East Coast Ramblings of a West Coast Girl

Fellow readers,

This week was what I'll call commencement week at NYU. Joining the Class of 2009 in celebrating our transition into real adulthood and hearing an inspirational commencement speech given by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shook my world.

Unlike many other people, I've only spent three years in college; because of AP and IB in High School, I guess that's why I finished a year earlier. I wish that I had an extra year, but then again, sometimes I'm really happy that I finished sooner --- what a way to jump start into your life, right? Sure, it's certainly a scary time to be embarking on your new life, seeing as how the economy's in a sad state of affairs and Swine Flu's terrorizing the world (I had to add that in there because every single speech I heard this week addressed Swine Flu...as ridiculous as I think it is), but, as Hillary Clinton says, we should welcome the challenge with open arms, for it will make us stronger in the long run.

I'm frantically trying to decide what to do with the rest of my life (Ok, so what else is new?). Graduate school is, without a doubt, in my near future; but what do I want to do in the time between grad school and...now? Study? Community service? Continue writing party planning articles?

I feel grateful that I still have a paying job, even though it's technically not "full-time", it's better than nothing. I'm living in New York City in a sublet I found through Craigslist, eating $5 Vietnamese sandwiches on a weekly basis, and I'm frantically trying to open my options by taking TESOL classes (to teach English in China), and looking for illustration jobs.

Too bad now that I'm technically not "in" school, my parents want me to be self-sufficient, which is fine, but nevertheless, frightening.

What the world holds for me in the future is unknown, but I'm confident that my, what, lifetime of school has prepared me well. I may not be able to do Calculus the way I could in high school, and I may not be able to name off all the Greek Gods, but that's OK. Part of the excitement is my never-ending journey of learning about new things and, more importantly, learning about who I am.

In ten years, it boggles me that I may be out of school, that I may be on the verge of marriage (gasp!) or even end up somewhere in the Midwest or...something.

Nothing's certain, but what is certain is that I'll keep trucking until I get the place where I belong--a place that makes me happy, a place that can complete me.

Welcome to the first day of my life...

Recently my mother gave me some good advice:

"there is chinese saying - riding a horse to look for another horse..."

I have wonderful news, friends...

In the world of cut-throat apartment hunting, I found an apartment!

It was sheer luck on my part to find this sublet that fit my schedule perfectly.

For future references, I'll be living on 3rd between 25th and 26th streets. Don't stalk me.

It's wonderful, it's wonderful. I can't get enough of that word: wonderful.

Anyway, time for me to work towards being self-sustaining. It's sad, yet amazingly liberating...and at the same time quite frightening.

Welcome to the world, says life. Oops, I mean, Welcome To Real Life, says the world.

Thank you, I accept this challenge with honor.

I've been a terrible blogger, and I take full responsibility.

Lately, (you know, graduating so early) I've just been so caught up in life. So many aspects of my life had come up behind me and began to strangle me ever so menacingly. Don't worry, Friends, no harm done...

It's times like these I have to feel empowered to take things head on (applying directly to the forehead) and accept that whatever will be will be (que sera sera, as my mom loves to say). What a way to go: you had lived your whole life going to school, and suddenly when school isn't a requirement anymore, what is it you're supposed to do?

1. Grad School: Excellent option. I'm all for higher (and higher, and higher, and HIGHER) education.

2. Job: I'm definitely not eager to be someone's assistant, but if that's what takes to work my way up in the magazine/book publishing/all Communications' industries(?) ladder, so be it! But in these economic times, who knows what kind of job I can actually land?

3. Internship: Well, I suppose I can get another internship. More experience is definitely a plus! Learning, again, is fun.

Luckily for me (or unluckily?) I have a year ahead of me full of possibilities. Maybe I'll go abroad for a while, maybe I'll really explore the creative side of Jessica and crank out some very big pieces of work.

For all those worrying, don't worry. With a degree from NYU, you're certainly able to find something because of the tools you've acquired through this school that was originally created to be the "alternative Ivy League" way back in the 1800s. Whereas those Harvard grads in the 1800s were learning Greek (aka dead language), NYU grads were learning about radio and TV broadcasting.

True facts...at least, that's what people tell me. So, I'm telling you.

Last week while I was mentoring my favorite kids in Chinatown, two of my 2nd graders decided to serenade me with their favorite songs: "Hot N' Cold" and "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry (yes, including the part that goes "you PMS like a bitch, I should know"), not to mention some wonderful renditions of Britney Spears's "Womanizer."

When I asked them what they thought of age-appropriate Miley Cyrus, they said, "We're soooo over Miley".

My late frustration for you. I've written it on my blackberry (oh, so that's what those phones are for...)

Upon going to Restaurant Week (at Brasserie 8 1/2) from work
Why is there congestion? Why am I on the local train to go up to 57th from 14th? Why did the train only have to stop at 14th for 3 seconds, but 5 minutes at 23rd? WHAT COULD BE HAPPENING?

No one is sitting next to me because I am giving the illusion that I am elephant-sized.

Sometimes I wonder, if people see me using my Louis Vuitton wallet, and they try to take it from me, can I just yell, "HEY DUMMY! THAT'S A FAKE!"?

We all know it's not, but would they then throw it back to me? I guess it's what's on the inside that counts, after all.

Upon going to volunteer in Chinatown

The B and D are so-o-o-o-o slow.

Whyyy? All I need is to go to Chinatown. Oh, here it is. Never fear.

Ugh...I have to go to Chinatown.

Got back to this wonderful weather. :(

Upon waiting for my luggage this time (it took for-ever, by the way), I saw a very interesting message that the transit authority told us: Do not accept rides from solicitors in the airport. Something of that nature.

Of course, everyone should know that you should never take a ride from a black car because they're not only potentially unsafe, but they're also known to charge you to death.

This time, being wholly awake and fully-rested, I knew this and got my bags and headed to the taxi stand.

Last time upon coming back from Thanksgiving break, however, I was not so level-headed. Here's the story I never told the world:

It was 5:30 in the morning when I walked out of JFK and then there were these men asking if I needed a taxi. Unlike my usual self, I was like uh, yes. I do. So I followed a man to his black car. And usually aren't you not supposed to be taking rides from those black sedans? He said it was impossible for me to get a taxi, but then I saw the taxi line. I couldn't flee.

I just followed and kept asking "45 dollars right?"

"Right, right" he assured me.

Then I got into this black sedan that smelled like cigarettes and he put on classical music to listen to. And all through the ride I was thinking "please don't let me get raped, please don't let me get raped" and then "please don't make him stop in Brooklyn or Chinatown or something and then rob me and then rape me." Oh God, oh God.

Anyway, he took a loop down to Brooklyn then on some bridge (I don't know my bridges...oh my God, don't tell me that was the Brooklyn bridge?) and zoom through the Lower East Side through SoHo to aahhh...home.

But this man also had a bluetooth earpiece in his ear, so I thought that gives him some legitimacy, doesn't it? Always trust a man with a bluetooth earpiece in his ear, I say. I think.

Lesson learned: Never take a red-eye that makes you arrive someplace at 5:30 in the morning unless you can make yourself sleep at 9:00 AM.

I needed a long nap until 10 until I could actually do something productive.

Tomorrow morning (9:30 AM West Coast time) I shall leave home again for my second home in New York City.

Oh, how I will dearly miss the 80 degree weather I had today for the chilly 21 degrees that await me at NYC.

And, more excitingly and devastatingly and terrifyingly, I will have to come face to face with my last semester of being in college. Egad! --- as those Archie comics would say -- How can this be happening?!

Didn't I just start all this hullabaloo Freshman year?!

An airbus has recently landed itself in the Hudson River (hey, that place sounds familiar --- oh right, I live a block from that river) and I was forced to ask myself how I'd cope with something like that.

There are times like these when suddenly I get a slight flinching fear about getting aboard on a plane. Like this. What if there's a flock of geese who want to fly from, I don't know, Los Angeles to Arizona therefore throwing us off course!?

Egad! The sheer thought of that is frightening, but since the time that plane landed in the Hudson to now (what, 2 days?) there have been probably 1,000 more flights that have taken off and landed at their designated locations.

Going to a school that's on the other side of the country from your hometown is a little tough. Not only do I now fear flocks of geese as I fly through 10 or something states, I have to deal with the drastic climate change, and sitting on my ass for 6 hours, which I guess isn't so bad except for the fact that by the time I land it will be 6 PM New York time, which is really only 3PM Los Angeles time --- so the plane has stolen 3 hours of my time from me.

Three hours of valuable sleeping time. I'm saying sleeping time because really, there's nothing I can get myself to do on planes anymore. I remember the days I used to read entire novels sitting on a plane. But ever since flying got pricier and the seats smaller, I can't do anything but focus on the screen in front of me or force myself to sleep. If one of the two things can't happen, sure, I'll listen to my iPod --- but to what end!?

Once I get off the plane, I'll stand in the freezing cold for a taxi, then get all the way downtown and pay the driver, haul my heavy suitcase...and sit at my desk.

I'll sit and wait for the new semester to start again.

Oh boy. School and work again?! Egaadd---what fun.

Winter Break is seriously killing me.

No, don't get me wrong, winter break in college is fantastic: you actually get a break from all your school work. Not like high school -- what kind of break is it if you still have to do homework?!

Anyway, after a great (but terribly tiring) trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong and Las Vegas (welcome to the world of being 21!), AND a day of jury duty, life is just bor-ing. But, it's a welcomed boring, you know?

Finally, a way to focus on myself and get an adequate amount of sleep. Mmm...sleep. There's nothing better than groggily waking around 10 and eating cereal for the rest of the day without having the burdens of intense reading hang over your head.

Then I realized, after graduating, these days might not happen anymore. The work days will come, and---Oh! how much I may regret not having respected the days of college breaks.

Despite being in a small NYU dorm with 8 girls, my two roommates (Valerie and Serena) and I were able to throw a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving extravaganza this past weekend. Yup, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Why? Because we can. And because it's the American thing to do, after all.

It was a great time. Mostly Serena invited her friends because it was her idea. Together she and I had spent $500 at D'Agostino and we got a free turkey!

Saturday morning, while Serena was at work, Valerie and I started preparing. Valerie was going to take over the turkey and the stuffing, I would make mashed potatoes and the decorations. Serena, well, she was going to cook a lot of other stuff.

Overall, it was extremely successful. Valerie cooked her turkey perfectly, and it was her first time ever completing it. It was my first stab at making a floral centerpiece, and it was our first time throwing a full-on parr-tay!

We all bonded over the food, stories of yesteryear, and everything.

Always keep your friends close. Treasure them. College isn't forever.

I will have a video soon!

Overjoyed.

That is what I am.

Jumping for joy, seeing Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart flip out because their live show suddenly was cut short. I turned back to CNN and saw that it was all just regular programming.

I know Obama may not be able to guarantee all the "change" he speaks of during the first few years of his presidency, but boy, are we on the right track.

The right track for better education, the preservation of the arts, the protection of individual rights...

In high school, it's rather difficult to get the same emotional fuel out of a presidential election. I'm only saying this because it's only in college where you can walk to class and see "VOTE FOR OBAMA" written on the side of Washington Square Park, hear people screaming for joy in the halls, and know that the values you've acquired and learned about in these institutions will be preserved.

Here's to our new president, Mr. Obama -- you are the American dream.