Costco vs. BJ's - A Divaistic Approach

Why I'm Obsessed With COSTCO ! ... an article written by your resident diva!

I don't know why this is underlined now, but maybe I can undo it later. (edit - NOOO I can't! WTF? I'm sick of Blogger and it's kinks) I live near a Costco and a BJ's somewhere along the Jersey Shore. I never thought of going to either warehouse because I didn't have a garage to put all the food in! But after going in BJs last week and seeing how they try to go the way of the wholesalers, they aren't quite there yet. I went with my friend who offered get me in there and turn me loose.

I was a little disappointed. Aside from huge Chicken Voila dinners (which I love), mac and cheese, and olive oil and some spices, all the other things I wated to buy were the same cost as the supermarket I went to. I got my mac n' cheese, olive oil, and crushed tomatoes, I already stocked up ont he 10 for 10 pasta sale elswhere. and a big bag of perdue chicken cutlets. They have them at the store...callled perfect portions. Normally at BJ's they'll put 10 individulally wrapped chicken cutlets in an oversized ziplock bag. When I got home, I noticed that the chicken was pre marinated in "white wine" and garlic - oops - got those by mistake. I could still eat them though. They taste ok,but you could always wash off the marinade,as I doubt its real "white wine", and is probably that crap they sell in the supermarket that's full of oversalted, undrinkable wine. They say any wine you cook with should be a wine you could drink. I cook with Fairbanks Dry Sherry. It has a nutty flavor after it's reduced. Much better than the store "white wine".

Buy Costco is sooooo much better! They have their own gas, which is slightly cheaper than the other gas in the area. Only thing is, they don't cash. I wanna get a cash card so I can only put my gas on it so I have enough for the summer. They take debit cards too, but I'd rather have my gas funds come from a separate area. Especially since yes, I'm STILL umemployed =( *sniff*.

Next up toilet paper. This would last me months, @$17! I didn't get any even though I need it. I had to pay the rent first. Being a responsible adult sucks.

Soda!!! I didn't see Caffeine Free though! I'll have to look more carefully. Caffeine free is for home. Regluar is for breakfast. I need egg whites in bulk too. Maybe turkey bacon too so I can make my nummy sandwiches.

My final thoughts on BJs vs Costco

If you have no room to buy in bulk, go to BJs. If you can make some room, which I am gonna do, by rearranging some things, I'd go for Costco! I honestly love it there, and I'm planning on going there ALOT and getting my gas there too, since they're 10c cheaper than most other stations. I pass Costco alot, since its in the general area I live in.

They also sell computers, HD Camcorders, printing supplies, jewelery and do eye exams. Unfortunately the job I am working is ending tomorrow *sigh*, so I can't indulge in any of that. But I indulged a little in other things like clothes and the Costco membership itself, so thats that. Got a night/weekend job as a property manager, but its not enough to live on. I went to BJ's and Costco to stock up on food since this month is gonna be..........questionably difficult. I have so much food. Its basic food, but I'll have food nonetheless. So yeah, that concludes my rave on Costco. Go and join!!

www.costco.com

Luxy Hair Extensions - Review

I've always had semi-long hair. But it's hard to get it long without it being dead. I usually grow it long in the winter, and then cut off the dead hair in the summer. This summer I didn't get a chance to cut my hair, but it got fried in an over chlor

inated pool in May. I wanted to cut the hair off but really wanted my hair to stay long. I heard about clip in hair extensions on youtube years ago - prior to that you had to get extensions glued/bonded/woven into your hair which was damaging, and it'd have to be redone once your hair grew out.

I decided to look into the clip in hair extensions. I didn't have the money to buy any all summer, since the job situation was baaaad =( . But I researched. I found all the popular ones: Foxy Locks, Hello Gorgeous, EuroNext from Sally's, Luxy, Pro Extensions ...and that's all I can remember.

I watched youtube videos on what people thought of them. I watched mostly black girls' videos since their hair is more like mine, since it's coarse and would need to be ironed out to blend into the extensions. I didn't want super baby soft fine extensions because my hair is nowhere near that. Pro Extensions looked very thin, although their legnth was good and so was the price. But they were a consideration. I actually almost bought them despite this fact. Foxy locks was also a good brand based on the reviews I watched. They were more than what I wanted to spend though. Hello Gorgeous had the thickest ones, so I heard but they cost more money. I didn't hear good things about EuroNext that you get from Sally's, so I nixed that one right off the boat.

Finally I was able to afford them so after months of research and thought, I decided to go with Luxy hair extensions. They had great reviews, I only saw 2 bad ones. The rest were all great. They seemed popular. The girls that run it, Leyla and M

imi are two sisters from Toronto and they do hair tutorials on their youtube channel. They show how to put the extensions in (although many other videos will show you this) but it seems like they really care about their product. I ordered mine on a Sunday evening, they shipped first thing Monday morning, and I got them Thursday afternoon. Shipping was free. It's also free for ProExtensions.

I opened the package and the hair was so soft and healthy feeling. Its real hair, not synthetic barbie type hair. It feels like its coated with something but maybe thats just how regular hair should feel. Mine is so thick, dry and coarse, I really don't know WHAT normal hair is supposed to feel like. lol

This is what the packaging looks like. I got the 1B - off black color.

I was so tired Thursday night, since I had school and band rehearsal every night so far, I was planning on doing them Friday. I had also been sick for a week. Still am not 100% yet. On Friday I was feeling crappy but I decided to put them in because I wanted to wear them to a wedding I was supposed to go to Saturday. But its sat now and I didnt feel good enough to drive up to the wedding and sit there. I'm in bed as I'm typing this! After my cousin called to tell me that they condemned his building that he was renting and his landlord made off with the Oct rent and his security and disappeared, I flat ironed my hair out on the highest setting (don't recommend this unless you have really course hair!). Oh and always use a heat protectant spray too! I made my hair as un-voluminous and as moveable as I could. It still didn't match the texture of the extensions, but I couldn't pull it off if I didn't iron my hair.

My natural hair. I just got it cut pretty short. Ironed. Eek no makeup! Eh whatever...

I watched the tutorial on the Luxy youtube channel and clipped the tracks in as shown. It took about 7-8min to do. Not bad. The clips are strong and tight. They don't hurt at all. I feel like there wasn't much room on my head for all the tracks. I guess I have a small head? But I got them all in. They give you 10 pieces: 2 four clip, 2 three clip, 2 two clip and 4 one clips. Once I finally got them all in, it was AWESOME! I had long hair again! Longer than what it was before I cut it. It went down past my boobs. I'm 5'8'', so that's pretty long.

Extensions in. My real hair is still pretty voluminous even after ironing the hell out of it (top of head). Oh well... It kind of looks like Scene Hair. But the hair in front of my shoulders isn't all of it. Theres more on my back! Its really alot of hair! As for the color blend, I got off black and my hair I always considered to be ''almost black''. Its a tiny bit off. The extensions are a little darker than my natural color, but I definitely think the Dark Brown color was way too light. Dark brown is a large range of shades and its nowhere near my shade. I'm definitely closer to black on the color wheel. In this picture, the flash obviously lights up my hair when I took the picture. Normally, there won't be flashes of bright light around me. I'd wear the extensions out at night or to a concert that I am in, or go see, special events, holidays (only if there are NON SMOKERS there!) I'm not gonna have these things getting all smoked up from secondhand smoke like my normal hair does. I febreze my hair but i'm not gonna febreze these! I'd have to wash them,and washing will shorten the life of them. They do need to be washed, but not as often as your own hair. I dont' plan to heat style these. I will use flexi rods to curl in advance so that should prolong the life of them. I don't know what the money situation will be in the future so Iwant them to last. I would definitely get them again! As far as whether or not they'll be Luxy depends on how these extensions weather the storm. Some of the girls wore them everyday for months. I'll be damned if i'm gonna get up early to put that in my hair before I go to the job du jour! Hell no! I get up, shower and go. So it's only for nights out like I said before. Hopefully they'll last long. I really do like to be able to have shoulder length hair sometimes, and boob length hair other times. Plus its really glamorous. Alot of celebs have extensions, like Kim Kardashian. I always loved her hair. Lots of models and singers do too. I'm very into hollywood glamour. I feel like its very superficial but I just love getting all done up, in fake eyelashes, dramatic makeup, hair extensions, accessories, nice clothes and shoes. *shrug*. Thats just me. What can I say? Except I'm poor! lol

Enough babbling... this is how thick the hair is. My hand is open pretty wide as you can see there. Its 2x as much hair as I have normally!

From the front.

Just another shot. Oops, forgot to fix the red eye.

Obviously, time will tell how the Luxy brand holds up, but so far, I love them. And extensions in general. Definitely will become a regular user. Putting them in was so easy. So was taking them out. And if you're looking for extensions, it really depends on how much you want to spend, and your hair type. I think Pro Extensions are kind of thin looking, and some people have said if you have thick hair, they're not for you. But if you have thin hair, maybe they are! They also have 24'' hair which is longer than the others. Foxy locks and Hello Gorgeous got good reviews too, but were more pricey. Definitely check them out. If this helped anyone, great! If not, I wanted to put my 2 cents out in the web world. I don't feel like making a video. This is good enough.

For more info on Luxy hair extensions, go to www.luxyhair.com

Income vs. Cleanliness?

It seems like there is a link between income level and personal cleanliness. At least when you're out in public, anyway. I've noticed for a long time, that in low income neighborhoods, the public bathrooms are beyond disgusting. There is pee on the floor, garbage, feminine products on the floor, shit on the walls (literally, shit), pee on the toilet seat, and not enough handsoap for us to wash the filth off of us.

Right now I am temping in Perth Amboy, NJ. It is a low income, mostly hispanic immigrant neighborhood in central NJ. The building I work in has several law offices (for immigration, go figure), pregancy centers, and the WIC office. So needless to say, alot of hood rats from off the street come in here,and are permitted to use the bathrooms. That's where the problem starts. Now, I don't know many people who I would classify as ''poor'', although I refer to myself that way now that this recession is in full swing (oh wait! the recession ended in 2009. *smacks head*. Thats right. How silly of me! *sarcastic eyeroll*). But whenever I go places where poor people congregate, mostly the low income medical clinics, dental offices, work, fast food bathrooms etc, they are soooo disgusting! Kind of like the picture below.

But why is it that lower income people don't give a shit about keeping a bathroom clean? I mean now that I'm low income too (hopefully not for too much longer), it doesn't mean I'm gonna destroy bathrooms and pee all over everything. If anything, won't that get all over YOU as well as the floor/toilet seat? I throw my garbage away, and leave everything as I left it, sometimes cleaner! Do poor people think that this is how they take their frustrations out against THE MAN by peeing all over everything? I really wish someone had answers because if you go to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, NJPAC, and other venues where hoodrats generally DON'T go, the bathrooms are clean! Not as immaculate as the ones in the pic below, but they're in good shape for public bathrooms. People respect themselves, and the place they are visiting.

I wonder if some of these people who pee all over the floors and fuck up the bathrooms do this at their own house. I remember when I lived in NY, when I walked past the section 8 housing on my street, it reeked of piss. A few people got offended that I wrote that. I understand not ALL people do it. But enough to make you wonder WHY. Did the inside of their houses smell like piss too? Were they too lazy to walk inside to use the bathroom, so they just unzipped on the side of the stoop. Even animals don't go to the bathroom near where they live/sleep.

I heard stories from some of the maintenence guys that people would come in the building and shit in garbage cans,or shit on the floor of vacant offices. The 10th floor is completely vacant, and is just one big office space with great acoustics (maybe can sneak in a flute performance for youtube inthere, as long as it's clean! haha) My apartment has horrible acoustics. Too much carpet, rugs, and draperies, bla bla bla. Anyway, someone relieved themself, or just wanted to cause trouble in the middle of the concrete floor.

I get calls all the time from tenants (this is a commercial bldg, and again alot of the business' clients use the bathrooms too) that there is pee all over the floor. I just went in the bathroom on my own floor and it smelled like pee. WTF?! I really want to make a sign, and have it in english AND spanish. I don't know if the sign would make a damn difference to these people. I don't like having to wipe down the soles of my shoes w/ clorox cleaner, but no way in HELL am I going into my house after knowingly walking thru a bathroom with pee everywhere!I usually leave my shoes outside too.

I just wish people would respect others, themselves, and the establishments they're in. I dont want to deal with your pee. YOU deal w/ it, put it where it needs to go, and clean it up! >=/

I feel like going to Carvel for happy hour for $2 shakes, now. While this job lasts.

Silence

I officially have the worst luck in this entire universe. This sounds so teenagerish to say, but it's true. Friends have been telling me that for years. But it all kind of came to a closed circle this afternoon.

I woke up, prepared to go apply for more shit jobs close by, then I took a walk on the boardwalk. I was waiting for the Locksmith to call so they can fix my trunk, which thelock won't open on. This way I can transport my kayak around, and have access to my life vest, and seat back. Not to mention books, shoes, resume folder, beachchair etc that are locked in there.

As I was walking, a friend called saying she was at Sandy Hook asking if I wanted to meet up and hang out. I was stuck waiting for the locksmith, who has nevercalled and its 3pm now! But also it cost $10 to go onthe beach, sitting in traffic to get there, it wouldn't work. I had to decline, but I really wanted to hang out. I haven't seen anyone in a week. I've pretty much been isolated due to lack of money.

I had a missed call while I was on the phone w/ my friend andit was my recruiter. Her tone of voice was solemn. There were alot of 'ummm's. She said to call her ASAP about my job. I knew.

I've been a temp for 3yrs. If you're not perfect, they ax you. I've been axed at least 6 or 7 times in the past 3yrs for not being 'the right fit'. I didn't know what the reason was for this thing, but I assumed it was the same.

I called all the temp agencies begging for work. One agency submitted my resume to two different jobs. The others had no work. Of course! Then I called the recruiter to hear the story. She is a very nice lady, who found my resume on Monster, and she continued to be sweet til the end. She generally sounded sorry and she basically said the reason I was axed was...

The woman I was replacing BEGGED for her job back. =( They let her haveit. The woman is a senior citizen who works 2 days a week, goes to FL in the winter, and they needed a full time peroson. That would've been me. She doesn't know Excel or Power Point,a nd all she can really do is type stuff. They were going to let her go and take me. I felt bad though. but she was retired and she was just using this job as "Atlantic City money",so the bosses said. She had a husband w a good pension, enough money to own 2 houses.... I can't blame her for begging for it though.

So I didn't do anything wrong. The woman was tipped off somehow that I was her replacement (I worked days she didn't work), but there were traces of me, not to mention a new login on her computer with my name. She knew. She begged. She got it. The VP apparently when he called the recruiter said that it took him a few hours to make the call because he felt so guilty and horrible. She said the VPs voice was very telling of this. His voice was very sorrowful, and not the usual fabulousness he normally spoke with. *sigh*

I couldn't believe that happened. I wished that this job would save me. I'm running out of money and have noone left to help me. Only my dad could ever help me. Noone else has money , and even if they do, why would they help ME? After I hung up the phone I sat on some rocks in front of my house and the world went silent. No birds, no people, no construction, no background noise, no waves from the ocean. I heard nothing. I probably zoned out. It was just this eerie weird silence Ih ave never heard before.

I think I lost. I don't know what to do now. I just feel nauseous and numb right now. I know the money is low. I don't know how much further I can go. Please pray for me. and I'm not religious. I really don't know what else to DO.

"Although we've come to the end of the road"

I really hope this isn't my swan song, but I definitely am starting to feel like it is. I've been unemployed for 3 years. I have survived working one low paying, shitty temp job after another. Losing my dignity and every ounce of self worth along the way. I have been treated like the help. Like a slave from the days of Gone with the Wind. I lost my identity. I was no longer me. I was "the temp". I didn't have a name. I didn't have a story. I didn't have a life. I was just a dispensible thing brought in to do a company's dirty work, and then cast aside when they were done w/ me.

My unemployment has exhausted. I won't be eligible for another year again. My father's pension is all that is keeping me going. Thankfully he left it to me. It wasn't much though. I have had nothing but huge gaps between temp jobs. I've worked less in 2011 so far than I ever have. I am running low on money. I have nowhere to go and noone to turn to. I know if I go broke, I'm gona live in the back seat of my car, which I still owe like $1,600 on, so assuming I can work enough to even legally OWN the car.

Last night after I got the news that I wasn't chosen for 2 temp jobs I interviewed for, I looked around at all the things in my apt. I felt like I should start packing. I honestly felt like my days were numbered. I only have enough money to pay the rent thru July. I havne't worked at all this month. It doesn't look like I'll be working next week either. I kinda laughed at the thought of packing though because I have no where to bring my stuff to! If I leave, I would have to just abandon my apt and all my furniture. I will ask someone if they can hold my big screen tv and my flute and piccolo and my important docs. But as far as myself I don't know WHERE I'm gonna go. Noone has room. I am looking at prices on tents today. At least I could sleep stretched out as opposed to in a tight fetal position inthe back seat of my car. I'm too tall to lay down in the car. I have a down comforter for winter, although I hope if I lose m y home I will have gotten a job or placed somewhere before next winter.

I know if I get placed, I'd probably end up in a bed bug ridden roach motel in the hood. I kind of would prefer my car or a tent than anyplace w/ bed bugs! I have no kids though so I don't know who will help me, if anyone will. I am going to go to social services next week and ask abotu my options if I run out of money. I always worried about this, but as my $ drops more and more its becoming more of a reality. I walked up the coast yesterday and appreciated how lucky I've been to live onthe beach. It made me sad to realize that I may have to leave,and have no idea where the HELL I'm gonna go next. I really hoped I'd find work. I had no problem getting temp jobs, but now even those are getting harder and harder to get. I interviewed for a marketing job 3wks ago that pays decently but still have no heard and answer. The recruiter keeps telling me they are gonna make a decision "tomorrow". That was weeks ago. I don't think it's gonna happen. That is my miracle. If I gt that job, I can rebound from this. If Idon't, I'm back to working shitty temp job to shitty temp job and my stress levels will remain on high alert. I'm pretty much in emergency mode now. I'm looking for tents online for god sake! I never thought I'd be homeless. I never thought this would be my life. Now I'm looking it right in the face but I'll fight to the end before I abandon my stuff and set up my new life in the great outdoors/or my car if I can pay it off. I just wish I had someone who could help me. =/

If its the end of the road, I walk it alone. Here goes nothing.

Osama is dead!! Sorry, Will and Kate

Last night, I turned off the tv and lit candles just to reflect on life. On whats coming up. To think of a plan to prevent certain things from happening etc. It helped and I relaxed a little bit. Then I went on Twitter on my phone and saw everyone talking about this "mysterious" address by President Obama any minute. I had no idea what it could be about. I guess part of me hoped it was good news on the economy/job front, but that could never be something that would happen immediately. I decided to watch CNN to see what this "mysterious" address would be about.

The broadcast was delayed a few times, and all the reporters were speculating that it was about them finding Osama bin Laden and killing him. I was a little disappointed for a second, bc again I realy wanted good news about the job situation =/ , but realistically, that isn't gonna happen. So I watched on to see what he said.

Indeed, Osama bin Laden, founder of Al Qaeda, orchestrator of the September 11th Twin Towers attacks was dead. Yay! Good riddance! I don't think they should've killed him just yet but maybe he had one of his rifles that most of those terrorists seem to always have with them at all times, and it was either kill or be killed. I still think they shouldve taken his ass alive, and put him in a cage at ground zero so the people can torment him, spit on him, probably shoot him lol, and other things, then try him and execute his ratty ass. But they did what they did. They say he was in a "mansion" in Pakistan, but then I'm hearing it was a compound. I saw some footage on BBC and it looks like a compound. I don't really assoicate Pakistan w/ opulance.

Of course, his little minions will probably go on a bomb spree against the United States (I'm glad I don't live in NYC anymore!!!) to retaliate, but obviously you know this is gonna happen.

This over eclipses the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton though. But maybe they will like the diversion. It was a nice wedding. I watched a few of the Royal weddings but this one was watched on an HDTV big screen tv (probably the smartest purchases Ive made in the last few years). It was awesome in Hi Def.

Will and Kate are going to move to the island of Anglesea in Wales where he will work as a helicopter, search and rescue pilot for 2 more years. No doubt Kate will pop out a baby while up there. What else is she gonna do? It's all good in the world. Well if you're in the Royal Family of England it is.

For me, things aren't going too good. I'm almost broke. I'm living off of savings from my fathers pesion that I was beneficiary of. Thank god he left it to me. Otherwise I don't think I couldve made it. My UE is done. I'll be re-elligable in a year I think. And I'm working one low paying temp job after another. I've had 2wk or so gaps between jobs, making me have to pull from savings. I have very little left. I interviewed for a Marketing job last week and am hoping I get it. It was pretty much exactly what I used to do before. I 'm definitely qualified to do it, but it depends how the other people did I guess. No answer yet. I hope they give me one soon. I really do need to work this week. I was offered a long term data entry temp job. I really hate data entry. Its so tedious and exhausting and it makes you want to bang your head against the wall. But if I dont' get the marketing job, I will have to do it. Noone really jumps at data entry jobs, not even in the temp world. And understandably so. Its really for us desperate fools to do. Because we will do anything to keep a roof over our heads.

I still owe $1645 on my car. I do have the money to pay it off but I'm afraid to. What if I don't work this month and I can't pay June's rent? So I'm gonna have to drag it on. Hoping I can hold on til its paid off. My car payment is so expensive! I can also live on less income once the car is paid (providing it doesn't crap out on me, but its 5yrs old and its a Toyota so I'm hoping it'll go the distance). I put alot of maintenence work into it when I had extra money to prevent issues down the road. Just got a tune up and all the other shti on the engine cleaned up and tweaked. I need tires but thaqt'll have to wait a while. Thats not a powertrain issue. I think June will be my last car payment.

But yeah, I'm almost broke. I really really hope I don't actually hit rock bottom but I'm so close. I need a job. DESPERATELY. I hope I get some good news soon. Otherwise I better buy a tent cuz its safer than the homeless shelter and more spacious than the back seat of my car. =/ I will look into pricing them very soon.

Carnegie Hall / James Galway Performance

Tonight was definitely another memorable moment in my life. I got to go to Carnegie Hall tonight to see Sir James Galway , probably one of the greatest flute virtuosos of all time! I am also a flute player, and I really admire him, and wish I could play even half as good as him. I found out about this show by accident though.

One night, I couldn't sleep, pissed off about some drama going on w/ my father's estate, his bank, my bank, his pension, etc. So I was looking up random stuff that came into my head. I happened to watch a performance of Clair de Lune, by James Galway, and then I just looked him up in general to see what interesting things I could read about him. The Carnegie Hall website came up among the results, but didn't say he was playing. I got side tracked and wondered who was playing at Carnegie Hall. I never went there and was curious if anyone I knew of would be there since I have a little extra money these past 2 weeks.

Ironically enough, James Galway was playing this Saturday (March 12, 2011)!! I really didn't want to go so soon though. There was something else I could've done that day, but I thought about it for a whole 5 seconds (I'm very impulsive), and after looking on Galway's website, and seeing he'd be touring the world after this and wouldn't be back around here til.... well his calendar doesn't go that far out, I decided to buy a ticket.

There were discounted seats in the Parquet (what Carnegie Hall calls the "orchestra") but I hate being there. I like box seats. I'm a diva who always [tries to, at least]get what she wants. ,but there was NOTHING in the first two tiers on the side of the stage, where I like to sit when I go to concerts. Any concerts. My bank issue w/ my dad's estate thing was still going on, so I couldn't even buy the damn ticket for 3 days after. I had to WAIT, and I don't wait. *stamps foot*. If I want something, Iwant it NOW! I will go to great legnths to get it now. I let it go for this. On the third day, a seat opened up in the first tier right on the side of the stage. It was more expensive and had no discount. I got it anyway. Glad I did. I had such a great view.

So the day of the performance comes. Of course I sleep all day. I guess I needed it. All I really did was get up, shower, cook, watch a little tv, and it was time to go. I deposited my shitty little paycheck and jumped on the train at a station that is a little safer than the one I usually go to (which is closer by 1 minute). Big Mistake. I made it to the train with moments to spare. What did you expect? I'm a procrastinator! The train was late too. Whew. Got on and the trip felt like it took FOREVER! I had my iPod on but I'm really not a fan of long trips in general. I'm too fidgety and I hate sitting still.

Needless to say, I arrived in New York early. I decided to walk to Carnegie Hall. People thought I was crazy. I needed the exercise. Then I side tracked from the 25 block walk and walked 3 extra avenues east, and the same 3 back, making my walk about 50 city blocks (equiv.). No biggie. I have done that before when I lived in NY. I havent' walked alot lately due to temping and me running myself ragged handling my dad's estate, so such a long walk definitely killed my feet. I brought flats w/ me and changed into heels at Carnegie Hall.

I walked up there, got my ticket at Will Call. They told me to go to the museum. I really just had to pee and wanted to do it in a CLEAN bathroom. I figured Carnegie Hall would be clean. They really wanted me to go to the damn museum, so I did. Cool stuff in there. Autographs, instruments, programs, ticket stubs. Then I found the bathroom (clean!) and went to my box. Damn, Carnegie Hall is so nice! Its not big at all, but its very ornate and makes you feel like you were in the era when it was built. I have pictures of the venue, and Sir James here:
by Gitana621

After the show, I wanted to go to Bamn! It's an Automat that was on Food Network. Automats were popular in the 50s and Bamn was supposed to be a new age automat with real food and a real chef with tiny portions of different food. I wanted to try their famous mac and chese croquettes. I went down to where it was, walked up and down the avenues and NADA. I asked one of the many drunk college kids in the area (it's near NYU, and arent NYU kids supposed to be SMART?!), and they said they think Bamn was shut down. I wasted $5 on the metrocard ride, so I bought a slice of pizza and took it back to 34th street where I ate my cold slice on a bench in front of Macys (the REAL Macys in Herald Sq), not the bullshit one at your local mall. I heard about fires in my town again and tried to get ahold of people hoping it wasn't my house that caught fire. FInally my neighbor got back to me.

In Penn station, my train home was supposed to be at 1am. I realized today was daylight savings time and you move the clocks forward. So did that mean my train was coming at 12? Because 12 would really be 1... Dunno. The cop there said just get on whatever train you can. Because the 1am train was the last one and I don't have a place to crash in NYC anymore since one person moved away and the other passed away =( , I HAD to get back to NJ. Got on the 12am train. It didn't go all the way to my stop. Every other train goes past Long Branch. This train didn't go further than that. I was gonna wait for the original train, but I was getting bored and impatient (really? me?! haha) and was pretty sure I'd just get a cab to the station where my car was (near home). I live near 2 stations and one is shady at night, so I went to the other one. I got a cab with another dude who was going to the same station, who also didn't want to wait for the next train, an hour later. We talked in the cab, but it was hard to cuz the driver was on his cell phone speaking Pakistani or whatever since over there it was like 2pm.

Finally got home and I wanted to write this now, before I lost my motivation, as I tend to do, after I sleep. My night didn't end how I expected it to, but I'm glad I popped my Carnegie cherry and got to see James Galway. I definitely want to see him again. Hopefully if he is a soloist with a symphony or something. I hate going to NYC from the Jersey Shore. I'm doing it one more time next month for my friend's bday, but I will make sure I park my car in Long Branch. I would def go back to Carnegie Hall, especially to see them perform some Shostakovich stuff (one of my 2 fave composers). But we'll see. This trip was such a hassle. I wish it wasn't. lol

Check out my video of clips of Sir James Galway.