aspirations

Andrew grew up on the upper west side of New York. While he was playing hide and go seek on the grounds of Columbia University, I was catapulting dog poo over cement walls in the suburbs of the desert. He sang Handel's Messiah in the Cathedral of St. John the Devine, I sang TV show theme songs in a basketball gym. Last night he took me to see where he grew up and I have to say I was awestruck.
Everyone else probably already knows this, but the grounds at Columbia are incredible. Its old, regal, statuesque, picturesque, etc. and definitely looks nothing like New York. I kept thinking, "this is where I belong, this is where I want to be." It could have just been the contrast shock of coming from dirty Brooklyn, so I'm not sure I'm convinced my reaction was real. All I know is that after seeing it, I wanted nothing more than to go to school there. For what? In my dreams I would go for neuroscience or astrophysics, but considering I have no background in science, it will have to remain a fantasy.
I came home and my house smelled funny, I could hear the homeless man outside going through the trash looking for bottles. I pulled off my Williamsburg friendly boots, and fell asleep in my broken taco bed.

my first new york move

Alright, yes I should be packing. Yes I should have hired movers. And no I haven't started. I'm only moving down the street. Should be easy right? I have never been more wrong. Coming from Utah where I moved every 6 months, where there are trucks, everything is on the first floor, doors are always unlocked, and there are an abundance of helping hands that can be paid for with pizza, I didn't know what I was getting into today. I may have ruined several friendships in the process of moving 5 pieces of furniture. If I can give any advice to someone moving out here, pay the extra $100 to have someone do it for you, and save on the costliness of favors.

follow up to the sister texts

Of course the cheapest flights to Europe right now are to London from New York. I was really hoping for cheap tickets to Barcelona. My greatest desire is actually go to as far from London as possible. Where are those tickets sold and can I get them for under $500? Although, if I could meet up with Bardhi I would go. There are several questionable things I have agreed to do in the past, based on the stipulation of his involvement. This would be another one.

prayers answered

My prayers are being answered, but in non-latter day saint ways. I think someone else might be picking up my signals. Hopefully its a druid, or perhaps a griffin? Do griffins answer prayers? Hey Holly- its about time you made some art with a griffin in it. Just saying.

happy to announce

I now have more readers in New York than I do in Utah. That's probably a good sign right?

successful family reunion, the vaughn girls

Chaunte age 10, Raime age 7, Holly age 5,  Alex age 3. I was completely into catwoman from the moment I saw her. Michelle Pfeiffer's cold eyes and dark sexy insanity really did something in my 10 year old brain. I wore all black, made pointy claws out of paper and needles (which were stored in my paper temple from church), and did an endless routine of cartwheels. I always wanted to pretend I was her, and in doing so I employed my sisters in a bit of role playing. We had to have a Batman, and Raime was the only one who didn't mind playing a boy. I think she liked it because she got to wear a cape and jump off of the stairs. The cape would swoosh way up behind her each time. Holly was my other nemesis, the great female terrorist Red Claw. She was Lebanese I believe, and Holly had to try and do the accent even though she couldn't quite say her R's yet. I don't know how Alex ended up being Robin, it seemed like a difficult role to play as a 3 year old. I think sometimes I would just make her be my cat instead. She would meow and walk around on all fours, supporting me in my role as the leader of the cats.

don't read this one dad

I don't know why, but in the past few weeks, I have had several girlfriends discuss vibrators with me. In one incident last weekend - we were in Ricky's and Jen said "look! its not even scary." I responded with, "yes it is,  look at that typeface." The packaging read "silver bullet" in grey militant blocky 3D sans serif, against a red background. No way was I touching that.

today i thought "i have the best life"

When I was about 18-20 I thought, I have the best life ever, I'm so blessed I can hardly take it all in (btw a lot of that feeling had to do with my awesome car). That thought which was once a regular occurrence has been dormant for about 7 years now. Today I was eating brunch with some friends in a little restaurant on Grand street and the thought returned. Maybe it was the chocolate banana pancakes or the 45 degree weather that did it. Nothing has really changed, but it felt good.

texts

I love the texts I got today. My sisters are always looking out for me

Raime: "I can see you marrying someone foreign. Why don't you move out of the country?"

Holly: "You know that song, sweet dreams are made of these who am I to disagree travel the world and the seven seas everybody's looking for something. whenever I hear it I think of you and the nineties. same with kissed by a rose."

Amazing. I think they were both trying to tell me I will find my true love if I travel.

chaunte von blonde