Caveman Car and some other random items of interest..

Okay, I decided to just post all kinds of random stuff up here...We have Reverend Billy and I up to shenanigans on St. Marks Place..He had me sing a few lines of a song for a music video they are putting together..I think they are screening the video this sunday at his headquarters around 9:00 p.m. at 250 Lafayette St, if I'm remembering correctly..All that info should be on his website and facebook and all that..I want to go so I can see how this video came out..They had a lot of neighborhood characters sing I think..That photo was taken by Jefferson Siegel.

Then there's the poster up at C Squat that says Polka Dots are awesome and hypocrites are lame..I really like that poster for some reason! Then I spotted the crazy Caveman Car parked on First Avenue a few days ago..Does its greatness really need to be expounded on? The dinosaurs and Barney looking like he's on acid glued to the roof, the primitive art painted on the sides, the leopard fun fur all over it..I mean, REALLY people!!! Does it GET any better than this?

And speaking of acid, the new DEAD are on tour and in the area and there are smelly hippies everywhere! The hippie on the bench had his headphones on and was playing air guitar for hours across from where I was sitting in Tompkins..What was he jammin' out to? My guess is either an old Grateful Dead SPACE jam, Peter Frampton's COMES ALIVE album, or maybe that weird numerology album that Cat Stevens put out decades ago. Now THAT shit was weird!

I stole the photo of Hotdog and I funning around with the cops on Avenue A from Bob Arihood who pretty much inspired me to start blogging in the first place. Anyone who doesn't read his blog already, should. Hotdog dragged me over to the cop car and told them I was her BFF. They told me they thought I was her daughter. Then she bummed a cigarette off of them. Good times!

The last pic is just a nice shot of Biker Bill and I on Avenue A. It was taken by Lorcan Otway.
So that's the news for now. I can't think of any clever way to end this post so i'll just write the word ASSNECK because that word is funny.

Wayne Ramble

Hope you all enjoyed the heat wave over the weekend and are now psyched to get some summer cycling underway. Can't promise more 80 degree weather for this weekend, but we are heading into May and Frank has a great ride planned, starting in Wayne on Saturday. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, May 2nd - WAYNE

"The Wayne Ramble" - a tour of the lakes and waterfalls around Wayne, Leeds, Livermore, and Wayne.

START: 10:00 AM at the Wayne Elementary School, 48 Pond Road, Wayne.

DISTANCE: 25-30 miles.

TERRAIN: moderate, with some surprisingly flat sections.

HIGHLIGHTS: some very nice scenic shore roads, meadows, and waterfalls.

LEADER: Frank Rosen.

Sex Baloney is more fun than a barrel of monkeys with yeast infections!

One of those strange hipster NYC pastimes that has become quite popular is the Hookah Bar. People pay for these hookahs and then sit there and smoke flavored tobacco and drink Turkish coffee. One of these places is located right next door to Csquat on Avenue C between 9th and 10th street. The owners of this place-Rico Cafe have always been nice to the squatters and there has never been any real problems between the two places..though it can get rowdy on the stoop of C squat some warm nights in the summer. I remember when they first opened they had a fancy welcome mat outside their store that somehow always seemed to end up in front of Csquats door every other day or so..but they never made a big deal of it.

So a few nights ago, Shayne, Jes, and I were sitting on Csquats stoop in search of shenanigans..The guy, Al, who it seems is watching the store for the owners is super friendly..When I heard from Jes that one of the tobacco flavors Rico's offered was called "Sex Baloney" I had to go over and snap a pic of their menu..Al got really happy that i was going to blog about his place so he invited me inside to take some pics of their decor..which includes very dim lighting, fancy lamps and lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and a really strange three dimensional painting of a face hanging on the wall. Hookah bars are really not my thing, but I have to say that the place was cozy, smelled really good, and had neat stuff to look at. Al informed that that the SEX BALONEY tobacco was a mixture of many flavors plus honey..He insisted on giving me a free Hookah so of course I picked the Baloney one..It tasted nice and kind of made us feel warm and fuzzy. Then we went back to drinking beer. The funniest part of the whole thing was when people we knew walked by and saw us sucking on the hookah and giggling.I still don't quite get the whole Hookah Bar thing, but Al is really nice and his place is kind of fun and weird, so if you love hookahs you should go there. Plus, the word hookah sounds a lot like the word hooker which kind of connects to the whole SEX BALONEY thing because of the word sex and also the phrase BALONEY PONY which is sometimes what a PENIS is called when people are trying to be clever. I have also heard people refer to VAGINAS as MEAT FLAPS or MEAT CURTAINS. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Jalopy Theater and School of Music!

Jalopy Theater is in Red Hook, Brooklyn and is one of my favorite places..Actually it is John and I's favorite place to play a gig for sure..Lynette and Geoff Wiley own it and run it and they are just super nice people..Geoff repairs and sells instruments, the club has music classes, plus it is an awesome space! It's huge, they serve beer, wine, and coffee..There is always the weirdest art and instruments hanging up on the walls..and instead of chairs they have church pews. East River String Band usually plays there on wednesdays as part of the clubs weekly Roots and Ruckus show hosted by Feral Foster(guy in the black suit) who is hysterical...The vibe in Jalopy on wednesdays is always really fun and vaguely strange..Even in bad weather and in the middle of the week-it is usually packed full of all types of people..Weekly regulars are Feral himself, Jessy Carolina(who has an amazing voice!), Hubby Jenkins, Dom Flemons and more..Last wednesday I snapped some pics of the place..a weird painting of a sea dragon, the creepy bust on the stage, the cigar box ukes, old accordions and cool sculptures..Business seems to be good there and I really hope people support this special place..

Wow, this post was so normal for me..I feel strange leaving it as is..I guess i'll have to post one more pic of my friend Dave in Tompkins wearing the best fucking t-shirt ever!

Super Duper Weenie and The Villager!

Over the weekend John's mom took us to this place called Super Duper Weenie which is in Fairfield Connecticut. I try to eat healthy most of the time and don't eat too much meat but once in a while I let myself go nuts and eat stuff like this..I really love junk food and if I wasn't afraid of putting on weight I could easily eat ice-cream and twinkies and pizza every single day..Anyway as soon as we drove up and saw the sign that said "Area maintained by Super Duper weenie-God Bless America" I knew I had to take some pics..So we have the lovely signs, the framed photo inside the place, and some flyer that said to arrest your friends..for charity! Apparently they have these kind of fund raisers in Ohio too, according to my friend Jes..but I thought it was funny. I ate two "New York Dogs" which were pretty damn good...

In other news, this blog and my band got a small mention in the local paper The Villager this week..The Villager likes East River String Band and writes nice stuff about me and the band once in a while..Here they wrote about a little song and dance thing I did with Reverend Billy on the street a few weeks ago..It's under the headline The Campaign Spirit.

Sticky Party Bus.

Last week I spotted a "Party Bus" parked in front of Csquat..These bus's seem to drive annoying people around, dropping them off at different bars so they can get drunk all over town. Usually when I spot one of these monstrosities I run after it screaming,"Take me with you!" at the top of my lungs..However this one was just parked and sitting there. The passengers stumbled out, all dressed up in 20's clothes for some reason, and ran to some lame bar...so my friends and I boarded the empty bus to see what it was like in there. I have to admit it was pretty nice..a small bar, a mirrored ceiling, red plush velvet seats in the back..I asked the driver what exactly went on in there. He said ALMOST everything..Hmmm...Obviously there are drugs being done in there, probably some forms of SEX-O, and maybe some midget tossing and cat juggling. Then the guy got mad when I snapped his picture and kicked us all off saying he had to clean the bus. Well, the seats did seem kind of sticky...(Yeah-I'm fucking gross!)

Again.

I'm suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of deja-vu. Haven't I been here before?

I may be just incapable of really being with someone. I have instant crushes and seasonal intensity, but they never last. I get hurt everytime, but I plunge myself into the exact same situation again and again, and now I can't help wondering whether I cared at all. The whole temporary thing? I always say it's unfortunate and unfair, but perhaps there's the twisted attraction. It's disturbing to look at it from that way, isn't it?

Of course, because I just can't handle the day-to-day-relationship.

I had long distance before, and I convinced myself I wouldn't want to be in that situation again, because it's hard enough without the separation as it is. A few months later, I went to the States and I met someone whom I really liked. Then, I had to come back home and could only keep in touch with this person through skype calls, text messages and internet chats. After that, during a night out around three months ago, I got to know someone who reminded me so much of this guy from the States; same taste of movies and jokes, geekiness and just the ability to completely engage me in conversations. We became really good friends and it's the closest I've been to anyone on daily basis without the drama of going back and fourth, once-a-month-trip just to be able to see each other, or anything of that sort. It has been completely normal, comforting and fun. He is here, but only until next month. I mean, realize the irony in all this?

Somehow this happens again. Is it just a purely mean but random coincidence? I'm starting to think that I am the problem.

"Oh, you live here? Boring. You're here temporarily? Okay, I like you." You've got to be nuts.

Anyway, I'm not even complaining about this or dwelling about what has happened. It never actually bothered me before, I don't really think of it that way. I guess, what I'm feeling is that it sucks badly that I have to lose another good friend, that yet another person has to go away. We'll still be friends, I mean, of course we are. But that's as far as it's ever going to get, because there's not even a chance for it to be anything else, you know? Not saying that I want to, but just like, theoratically speaking.

We're bummed out, but there's nothing we can do about it. Maybe I am that strange or maybe it's just a random thing, either way it still sucks. I feel like I'm back to the same spot as I was last year. In the airport everytime I had to say goodbye to the ex, in that room in San Fran when the States guy left. I'm sort of having these similar emotions.

And I don't like it at all.

New things this week

1. I started twittering. Well, I've actually joined Twitter eons ago, but never really updated it since. In fact, my first entry there was in July last year when I wrote, "talking to my wonderful boyfriend, convincing him that Jason Mraz is cooler than ice cubes." Whoa, memorable enough? Anyway, if you do have twitter, please add me up, I wanna follow you! User's name is xteena21. I have to warn you though, that..[see next point.]

2. My life is not exactly exciting at the moment. (Yes, this deserves an entire number in itself. I can't even elaborate. Sad!)

3. I promise, though, that I won't just be writing 'I'm washing my hair', 'I'm having chicken rice for dinner', 'I'm peeing, be back in five' or anything of that sort in Twitter.

4. I made appointment for hair coloring today, and I was informed that the next available slot is on May 4th! What the, son of a biscuit! Who knew hair coloring is such a high demand? It's like, lining up for boob-job or something. At least with that I wouldn't be surprised.

5. One of my dearest friend is leaving Singapore for good, well, it's time for him to head back and make his country proud. How patriotic. That sucks though, because that means losing another good friend. I hate goodbyes.

6. I've watched excessive House lately, the whole first season in two days!

7. I wrote a long post on my thoughts on American Idol, because I love this season, but ended up deleting it 'cos it was too dorky, and nobody would even care about my love for Danny Gokey simply because of his uber cute glasses.

8.

When we met up in town. Hong's got a new haircut and it's funny 'cos we had the whole yellow-black thing going on accidentally enough.

9.

Blowing off some steam at Atticca and Zouk. It was such a fun night, we met other bunch of friends and danced our socks off.

10. I'm in love with the new apartment! I make excuse to go there eventhough there's nothing in it yet! Can't wait to see once it's furnished.

And then there's the great dinner at Dempsey, drinks at Emerald Hill, and buffet lunch at RajahInn. Man, no wonder I gained so much weight. Ah yes, I should put the gaining-weight thing in one of the point, but it's making me embarrassed.

Ah, and there you go, pukes of updates.

Keeping the faith

I was listening to Carrie Underwood's "So Small" the other day and the chorus goes something like this.

'Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
And what you've been out there searching for forever
Is in your hands
And when you figure out
Love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
Seem so small

I couldn't help but noticing the truth in the lyrics. It's not about love, per se, but everything else in general.

I didn't say I have led such a hard life, because I haven't; I've got loads to be very grateful about. At the same time, to say that my life is just filled with butterflies and rainbows isn't exactly accurate either. I learned some things the hard ways too.

When my mom was sick, I couldn't see anything past it. I thought we've reached rock bottom. It was unthinkable, too surreal, something we never thought possible.

But, life goes on and even though it has been hard, we've pulled through. And what? It's easy from then on? Not at all. Thinking we've been through the worst doesn't mean it's true, because things evolve, circumstances change. But I'd like to think that perhaps I've gotten a bit stronger and wiser since, maybe I've learned not to sweat the small stuffs, because I know now what's important and what's not.

Life may not get easier, but there is such thing as perspectives.

Some things are just too important. Like, education and career. I do take it seriously, and I intend to keep trying to get a job although it's really hard at the moment. Family is another thing; I realized how incredibly lucky I am to have such strong bond and relationships with my dad and sisters. I do butthead with my sister a lot, and she may irritate me with her protectiveness at times, but you know what, those are insignificant, because she's the only one who has supported, motivated, and got my back all these years.

And here's another revolution. Some other things are just not worth fussing about. Like, people who are never there for you, who obviously don't care anymore. I was okay doing the 'giving' role everytime, I was okay being the only person who takes initiative, who still shows care and respect. But it's a waste of time and energy when they never make any efforts. Why bother? It's not worth it, there are other things to worry about, believe me. Sometimes you just know when to let go.

I mean, no need to get hard feelings. Afterall, things change, just look at it that way.

Anyway, when you think about it, people are a lot stronger than they give themselves credit for. We will never know our capabilities 'til we are stretched to our limits. Even then, what's our 'limit'? In the end, things are never as hard as they seem.

I know I'm struggling right now, and it's the only thing I'm focusing on. I do have faith though, that things will work out eventually. And when they do, I'm sure they wouldn't look so scary anymore. The trick is just to get through it. Then you can go ahead and face the next challenge. Ha!

If a country song could trigger this much thoughts, I wonder what happens if I listen to Oprah everyday.

Typical Tompkins Day

It was like a billion degrees outside this weekend which means that Tompkins Square park was a freakshow of fun..I love that park in the spring and summer-it never fails to entertain. This saturday was more fun than throwing a hotdog down a hallway! Wait-that's really kind of dirty and makes no sense but i'll leave it up anyway..First I met this really scary clown. He was holding a doll with its head bashed in and fake brains and puke were dripping all over him..I thought he had a good vibe so I took his photo and chatted him up. Then there was a tie-dyed ferret which matched my retarded Michael Jackson shirt so I got some pics with it..And of course it was fun running into almost every single person I know in the city..John took some photos of Jes and I looking swell and stuff..

I know the next few days will be crappy weather but that's okay..I have to practice and record if this damn CD is ever going to get done..Plus the weekend will be hot again. John and I will busk in Union Square..Now that park is a whole other level of freakshow. I find the people who stand there and give out FREE HUGS the most disturbing of all...Why do they want to hug everyone? Do they have lice they are trying to get rid of? Are they really just trying to grope people's buttocks? Are they stealing wallets? Usually I just tell them I have a rare but deadly VULVA disease which can be passed on through hugging. They just grin good-naturedly when I say this which makes me want to punch them all the more.