selam superstar...

out of touch...

i went out in the district tonight and recognized approximately 1% of the people i saw. to say that i am displeased by this observation would be a vast understatement.

soho(t).

i've discovered that i love soho. and a few choice, ever-so-slightly posh soho bars.

had my first day o' work yesterday and it went pretty well, considering i have very limited knowledge of the field in which i'm currently employed. my coworkers are pretty ace. my boss is cool. my long lost london pal, alex is unexpectedly in town, so he stopped by for a quick second to say hello. spent the day at work slowly learning about glass mosaic tile and enduring sporadic quizzes by my superiors.

after work, the boss and i went for a drink/dinner at this lovely, yet overly warm bar on the edge of little italy. fun bartender/actor named hugh who has a math degree. had kind of a lot to drink, but what can you do? had a delicious steak sandwich that actually entered my dreams last night. it was that good.

boss and i parted ways and as i began my trek toward the subway, i became suddenly distracted by a very skinnie boy in a teeny tiny suit. ended up talking music for a couple hours over a very limey gin/tonic blend. awesome.

came home and was unbelievably chatty to anybody who'd listen. thanks to my ever-patient roomie and the spencerator for enduring my late-night chatitude.

tonight was a lot more low-key, just went for a beer and some euro-nostalgia with my lovely english pal from springtimes past, alex. he chopped all his hair off since i last saw him. and bagged himself a presumably foxy soul-singin ladyfriend who's on the up and up, signed to universal. reminisced a little, made fun of one another and enjoyed the novelty of the other's slang. overrall, 'twas a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

cheerio.

everything's comin up lauriebot!

the past few weekends have been amazing thanks to a handful of fortuitous occurrences...

a couple saturdays ago, i was lazing it up on the couch, but at the last minute decided to trek it up to UWS for my former coworker, shannon's housewarming. on my way to the far regions of the upper west side, i unexpectedly ran into foxy nightlife photog, nikola of gawker.com fame on the subway. giggles and accents.

finally made it to shannon's and her apartment is soo cute, painted cheery colors, huge bathroom, lots of excellent photos/art on the walls (most notably a cutiepie piccie of sir bob dylan from the late 60s.. god, he was such a fox). spent much of the evening schmoozing with benderites, delicious breadsticks and douchebags who are "into metal". saw a very old man with a black mock turtleneck, slate blue dinner jacket/suit accessorizing with a 14k gold chain round his neck. he reminded me of someone blanche might date on the golden girls. the festivities were interrupted by the most adorable text from someone rockin' so when i had exhausted my quota of fun at the party, i began making the long trip back to my hood. stopped off at the late-night hippie organic market (partially to get outta the cold and partially to purchase a snack) and then headed to union pool to meet up with some cool kids. dansing and gin and giggles and tom tom club.

longest late-night ride on the stupid L-train of my life. apparently, at 4:00am, the train lady decided that she would switch the L to express to broadway junction. ... wtf, mate?! that is so far away. finally crawled into bed round 5am and slept heavily and comfortably.

in more recent news...

interview city
i totally got the italian job!!! i start today, so of course, i'm utterly stoked. making good money, in an excellent neighborhood. the people i work with seem to be pretty cool and surprisingly un-uptight. super-hot working hours. oh man... i can't wait to work again!


high fives were in order
thanks to my supremely elevated mood, i went out to celebrate for about 60% of the weekend! first stop was thursday night, just a few short hours after being informed of my newly employed status. duck duck with sean and aaron and OMG, we had the best time! we were one of the first few people to take up residence at the metal encased bar (due to the earlieness of the hour) and made friends with dave, the cheeriest bartender i've ever met! he remembered my name, which was pretty flattering and we all became bff. shots and delicious top shelf booze and sporadic high fives. met a couple o' sound engineers who work for blue man group (!). they were friendly enough, but just a little too mocking of my overusage of the phrase, "to the max". came home round 1ish, warm and happy.


was surprisingly productive on saturday afternoon. finally mustered up the courage to brave the shopping districts ISO xmas presents for my loved ones. got super fun things for ma famille. discovered this vintage/antique store that has amazing cameras (some working, some just awesome-looking) that are completely afordable. i'm totally buying one/some. unexpectedly ran into tiya on my way to the robot store on bedford. one of my favorite things about living in a city is those few chance encounters when you run into people you know outside of the area where you usually see them. that's one of the things that makes dc fun also, the high probability of running into your friends on the street. talked robots for a while and then headed for some delicious thai at sea. i love spontaneous girldates.

saturday night was also completely boss. tiya and i decided to go out for a celebratory drink, girlie style. union pool is surprisingly reminiscent of black cat, black cat. rolled up round 11:30ish and were taken aback by the sheer number of couples but were sated in the fact that at least those couples were well-dressed. scored a booth with prime people-watching possibilities. exchanged funny faces with the bouncer/helper; reminded me of how steviepants and i met back during out fourth year o' uni. met a smiley, bearded (yes, another one) fellow. an old guy attempted to hit on tiya. a very pretty afro-ed girl in a twirly skirt and backless shirt attempted to get a danse party started. in the midst of our bartime giggles, a slightly familiar looking boy and his crew sat in the booth next to us. took me a few minutes and then i leaned over to tiya and exclaimed, i think i went to high school with that kid! turns out, i was right. 'twas none other than cool kid, paul paoletti who i thought was such a stud when i was a sophomore! one of the girls in his crew also went to my high school and she came over and was like "oh man! i heard you lived up here... what a small world!" so there was basically a little nostalgic reminiscing and all was well. after we all grew tired of playing catch up, i hung out with a very cool german kid who "takes the pictures" and spent a good hour and a half talking about photography and europe and haircuts.

headed home round 3ish, but decided to stop off at duck duck to say hi before i hit the hay. they'd had a private birthday party with a speakeasy theme earlier that night, so dave, his ladyfriend, and the birthday girl were all decked out in flapperware (replete with long strands o' pearls, heavy eye makeup, and finger-waves) and satin-backed vests with undone bowties. they are the friendliest bunch o' peeps i've met in new york during my short time living here! lots of high fives and giggles. a shot of something delicious. ran into the blue man guys again and their very stylish friend with baby bangs and a fashion sense best described as german architecht or gallery curator.

duck duck is by far my favorite drinking hole.

the shape of things...

it's incredibly windy outside. to the point where trash from the street has been caught in an updraft, thus relocating to our roof.

went on a bad job interview today for a job i have absolutely no interest in performing, despite the beauty of the office's hardwood floors (and the amazing sound of everyone's heels clicking along). i totally need a job.

my olive suede boots are amazingly comfortable and make me feel like a supermodel when i'm walking down the street.

cashiers at trader joe's like me a lot better than the cashiers at whole foods. there are also exponentially more trader joe's cashiers with beards than at whole foods. i believe that these two facts are interrelated.

yesterday, i awoke to a charming message from a long lost boy from my london past. consider me giddy.

i'm making chicken korma for dinner tonight. hopefully this korma sauce will be similar to the delicious kind that i became accustomed to in london. it's the same color, so that's a start.

was an artist model for this painter/photographer and actually had a lot o' fun.

my sore throat is completely gone. it wasn't nearly as bad as sore throats i've had in the past. this one hurt pretty intensely on tuesday and caused me to talk funny (all strangely nasally and stifled). then on wednesday it gave me that fun raspy voice that limits your vocal range, where an attempted squeal comes out more like a breathy whisper.

debating about whether or not to go home early for thanksgiving.
pluses:
get to see katie and co.'s fashion show at r-n-r hotel
chill with some dc people that i've been missing
spend some much needed time with my mom

minuses:
operation nyc jobsearch would be put on hold for a few days
i'd miss one housewarming and two potential partays with a gorgeous lady

family time: suburbia edition

last saturday, i spent my last full weekend day in dc with my amazing little sis. it was clear, sunny and unseasonably pleasant, so ari suggested that we go for a walk round the neighborhood. i fully supported this notion since i had long depleted the money that had been put aside to entertain us during my stay. grabbed the camera and headed out into sun...

reminisce...

a digital conversation i had a little earlier today got me thinking about firsts. excerpts from my email...

my first tape

dookie by green day

i was enthralled by the video for basketcase. the colors! the angst! billie joe's plaintive, seeking, green eyes! the creepy Brazil-esque baby masks! it was all too much for my 10 year old heart to behold. so i saved up 7 bucks or so, and walked down to the cd and tape emporium in old town after dinner on a balmy weeknight in september. rushed home, ripped off the cellophane and thus my secret love affair with pop-punk was born.

my first cd

the blue weezer album

much like ben, i was also late in the game when it came to purchasing cds. i was 12; it was early summer. again, the video struck me first. that buddy holly video was tremendous - i only had a vague inkling of who the fonz was, but i liked the cut of his jib. so i got my mom to drop me off at springfield mall, where i met up with my semi-slacker, private school friends. we scuffed our heels over to kemp mill music, i signed up for a frequent buyer program, and purchased my very first cd. ripped off the cellophane outside of the store so i could check out the liner notes and enjoy the glossy picture of the patron saints of nerdcore without the harsh glare of the mall's overhead lighting bouncing off the plastic case. got home later that night, put on headphones and felt that rivers was singing directly to me. only in dreams gave me goosebumps.

my first memory

it's a tie between two.. in my head, these two semi-events occurred on the same day, but they really could have been any day.

1. it was in my parents' first house together as a married couple. it's actually within walking distance of their current house (and i've walked by on many occasions because i like the feeling it gives me). i was prolly not more than a year old. i occasionally slept in my parents' bed for the first year or so of my life. i remember waking up one morning. my mom had her arms around me and my face was semi-nuzzled in her neck. she smelled warm. i looked over into the slightly gauzy, half-light of my parents' bedroom and watched my dad tie his tie in the mirror. he smelled like old spice.

2. perhaps later in the day, i remember sitting in the sunken living room playing with toys on the beige carpet. rainbow brite was on tv. the doorbell rang and my mom walked through the living room from the kitchen. it was UPS. he gave my mom a big box and he left. she struggled to carry it back into the kitchen and i went back to playing.

childhood word games...

my dad used to say this ridiculously long, word/memory game thing to me. it was really fun because i like(d) to talk a lot and like(d) to hear my own voice. unfortunately neither of us can remember the thing in its entirety. this is what i've got:

one hen
two somethings
three squawking geese
four corpulent porpoises
five pairs of st. peter's tweezers
six brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of egypt
...
ten lyrical, spiritual, diabolical old men on roller skates with a marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth.

london-centric nostalgia...

there have been a number of coincidences lately that have left me with a longing for london.

1. the girl who got the coveted spot on tom vek's guestlist in philly was actually my roomie at a hostel in london for two weeks. jenny had the bunk above me and was very fashionable.

2. i took a few pictures at the tom vek show and in one of them he totally looked like my pal alden - a lovely, long-haired, ultimate frisbee playing, whole bottle of wine drinking, american fellow that i met in london. a few days after taking said picture, i got an email out of the blue from alden. he's living in philly right now. we used to write each other 5 page emails everyday while we were at our respective jobs. then we'd have chicken korma and an hour and a half of the simpsons. then, most of the time, he could be easily persuaded to come out and danse with me at metro. that kid was the coolest.

3. got some creepy (and unsoliticited) flattery from a british coworker that while disgusting in itself, totally reminded me of the loveliness of some of the other british boys i've met.

4. got back in touch with simon after a long period of simonlessness, which was mostly my fault because i've been a total drag. but now he's back and sending me delicious french music and regaling me tales of international travel.

all of these random occurrences led me to flip through my europe photo album, after which i realized that i've only shown these pictures to 3.7 people. so here are a few choice ones that will always bring a smile to my face:

the view from my front stoop

a carousel in leicester square and a very happy man

bills posted on brick lane

english graffiti

french graffiti

selected extrapolations...

living

yes, i have finally found a place to live and it's beautiful. in columbia heights, right where i want to be. couple blocks from the metro. the roomies are cool, the kitchen is gorgeous, there's a bunch of fireplaces and my room is adorable! i totally can't wait to move in. now i just need to get a rug (i've got my eye on a stylish Ikea one) and a new dresser because mine has seen better days. gotta pack up the books (yikes) and the shoes (double yikes). i've come to the conclusion that i have far too many clothes - i've already given two lawn bags of clothes to salvation army and i've still got too many to fit in my current dresser! oy!

drawing

i finally found the perfect aquamarine ink for that drawing i'm doing for julian - that took forever. i've been procrastinating on that second kiss drawing too, i think it's just because i haven't made any large drawings in a while - i've been in 11x14 territory for some time and it's gotten quite comfortable. i did make a 12x12 line drawing the other day on pink cardstock that i like. it's very sparse.

listening

coworker kelly made me a tegan and sara cd last week and i love, love, love it. i've been mildly obsessed with it for a few days now, singing along loudly and occasionally off-key in my car. for some reason i had always associated them with smooshy, sentimental, girlie songs, but they're only smooshy sometimes. most of the time they're pretty kickass.

drooling

tom vek was awesome. they played a short set. he had very skinnie jeans. the drummer was adorable, sweaty and shirtless - he had a fashion mullet secured at the nape of his neck with an edwardian bit of twine. the synth/guitarist guy had a skinny green scarf that looked deliciously akin to an ascot. tom was a bit smarmy because people weren't screaming and sweating (as they should have been), so i didn't blame him. some vice promoter touted the greatness of we are scientists and dfa 1979. he was cute and in a kelly green shirt. it was an excellent show and my slight pompadour blocked the band's view of the cute underage girls behind me.

cutting

that weird florence henderson flippy thing really made me mad. last night i took a shower and then announced, staring into the steamy bathroom mirror, that it was go time. took out the kitchen shears and showed my hair who's boss. smoothed it up with some borrowed man clippers and now i'm feeling fine. gonna fix the color this weekend because it's looking a little wishy washy and i like it to be BLACK!!! with no less than three exclamation points.

remembering

that elkland singer looks just like a fabulous boy i used to know. i stole his cupcake at a tuesday dance night at the roxy in london. then we danced a lot. i thought he was gay. he kissed a lot of boys. i really liked that kid.

yesterday i was reading an old IM conversation i had with simon a while back. there was a lot of hilarious fluff and then simon said something like "you're into poets, not fighters." i thought... how astute... i like the edgy shel silversteins and the straight oscar wildes.

i've got five t-shirt ideas, most of which i'll prolly just draw by hand rather than messing with the screenprinter. but i am gonna practice it this weekend because it's too pristine sitting in its original box at the foot of my bed.

this morning i grabbed a handful of cds that i haven't listened to in a long time. Air's Premiers Symptomes, Magnetic Fields' i, DFA 1979 and Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour. I felt like an international spy, skulking through gallery place in my tight coat with the upturned collar, listening to Les Professionnels. then i floated off to work along with the swelling strings and faint samba beats of ms. gilberto. it was the best, even though people were kind of laughing at me.

back in effect...

my throat is finally back to normal and i can eat once again after an excruciating few days during which my diet consisted mostly of lemon sorbet and hope.

with the exception of yesterday afternoon, i haven't seen anyone or done anything remotely social since tuesday. i believe it's time we correctify that situation. i did get a chance to chill in the sunshine with tiya for a bit. we spent that time making fun of people's outfits and coming up with racial halloween costumes. i suggested she don a black sheet and call herself a neghrost. she suggested i turn my collar up and be incognegro. being brown is the best.

during my four day, three night stay in my bed i watched season two of home movies and bring it on approximately 17 times each. it was glorious.

last night, christ compelled me to clean and declutter. i came across emails from 1995, when my family was the proud owner of a prodigy internet account and i was 13 years old. my email was kgua22b and my screenname was kerplunked (in honor of my favorite green day album). i also found my 8th grade diary (with the lock broken... hmm), a giant stack of notes from 8th and 9th grade, including one of the check yes, no or maybe variety, two high school telephone directories from 1997 and 1998, and my freshman dayplanner with a NIN sticker on the front and my crush's phone number written upside down in pink marker inside the back cover. he was an angry pseudo goth with long black hair, a purple birthmark over his left eye and a soft spot for flipping teachers off while enjoying the sweet tunes of stabbing westward.

now i'm back at work, still trying to find suitable ways of dealing with an overly demanding newcomer from overseas. he really boils my kool-aid sometimes, but thankfully i've got a sunny mini pumpkin sitting on my cpu and it brings a smile to my face every time i look at it.

my to-do list includes: finishing going through my voicemails and emails (the screen on my phone happily announced that i've had 43 new calls since Tuesday afternoon... awesome), deciding whether i want to get my hair cut again or buy a holga, dropping off this second batch of clothes at salvation army, checking up on nutcracker tix at the kennedy center, relaxing my stupid hair because it looks vaguely robert smith-esque again, going to the art store for aquamarine ink and a new bamboo brush, finishing that drawing for julian, sending that long-overdue package to drum-n-bass dave and finishing that damn roll of film in my SLR.

oh, and btw... i totally have a new cell phone number, so if you want it, ask and you shall receive.