urban part of Norwalk:

I didn't take the picture, but that's what it looks like.

Anyway, we all worked down at the office until noon and then rode over to the park. I rode with Doug, the publisher who usually rides his bike to work but today drove his Prius. On the back he had a lot of bumper stickers: the usual W with a no sign around it, greenpeace etc. One said, "When Clinton lied, no one died." I liked that one. We got in the car and he made me hold his guitar. Beat up old thing, looked like it was from the early 70s. It had a capo on the first fret, probably because Doug has unusually small hands. We got there and set up our area. Doug broke out veggie burgers and dogs. This is the first barbecue I'd ever been to where veggie options were the default. And I didn't even think about it, but it made sense that most everyone in the office would be vegetarian.

"I bring these to neighborhood barbecues and everybody scarfs them up without even realizing they're veggie," Doug said. "But then I get mad because there's none left for me."

Jim, the editor, arrived with his two daughters shortly after and started asking me about Washington. Apparently they're taking a family trip there in August so he can do a lecture in Longview. He wants to know what they should definitely do when they go. I told him Pike Place Market, Science Center and Mount Rainier. Anybody got any other suggestions?

Doug sat there plinking away on his guitar as the rest of us made silly faces at Ellie, the managing editor's adorable 10-month-old daughter. Reddest hair I've ever seen on a child. Everybody is SO nice and easy to relate to. When they asked about where I live and my situation, three people offered up bicycles they don't use so I can get around. So the bike situation should be solved relatively soon.

Couple days ago at work I re-typed a letter to the editor from an inmate. He said he was doing 15 years for "sleeping on a pot farm." Anyway, he was mad about an article we had about fasting being a fad diet or something. His language was quite funny and it was kind of an amusing assignment to do. So far they've just been having me write 200-word updates and I just have to looks at press releases and do a bit of web research for those. But I'm working on a 1500 word commentary on greenhouse gas legislation that may or may not be on the web site soon so I'll let you know if it makes it :)

Let's see... Monday night I ventured into SoNo (South Norwalk. Imagine a trendier Fairhaven surrounded by ghettos) and had a couple of beers at a place called Ginger Man. Lots of beers on tap, the only couple I recognized were Boddington's and Sierra Nevada Summer Ale. So looks like I'm basically out of luck for any NW microbrews here. Just means I'll have to find some other local beers I like.

Oh and they don't sell wine in grocery stores around here. And they stops selling beer at 9 and they don't sell alcohol at all on Sundays. What is WRONG with these people?

Mom and I went to see Ratatouille. It's really cute and I recommend it. She leaves on a 5 p.m. flight back home today. I have a feeling she's happy to leave. And it was nice to have her out here for awhile but now I'm all alone! Kind of. My roommates have been really good at including me in things. Tony asked if I wanted to watch a movie with him last night. We decided it was a bomb after about 20 minutes and skipping ahead a few chapters to see if anything happens (Jam... not a good movie FYI). Tony's a cool guy. His accent is hard to understand sometimes, but I have a feeling we've got a few things in common.

We're going to dinner at a friend of Samantha's tonight. Good thing is, Samantha's also vegetarian so I'm guaranteed to have something to eat when we go to her friends'.

Tomorrow I venture into NYC alone for my interview at Audubon. Like I told Jim the other night: Metro North into Grand Central. Green line to Union Square. Yellow line to 8th street. If I can do that without getting on the train the wrong way, I should be okay. I'm hella nervous though. I was just re-doing my resume and thinking about what I should wear. Hey, if I don't get it, it just means I get to come home sooner and I'm okay with that at this point.

I hope yall are going to Reggae night and having a good time in my absence. Alrighty, I gotta go get ready to meet even more new people. I'll try to take more pictures to make these entries more interesting.

-Shawno

P.S. I've added a link on the right to my new favorite web site: Overheard in New York. Keith showed it to me and now that I'll be frequenting New York, it hits a little closer to home I suppose. Oh and speaking of Keith, I went to the 5th Avenue Apple Store! It was awesome. Okay I'm done.

Adventures!

Today, Mom was determined to cheat some people out of their hard-earned money at Foxwood's, the nation's largest casino. Maybe cheat isn't the right word. But the way she talks about it, you'd think she's running some kind of scam. Anyway, since she was determined to play some poker, I was determined to find the bus station and get some information about where the damn thing stops so I can figure out how to get to work. I looked up "Norwalk Bus Station" on google, got what I thought were pretty good directions and headed out on foot. Got downtown, most of what I saw was pretty familiar and then I started going down main street. As I progressed I started seeing more signs in Spanish. A whole gaggle of people were getting out of church, all of Hispanic descent. I read the sign: "Mass: Noon in Spanish, 5:30 p.m. in Creole."

Kept walking, past a sketchy corner store where I saw a guy peeing in the alley quite unabashedly. I could feel people's eyes on me and I knew some of them were wondering what the hell I was doing there but I just kept walking.... and walking. Eventually I was getting close to my destination thinking "Why would the bus station be so far away from town?" And then around the corner I realized why. Because instead of going to "Norwalk bus station," I was going to "Norwalk bus Depot."

There was a sign on the chain link fence: "Is there a sleeping child on your bus? Please check before leaving."

So, defeated, I turned around and headed back. About four miles of walking for nothing. I got a subway sandwich and went home.

Samantha, my roommate (turns out they're both from South Africa, not Australia as I had earlier speculated) took me to a barbecue at her friend's host family's house. It was way out in the boonies in a place called Weston. All the houses out there look like colonial masterpieces, so picturesque with their stark white paint jobs with black shutters. And we rolled up to the barbecue to just such a house. It was the most beautiful house I'd ever been in! Black marble countertops in the kitchen, high ceilings and ridiculous colonial style oil paintings, china in display cabinets, hardwood flooring,etc. etc. etc. holy crap, who ARE these people?

Then the other guests started pouring in and I realized, like Samantha, they'd all come from overseas seeking visas in the US and eventually citizenship. I was one of only 3 Americans there. One Bosnian, one Brazilian, a Polish girl, a French girl, South African, a German girl... The other two were significant others of foreigners. Seems like they all met each other at school or something.

We ended up watching the wedding DVD of Laure and Danny, a French woman and a Fillipino man. I'd just met these people... Not all that interesting to me, but hey, weddings tug at people's heart strings.


Anyway, met some new people in a beautiful house, it was fun, end of story I guess.

Mom got $180 out of some "hot shot Asians," as she called them. A good day for us both.


-Shawno