Musings From New York

So long! Farewell! Auf Weidershen! Goodbye!

To my old apartment, that is. Mom & I just spent the last few hours cleaning up the place, and I handed over the keys to the doorman.

I have officially moved, people!

(Groans)

Well, I'm in my new apartment ... Still got plenty of unpacking to do, and got to go back to the old apartment and clean it up.

This new apartment is a little smaller in living area, by about 20 sq. feet I think (believe me, it makes a difference!), and in storage space. But ... gotta adjust somehow.

I now live on 63rd Street, between 1st & 2nd Avenue. I moved here partly cos I wanted a quiet, and more residential neighborhood - my old one was way too commercial. It had a lot of hotels and bars around, with the result that the noise & the traffic sometimes were unacceptable , especially as I had the Service entrance of the W Hotel opposite my window ... for instance, the garbage truck parked itself outside my window for an hour every night ... around midnight. And then a couple of hours later, the caterer's truck would park itself for an hour ... try sleeping under those conditions, why dont you?!

Anyway, Mom & I are absolutely exhausted now, and we still have several boxes and the suitcases to unpack.  Haven't had a bite to eat since 7 this morning either (that's nearly 10 hours ago)! But we'll go out as soon as Mom wakes up.

I'll try to upload some photos of my apartment when it's in a respectable condition.

Cut-throat Competition

My laptop at work came with Norton Antivirus, which I never activated. I recently installed McAfee Corporate A/V, and this is the first thing it did.

Dream Theater's New Album

So, DT's coming out with a new album, Octavarium, on June 7th. I must confess that although I'm looking forward to it, I do feel a certain degree of trepidation. And that's because I didn't like the last 2 albums - 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence, and Train of Thought. I think that DT's best was Metropolis II: Scenes from a Memory. It's got *everything* - great melodies, amazing guitar & keyboard solos, a conceptual story behind it.  It was like A Change of Seasons ... except longer!

I haven't heard any buzz about the album - things seem to be under wraps, I guess, until their publicity machine kicks in.

Maiden's New Live Album

Yes, my favorite Metal band has announced a new live album, Death On The Road. Full details can be found on the website. Now one thing that really irritates me about Maiden's live album is that they always contain certain songs, such as:

Hallowed Be Thy Name
Number of The Beast
Run To The Hills
Fear of the Dark

I'm bored of listening to these songs! And I know Maiden plays other songs in their live acts - when I saw them at MSG ... last year (?) ... they played other great tracks like Revelations & Flight of Icarus. Sure, Number of the Beast is an amazing show opener, and Hallowed Be Thy Name is an amazing show closer ... but why can't I get other tracks like Mother Russia, Wasting Love, and Infinite Dreams. What happened to Aces High, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, or Phantom of the Opera?

Shakespeare ...

One of my "guildies" from World of Warcraft wrote this some years ago. You can find this, and other writings on her website. For purposes of comparison, I've set it side by side with the original Shakespeare (Richard III, Act I, Scene 1):

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments,
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front,
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

Now is the breakfast of our discontent
Made glorious brunch by this grill of Pork;
And all the clouds that loured upon our house
In the deep bosom of the waitress buried.
Now are our tables hung with Sunday sports sections,
Our clipped comics hung up for monuments,
Our stern bran flakes changed to merry mimosas,
Our dreadful mueseli to delightful hash browns.
Grim-visaged Toast hath smoothed his browned front,
and now, instead of mounting dry crusts
To fright the souls of fearful dieters,
He capers nimbly in a homemade jam-pot,
To the lascivious pleasing of melted butter.

A Good name For A Band

Standing Still doing 65 ... sounds like a good name for an album, wouldn't you say? Something prog-ish, like Yes or Rush.

Sigh.

My Life SUCKS

OK this has not been a good trip, and I'm only 1 day in! It took me 5 hours to dive the 120-odd miles. 5 hours!

Well, to be fair, I kinda got lost in New Jersy I-80W, and that was after I had to go to a second Enterprise office (oh, the first one was open ... technically! Its just that the manager - who was the only one with keys to the office - was stuck in traffic!!)

And now, I'm stuck in the (horribly cold & exposed) parking lot of MetLife, waiting for roadside assistance. Why, you may ask? Let me count the ways: I can't turn the engine on, the key is now stuck in the ignition, I can't seem to move the gear stick out of parking, and the oddest thing (as if the above weren't odd enough already) is that the odometer is stuck at 65. At the time of writing, roadside assistance in 20 minutes away. F-ing Chevy F-ing Cobalt. It's a BRAND NEW car!

Update: Oh when it rains, it pours alright!! My card's being declined even though there's PLENTY of money in my account! WTF?!

Musings From Scranton

So Alex & I drove down Monday afternoon to Scranton, PA. It's the setting for NBC's "The Office" ... and to be frank, I didn't know what to expect of the town. I believe it used to be a big mining town ... but then the coal mines dried up years ago. Hence, it's this slightly downbeat town. We went to a mall on Monday night, and it was *dead*!

And one thing that struck me entering the city - what's with all the massage parlors? Someone told me that Scranton's a truckers stop ... but I kid you not - I counted 3 billboards hocking massage parlors on the way in. You don't see that in "The Office"!

I also saw my first baseball game on Tuesday night. We'd driven up to Montague and visited the local stadium in the hope of seeing some sports. We were in luck - there was a school (is that the same as Little League?) game. Chris walked me through some of the rules & nuances of the game. I will admit, it's pretty boring to watch baseball on TV ... but I imagine the crowd and atmosphere at the stadium is pretty electric!

An Amazing Fan Movie

Found via Slate, via IMDb:

This is a low-budget ($20,000) Star Wars fan movie called Revelations. It's set in between the Revenge of the Sith, and A New Hope, and tells the tale of Jedi's on the run from Imperials. And let me tell you, the 37-minute movie (another 10 minutes are credits!) rocks!