Now that I actually have some form of life, I have no time to blog about it.
To summarise my past week, I've slap dashed together:

Flushing

- Got totally lost with Alice in my supposed culinary homeland, given it is the abyss of Chinese immigrants and therefore cheap authentic Chinese food. It really is a different planet once you leave the ickle island of Manhattan. A + I stuck out like sore thumbs on the 7 train, which took almost an hour to get from Grand Central to Flushing. Noted that dress size and men's smelliness / hair greasiness increased exponentially as distance from Manhattan increased.

- Live toads sold in a supermarket, also in Flushing. Not even in Hong Kong does moving food get so exotic. Being our whitewashed squeemish selves, A + I headed out of the supermarket in no time.

- Soy milk told in takeout plastic tubs. Hello?! Even bubble tea comes in insta-wrap cups... let's get into the 21st century people.

Laundry day blues

Discovered my building charges a murderous $2 per washer load, and $4 for each 1 hour dryer cycle (as supposed to 75 cents for anything back in my school days). And it's friggin' COIN-OP. How is anyone supposed to have $10 in quarters? To avoid being ripped off, I decided to make use of natural resources and take advantage of the hot summer sun. Which led me to hang laundry ghetto Chinese style - on the balcony, like old amahs do. Which led to my being gawked at by any posh Upper East Siders who looked up.
Thank god no one knows me around here. Yet.

Will be on TV!

Just came home from commercial shoot for the newish Tony Oursler video installation at the Met. Played dispensable cable wrangler / runner /extra, and was required to look amused / perplexed at a white blob that resembled "a bloody Mr. Potatohead" according to my colleague,

with silly voiceovers that said "Boom boom boom.... I will kill y'all..." in a demonic husky voice, and projections of endless explosions, flames and misplaced blinking eyes and mouth. Have to find out when / which station the ad will air on...

Scatter Brain-dead

~ Food-induced homesickness:
I am re-living summer '03, when I had the most fantastic time in Lucca, Italy, but missed home sorely as I couldn't find any Asian food whatsoever. Maybe it's just Upper East Side / the Met's neighbourhood, but where are all the cheapo Asian eateries and food trucks hiding? Even ghetto Hardford, Connecticut, where my bro lives and where there is absolutely no retail and no supermarkets in the city, has Vietnamese and Thai food trucks.
Chinatown is a good 25 min ride on the subway, but even the pickings there are slim - ie. I yet to find a good grocer / restaurant. Am determined to venture out to Flushing in Brooklyn, the massive and so-damn-far Asian immigrant enclave this weekend to find cheap authentic Chinese munches.

~ Have same glasses as boss:
My department supervisor just noted that she has the same glasses as me. I have purple ones, she has blue ones. I'm taking this as an auspicious omen that I will go far in the museum field =)

~ Goings on in the city:
Mental notes - the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend in Brooklyn, and the New York Asian Filmfest.
Must also exploit my employee ID at the following locations: Little Boy show @ Japan Society, Frick Collection, the Whitney, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, all within a 1.5 mile radius of where I work.

First paycheck!

... and I haven't even officially started work yet. My life thus far consisted of:
1) lots and lots of in-house tours and lectures (that is, at the museum)
2) more visits to other museums
3) picnicking in the park for lunch / free opera(s)
4) unpacking boxes and assembling new furniture, thus acquiring countless number of bruises on me' shins in the process.

Once I finish setting up my 100 sq ft room, which is already beginning to take some groovy shape, I'd have the perfect compact room for summer chillin' in the city. :) Just got one of those seagrass beach mats from Chinatown for $3 too , and am looking forward to reading in the Park on summer nights...

v.v.v.v. busy

... setting up new life. Furniture costs burning a big fat ugly blackhole in my wallet. NYC crazy sweltering hot. Air conditioning in apartment not functionning as well as it should. Still living out of boxes and sleeping on the floor as I try to assemble furniture. But I love every bit of my job so far.

It's most likely because I'm still in Orientation, which is basically two weeks of behind-the-scenes tours, talks and lectures. NYC in the summer is also a 180-degree-flip from its norm, a bit like a city that's had a facelift: people actually smile, and I get to picnic in leafy Central Park everyday for lunch. Have also discovered a handy fact - my employee ID will now theoretically allow me free admission to all museums in the world, for the duration of my internship. A small perk as consolation to earning minimal wage and falling into the low income catagory :p

Chapter 4 : New York City

Another two weeks of haggling with movers and previous tenant of my tiny rented room, have moved belongings into apartment. Said previous tenant / stranger bitch still has her furniture in my room. Grrrr. What is wrong with people?

On an upside note, new roomie seems really nice, as are her familia. I just hope her cat, ironically named Angel, won't throw up randomly on my about-to-be-purchased carpets.