.eat.pray.love

I will always affiliate the book eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert with the cherry-haired, pregnant, neo-hippie, broker Culture and I met a couple weeks ago while we were looking at an apartment somewhere in brooklyn.

Upon learning my origin, she mentioned the book because I guess she thought Malaysia is somewhere in Indonesia, and the island of Bali is my front yard or something. She's not quite wrong, Malaysia is near Indonesia, but of course an entire body of ocean separates us.

This piqued my interest however and I did keep an eye out for it the next time I was in Strand. Today, I copped it. And have not put it down since.

It has been a literary drought for me this year, I've picked up a few good books here and there but nothing that has gotten me next-series-of-harry-potter-excitement. The last mind-blowing book I read was last summer when I stole my little brother's The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger while visiting home. Which is turning into a movie I heard, and a little wary. Because I've never been a fan of of books-turn-movie period! But I'll still cough up the 12 dollars to see it. There were a few literary affairs here and there like Garcia's Love in the Time of Cholera, and Towelhead ( I forgot the author's name at the moment; and this too will be turned into a movie.)

eat pray love, without giving too much away, is about a lady in love with traveling. A born again nomad after leaving her comfort zone behind. A lady that packed her backs and left. Imagine a omniscient hand picking you up from everything you know, or you thought you knew, and dropping you to a random pin-point on the globe. And the only means of communicating, for at least a year or so, depending on you ear for language, is mad hand gestures and pointing at things for your listener to understand.

Mos Def @ Nokia Theatre

March 30th is a very special date for Culture and I. It is the anniversary of our first encounter. It was a year ago from that date that I first met up with Culture right outside of the Barnes and Nobles in Union Square. He took me to Zen Palate, a really great Vegetarian spot fyi - but they closed down the one in Union Square- and then he took me to record stores to listen to music. While Wes Montgomery was singing in my ears I looked up at Culture as he was bobbing his head to the music and holding his head-piece with one hand and making his "that's a tight-ass beat" face..I fell in love.

Anyways..I digress. So this March 30th Culture surprised me with tickets to see Mos Def at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. It was admittedly, my first real hip-hop show (with The Roots being an exception since I saw them opening for another band). Since I am quite a newbie in the hip-hop game I had no other show to compare it to. But Mos Def was the shit! He had such a great aura and energy on stage and I was happy with the set he decided to play. With Culture's arms around me I was feeling the music all night.

Unfortunately tho, I couldn't say the same for Jay Electronica. He was the opening act. Culture had put me on to him prior to the show and I was feeling this one track called Dimethyltriptamine. But his live performance bombed! He could hardly retain the crowd's attention and he was babbling way too much. He was trying to tell little anecdotes that nobody was trying to hear. The only highlight of his performance was Erykah Badu coming out to do a song with him and then bending over to show her ass. Lol. Apparently Erykah is dating Jay. This video of Dimethyltriptamine is hot tho. Check it..



And here's Mos Def doing his thing...



Taken from miss.info's youtube channel.

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Pole-ite Girls

So around this same time last year, I was with an ex-boyfriend of mine on the L train heading towards Brooklyn. In walked four girls with a mini ipod and a little speaker. Some random music started to play as a blonde pixie haired girl started dancing up to me. She grabbed on to a pole and started gyrating on it. And then her friend joined her. Everybody on the train stopped and looked. Some were disgusted and others started cursing at these girls for their "no-class-asses." I just had to laugh and I noticed that they were actually filming people's reaction. It was great entertainment as I thought to myself "..only in New York." Could this be? Could it be that I am so jaded by the city that nothing shocks me anymore? As we got off at our stop I simply smiled back at the dancers and thought nothing of it.

A few days ago, my friend L sent me this video. She told me to focus on 1.35-1.37 and said "Tell me that's not you!" And sure enough, there I was.

The MTA are not too happy, but the girls, who did it for a dare competition fyi, won 10 Gs!!! Hell! I would dance on the subway for 10 Gs!!!!

Pay close attention to 1.35-1.37!!!!!

Creative Pier

For the sake of his anonymity, my boyfriend will be called Culture on this blog. So last week Culture and I were in Union Square where he took me to a office-like building right near Cosi Downtown and told me to step in. With a quizzical look I obliged but started to bombard him with questions. "Where are we going? What is this place?" He just smiled as we got on the elevator.

We stepped in to Creative Pier. Taken from their website :

"Located in Manhattan’s bustling Union Square, Creative Pier is a space for artists and non-artists, individuals of all ages and abilities, backgrounds and beliefs to join together in a tranquil space to relax, imagine, connect and create. Our unique art studio is open at flexible hours lending itself as a peaceful getaway from the busy streets of New York City where you can unwind, rejuvenate and simply have fun."

Culture had signed me up for the Mindful Creativity session with Marian Maloney. 3 other people joined us in this session. Marian led us through meditation. I've tried to meditate by myself before but guided meditation works best for me. Marian helped navigate our minds eye and after we were all relaxed we moved to a blank circular canvas where we were allowed to visualize and recreate what our minds procreated on to canvas. And this was what came out of it.


The swirls of pink and green is Culture's galaxy and that obscure figure in the middle was meant to be me. The eye and the green-sleeved hand was done by me. Yes, thats an embryo in the pupil, don't ask, this was what I saw while I was meditating, I see BABIES!

I definitely recommend Creative Pier, they have a bunch of other Workshops. It was a great release from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was like kindergarten all over again!


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Testing 1, 2, 3

This is probably my 5th attempt in blogging, the other four crashed and burned violently due to pure inconsistency on my part. I am hoping to stick to this one tho as I am beginning to realize that my memory is beginning to fail me. And also because I know my love-affair with New York City will soon come to an end and I would like to retain every encounters, happenings, rendezvous, innuendos with this city physically. I don't know in what shape or form this blog will take just yet. It is, to begin with, a blog of what I'm getting myself into in the city, but I do want to venture into a "fashion" ambiance when I am more comfortable with this host.

As intros go..I am a burned out college student living in an apartment with my boyfriend, brother (ugh!) and a roommate. I happed upon the "real world" (i.e living without the luxuries of parents and their deep pockets) quite recently when my parents left the city to go back to our homeland. With that I said goodbye to a midtown zip code, a 56th floor apartment with a view to boot, and of course all the luxuries of being a diplomat's daughter. And I embraced a more humble lifestyle and realized that that is where I am my happiest.

This city has built me, torn me down, loved and hated me, spat on me, flipped me off, caught me on my downfall and I am still here. Still in love with New York City.

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