Back in Business

I spent a week out of New York City - and it may have been the weirdest week of my life.  Over March 6th, I flew back to Iowa to present at the Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity which worked out super well for me because the next week was Spring Break at NJCU, so I just stayed and floated from village to village and made my airfare worth it. Score! So why was it so weird? I did things... like a lot of things... in Iowa. And honestly, it made me a little homesick. Highlights included: hanging out with my ISCORE friends and falling down some stairs effectively breaking my butt, going to Roja with my Kelsey and almost getting tatted up in Omaha, visiting Michelle and almost getting up to 40mph on gravel (new record! I'm a scaredy cat), and finally having my Tallahassee spiked milkshake (complete with Twinkie and Cherry Kool-Aid) with Lu at Zombie Burger. It was a great Spring Break. In Iowa. I know, weird.

But then it was back to the daily grind in NYC! I learned how to animate the human walking cycle and lip sync so it looks like your characters are actually speaking words. It's super exciting and I'm pretty sure my professor thinks I'm crazy for how much I spazz out in class over the little things we're doing. I'm insanely excited to put up my dream sequence project once it's done. Get pumped! This past week I also handed in my puppet for Art Therapy. It turned out pretty well for my first attempt at a marionette.  It was like looking into a mirror... made of clay. The assignment in large part was to include our culture, and it was awesome learning about all the other girls in the class. Diversity is such a strength for NJCU, the other day I had lunch with a redhead from Lebanon, an Egyptian Muslim, and a fellow white Puerto Rican. This is real life out here.

This Saturday I spent the morning at Central Park doing caricatures.  A few weeks ago when I was in Chinatown, I managed to snag a little wheeled dolley that made my life carrying the A-Frame sign ONE THOUSAND times easier.  Also, I mastered the LightRail system so I didn't get angry glares on the bus anymore. I'm still sore after carting that thing around, though. Drawing is my cardio.  I've been a little low on cash from airport shenanigans and taking work off for Spring Break, so I definitely needed some stuffing for my pockets. Also it's hands down been my favorite thing to do out here so fun. It's like a shameless excuse to talk to people and learn their life story. I get some valuable drawing practice, and then they throw money at me. Is there no greater pleasure on this earth?!  I drew some tourists from Germany, India, and even two girls who asked me where the nearest Victoria's Secret was, as if I was some sort of local who knew. Hilarity. There were a few other artists in the park, and I stationed myself next to a man doing miniature clay busts of people, in only twenty minutes. They were insanely good! Next time I've got money to burn, that's happening. Around five thirty, I headed over to Times Square. I drew a few couples, and then some high schoolers happened to pass me by... And immediately declared themselves my fan club. People of that age bracket really get me. But seriously, they shouted out my prices and told everyone I was amazing and should definitely get a drawing from me. Even bigger deal: they were showing Japanese exchange students around the city. Once upon a time I was one of those Japanese students, only you know, American... and in Japan. Full-circle endings... even here.

My under-aged entourage.

Sunday I had big plans! I was on my way out of Manhattan - finally!  Prior to moving out here, I hadn't realized how the majority of the major tourist sights were all within a few blocks of each other... in the same borough... and Spring Break made me realize my stint is half over and aside from LaGuardia (which really doesn't count) I'd never really been outside of those blocks. I'd gotten comfortable. And I'm not about that life.  So there I was... on my way to the Bronx Zoo on Sunday afternoon. I had my big fancy camera and I was ready to get some awesome shots at the biggest zoo in the city. Well... that was before I got off the train in the Bronx and realized I had no idea how to actually get to the zoo, despite the fact that HopStop on my phone said it was only a few blocks away. Cut to me finally getting there - and the front desk informs me that though the website I'd check said they were open for another hour, that schedule didn't actually start until next week. And besides THAT, they put the animals away half an hour before closing, and so in short... I had twenty minutes of prime animal goodness if I wanted to pay my way in.  And so with that, I chalked it up to karma screwing me over after noticing my bragging on the inter-webs of how good I was getting at navigating the city... and talked my tail between my legs and limped on home... via a closer train stop only a single block away and within my freak half-near-sighted-half-far-sighted vision. Sometimes, public transportation just makes me very sad. 

So here's hoping my next venture to the other boroughs goes a lot better, but I still had an AMAZING weekend. Can't wait for what this one brings! 

BONUS VIDEO! Disclaimer: Try not to judge me.