Guitars, dogs, bikes, skirts, and smiles in the sun

I wore a skirt yesterday.  I shaved my legs, moisturized them, put on some cute shoes, and wore a skirt.  Because it was lovely out.  And the lovely weather draws people outside and it revitalizes this city in the most amazing way.  Although the streets get more crowded and walking is more difficult and my pace is broken more often, I can't help but love what sunshine does to this city.

I saw three times as many dogs outside yesterday, lying on the street outside cafes while owners casually sipped iced coffees.  I saw a man sitting on his front steps just jamming on a guitar and singing his heart out with whatever lyrics he conjured on the spot.  I saw a boy reading a book, sitting on the side of the street under the shade of a tree.  I saw artists sketching I saw children with facepaint and people with bunches of balloons, tons of joggers and loads of bikers whizzing down the streets.  With some good music on, I wanted my walk to last for hours.

I didn't wear a jacket.  I could feel the sunshine.  I walked along the Hudson.  I went for a drive with the windows down, and it felt wonderful.  I turned off my air conditioning and left my room windows open, sleeping under the breeze.

I don't have much to say about the weather, just that it was lovely and I smiled all day.

I. Love. Sunshine.  (taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/virgomerry/11227682/) 

Get outside,
The A.S.S.

Just One of the Guys

St. Patrick's Day!  A decently appropriate time to bring up this post.  It's something I've thought about with great frequency and something that I still can't determine my feelings towards.  I am a bro.

But not like, polo shirt wearing, popped collar, hat turned to the side kind of bro.  I'm a "let's just have some beers, guys" kind of bro.  The "I wear boxers and a sports bra to sleep" type of bro.  The "yeah, of course you can joke around with me, but expect it right back at you" bro.  The, "clean-smelling t-shirt?  Done." bro.  And I love that; I love being relaxed and comfortable and just chilling out with some close friends over a few beers.

But is that enough?

"Born this Way" ...ugh.

Gaga lovers, be warned.

Heyyyy... sorry about that.

I'm back!  From hiatus!  I had a lot of shit going on and even though writing has been my outlet and a way for me to cope with everything, for some reason, I just couldn't blog.  It wasn't working, it wasn't helping, and it was stressing me out more.  A lot went down during finals and over break and in the past few weeks.  Like:

-the deaths of several people close to me
-holidays with the family and close friends and ensuing drama/events
-Drifter breaking off whatever it was we had
-attempting to finalize plans for the next three years of my life
-learning that someone close to me is expecting a child soon
-a friend of mine getting engaged
-running into old friends and doing a LOT of catching up
-...including a very close friend from home telling me he was gay and had known for over a year, but was too afraid to tell me sooner
-immersing myself in a new world and diving head first into the culture
-being told by several close friends that I should seek medical and psychological help, as they speculate I might be suffering depression
-a good friend finally starting to wean himself off of the medications he's been taking his entire life

and probably a bunch more other things that I can't remember right now.  And of course, there's the typical swings of emotions and thoughts from a day-to-day basis, work, classes, and everything else.  I don't really have anything in particular to talk about right now or the time to necessarily do so, but every day I remember this blog and remember how long it's been and feel incredibly guilty.  So hello, I'm still here and haven't forgotten about this little project, don't anyone worry.

Also, happy first birthday!  It was technically 8 days ago, but like I said, I've been all over the place.

And more importantly, a shout-out to all the international viewers!  Blogger is telling me that I have people from all over the world reading, which is AMAZING.  From India to Russia to Slovenia to Australia to Canada to Germany to several other countries, that's so so cool to find out.  So thanks, everyone!  Hope I'm vaguely interesting and can get you all to keep coming back :)

Over and out,
I hope things are well for everyone out there!
The A.S.S.

Future Plans

BLARGH I'm sorry it's been a week.  The past seven days have been extremely hectic, but I've been itching to just write again.  So now that I finally have the chance, let's get to it!

I went out to lunch with Zero and GoldenEye yesterday--we have a little tradition of grabbing some pizza between classes on Wednesdays.  The week before, I was unable to go with them so I had asked about what it was I'd missed.  Then, they exploded.

They explained their plan.  They have a plan that maps out the entire rest of their lives--they're to go into business together after they attend the same graduate school, formulating their mega-corporation the whole time while they are near and freshly educated.  Their corporation will do "everything.  Literally, everything."  It will have thousands of employees and hundreds of branches; it will be the biggest thing to hit America.  And every Wednesday, they would take all their interns out to lunch for pizza and discuss business, the future, politics, economics, etc.  They were formulating traditions for their futures, mapping out their lives, placing themselves years away with a crystal clear image.  It was wishful thinking and high hoping, but they knew exactly what they wanted and they were ready to go get it.

It hit me right then.  This is life, and it's coming at me way faster than I want to accept.  I don't have that clear picture, I don't have a direct path I intend to take.  I have no post-graduate plans.  The extent of my life is in school, and that's all I've got.  And I can't tell if I love that or hate that!  LIFE is so close... this is it.  This is the final stretch.  Everything is the final stretch... and there's never any stopping and going back.  Ever.  Life carries on.  It can end in an instant, it can last forever.  It can end up the exact opposite of how you always imagined, it can go exactly how you want it to.  It can take a million unpredicted turns, it can be mapped out any which way in the garden of forking paths.  But Life is facing me head on.  Whether I'm curled up in a ball or running at full-speed, Life is straight ahead.  Life is staring me down.

It's kind of terrifying.  It's kind of exhilarating, too.

This is a little spacey and a little out there--it doesn't really make logical sense.  It's just a stream of consciousness because I have a lot of difficulty channeling these thoughts and feelings.  So, I'm sorry about that.  But hey, it's what's on my mind!

"Contemplate" by TheSophiaPark (http://thesophiapark.deviantart.com/)

Rambling,
The A.S.S.

Dance it Out!

I'm in a bit of a phase.  Be it that I've had a good day, I don't have time to run to the gym, I'm too stressed and need an outlet, or I just need to stop studying and take a break to refresh my mind, I've been dancing a lot this week.  I'll blast Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" or the Kanye's "Monster," maybe some Beyonce, the classic "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates or Cee-Lo's "Fuck You" and just rock out.  Like, ROCK out.  And it's so liberating!  It's SUCH a good feeling and I highly, highly recommend doing so.  I know I'm not unique in this idea, I know millions of people do this, but I honestly can't explain how good it feels to just dance it out.  In the rare chance that you really want to do it right now, do it!  Maybe not at work, but as soon as you get home.  Let it out.  There's plentyyyyy of good music to rock out to--just pick your favorite and go at it.

"Rock out" by Citruspers (http://citruspers.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=120#/d2jbkf4)

ROCK OUT,
The A.S.S.