Success!

I know all of my entries lately have been novelette sized... sorry about that... but here's another one.  I just always have a lot to say!  Not that that's a bad thing, I hope.  :)

So!  I'll start with an update on the apartment situation.  First of all, the girls at the apartment in Park Slope chose someone else... which I was super bummed about because it meant going back to the drawing board, but this story has a happy ending.  The next place I saw was an incredible deal, and I was about 98% sure I was going to take it, but I decided against it at the last minute.  It was on 101st and Central Park (it's a stone's throw to the park--maybe even literally, if you have a strong arm), so it's actually in Manhattan, and it's just a 15-minute subway ride to Chelsea where I work.  And you wanna guess how much rent is?  $750.  Not per week, per month.  I mean... what??  And contrary to what I expected, the room wasn't even just a broom closet or anything, it was decently sized and would be furnished with a new bed by the time I would move in.  So all that was enough to make me seriously consider it... the problem was that the people were... a little strange.  Don't get me wrong, they seemed like nice women and I never got a sketchy vibe from them, but I had sort of hoped to room with people around my age that I might have something in common with, and these women were... not that.  They were a 40-year old lesbian couple (which I have no problem with in itself) but they were loud and crude, neither of them work because they're on disability, and they're also heavily religious (irony?  I think yes).  One of them had cornrows and a barbed wire tattoo on her arm, and was constantly raising her eyes to the ceiling and praising god for this or that.  They also talked my ear off... I was in there about 2 hours longer than I anticipated because every time I said I had to go, they'd start talking about something else at a mile a minute, and I'd have to struggle to find another opportunity to squeeze in a polite way to say that I had to take off.

Despite that, when I left I had basically decided to take the place because it just seemed like such a good deal.  But because I had some reservations, I called my parents, who were divided on the issue, and so they suggested that I talk to my cousin Gail (the one who lives in the city) because she might have a better sense of the situation than any of us.  Gail actually laughed when I told her about the women at the apartment because they just seemed so wrong for me, and assured me that there must be better options.  After talking with her a bit, I came around to her opinion that it was better to live with people I could relate to, even if that meant living a little farther away or paying a little more in rent.  I mean, who knows how much time I'll actually spend at home, but it'd be nice to not have to come back to a place where I feel like I have to hide away instead of being social and potentially making friends.  So with some hesitation, I told the women that I couldn't take the apartment... and I was back to square one.  Again.

I was starting to feel a little desperate because having to commute by bus from NJ has really been limiting me in a lot of ways, so I've been itching to move out as soon as possible, and it was frustrating to have to go through so much to find a suitable place that would take me.  But everything happens for a reason.  After I turned down the last apartment, I did some more Craigslist browsing, and found a place in Bushwick (Brooklyn) with two other girls, both 21, and both photography students at a school in Manhattan.  I emailed them with my phone number immediately, and one of them got back to me very quickly.  They were looking to rent out the extra room as soon as possible, so we arranged for me to come by a little later that day to meet them and check the place out.  The apartment itself is very cute, the rooms are large, the neighborhood is nice with plenty of things to see (which was not the case with any of the other places I saw besides the one in Manhattan), and the two girls who live there are very sweet.  We hit it off right away (they go to gallery openings at Milk all the time, and I was actually about to go to one that night).  Apparently most of the other people who had responded to their ad had been guys, so they were a little relieved to finally have a girl to consider.  When I left, they said they had a couple of other people to meet that night, but that they would let me know of their decision in a couple of hours.  On the bus ride home, I got a text saying that I got the place.  :)

It's a little more expensive than I'd hoped for--it's $900 a month plus utilities (which could be up to another $100 depending on the month), but it's worth it.  Bushwick is a very hip place, it's only 20 minutes to Chelsea, and the living arrangement is waaaay better than anything else I've come across so far.  Also the time frame is perfect for me; the lease ends on July 31st, so it'll give me a couple of months to get situated and figure out where I'm at without having to commit to a whole year, which I can't afford anyway if I don't get a paying job.

So that's that.  In other news, I got a second internship!  I'll be assisting a photographer (this guy) on photoshoots for a new non-profit fashion magazine that's in its first issue (VVV Magazine).  It'll only be for the month of April (because he'll be traveling to Paris and then London after that), but I had my first day today and I'm very excited about it.  The photographer seems like a really nice guy for one thing, but I get the feeling that I'm going to be a lot more involved in the creative process in this job than I am at Milk.  Also, I'll have real responsibilities; besides assisting on shoots, I'll also be communicating with models/stylists/rental houses and setting things up.  So, as opposed to Milk, where I'm doing a lot of menial work, here I'll actually be a big part of the production.  And I think I stand to learn a lot more here than at Milk too; I'll actually get experience in putting together professional shoots, I'll gain more insight into the industry, I'll be in contact with various companies and agencies that I could possibly connect with in the future, and I'll get to see some choice locations in New York when I assist on shoots.  It's also sort of exciting that this is such a new publication; I'm not saying it's going to be the next Vogue or Vanity Fair, but it's always good to get in on the ground floor on the chance that it does become big.

The only thing I'm sort of dreading is that, since this guy is going to need me every day of the week, that means I'm going to have to work at Milk on the weekends, and I literally won't have a single day off for the entire month of April.  Thankfully I do have this Saturday and Sunday off so I can move into the new place and adjust myself to my new surroundings, but after that, I don't get any breaks until May.  It's exhausting enough working my butt off three days a week at Milk with days in between to let my feet recuperate... but I'm not complaining (yet).  This is all very exciting, and even if it does knock the wind out of me, it's only for a month.

Quick note before I sign off... I went to a gallery opening for Dennis Stock's photography at Milk Gallery last night with Gail, and it was a really wonderful event.  I'd heard that Milk shows were a big deal, but the place got so crowded at some point you couldn't move without bumping shoulders (I see now why they require you to RSVP in advance... lucky that I did!).  It was a very hip atmosphere with a lot of interestingly dressed young people, there was a wine bar, and the work was beautiful (mostly stuff from the 50s, a lot of celebrity portraiture, particularly of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe--it actually reminded me a lot of Timothy White's early work).  Anyway, I figured I shouldn't let this post go up without mentioning that.  :)

Ok, I'm on 17% battery, and I've got to get home, so I'm gonna call it good for this entry.  If I think of more, I'll write later.