AK All Day Face: New York, New York

New York, New York (photo: Andoo!)

I had visions, yes I did. AK All Day Face in front of the Empire State Building! AK All Day Face overlooking Central Park! AK All Day Face at Shea Stadium! AK All Day Face saluting the Statue of Liberty!

Yeah, you get the point. I had visions. Of the AK All Day Face all across New York. Instead I submit to you this: AK All Day Face on the subway. And on a direct collision course with muchos alcohol and sausages at the Astoria Beer Garden, followed by my depositing of said alcohol and sausages on the subway platform at the 57th Street stop the next morning.

New York, New York, baby...

The vitals
Title: New York, New York
Subject: AK
Face: The maggotation
Location: New York, NY

Bleh

Yeah, that's about how I feel: bleh.

I had these visions of grandeur for the blog while I was in the US, that I'd write many updates of a paragraph or two every day or so. Almost like a running diary. And then, well, stuff happened. A lot of stuff. Not that that's a bad thing, so I'm not exactly overwhelmed with regret. Yet my last entry on this thing was on my first day in the US. And now I'm back in Sydney, over three weeks later. Bit of a gap there.

It's strange, as the trip came to an end, I found myself really not looking forward to coming back. I mean, it was the end of my vacation! And unless you're in Vegas, Amsterdam or Trona, CA, you can never have too much of a vacation. But then I thought, I'm going back to freaking Sydney! How is that a bad thing? But as someone astutely pointed out, Sydney for me is not the Sydney for most Americans; for me, it no longer holds the mystique of some sort of exotic locale. Now it's just home, and that's never very exciting.

Anyway. Back to the trip. It was great. Or pick your own favorite synonym. That's what it was. Some highlights, with potentially more detail to follow in later posts:

LA, Part I - Spent an impossibly long day on August 1 (41 hours with the time change) helping Vern shop for a dress. Then her pseudo 30th birthday on Saturday. Gian Paolo said my name about 18 times.

New York - Started off with a miserable day of travel. (Yeah, definitely a separate post on this.) Much, much good food. Many good nights. A ridiculous Thursday that included a Mets game, pitch and putt, and the Astoria beer garden, with far too many beers at each stop. Paid for this consumption on Friday morning. Great night on Saturday. (Yeah, there will also be another post on this.) And a great night of wine tasting and feasting with the one, the only, Bubbles.

Martha's Vineyard - A week that should have been full of relaxing turned into many nights of alcohol. (Again, not that I'm overwhelmed with regret.) Highlighted by Friday night, when the 20 somethings got into a raucous game of flip cup... with my 70 year old uncle. Sailing the sunfish. Eating lobster and clams. Getting some relaxing in on the beach. And the biggest birthday cake you've ever seen.

LA, Part II - A quintessentially American dinner of hot dogs, coleslaw and baked beans. And a final day with Bay Cities and Father's Office. Oh ma gourd.

A 14-hour flight later, and I'm back in Sydney. At least physically. Mentally, my brain is nowhere to be found, for the jet lag is killing me. Killing me. Hence the "bleh". Just finished my second day of work and I'm not sure I could be more useless.

But despite all the "bleh", it still is good to be back. For I'm back to some normalcy and am in my new apartment, and I'm loving it.

For all those who I saw back in the States, it was great to see you. Wish I could have spent more time seeing and talking to everyone, but I guess that's the way it is. So whenever I'm back again, whether that's in April (maybe) or next August (at the latest), we'll just have to do it again.

The Kleingaroo has landed

It was a beast of a flight, my back was killing me the whole way and I hardly got any sleep, but I've made it to LA!

I've only been here for 9 hours so far, but I have to say it's already been absolutely fantastic. Great weather, and great to spend the day with Hannah and Vern, even if they essentially dragged me around to shop for a dress for Vern's 30th birthday party tomorrow night. I guess that's just the price of admission for the party, which oddly has a Ja-Mexican theme. Yeah, that's right -- part Jamaican, part Mexican. I don't know.

I'm currently on what's probably my eighth wind of the day, and that's sure to fade in an hour or so. Gonna be fantastic to get some quality sleep.

Pumped for this weekend, pumped for next week in New York, pumped for the following week on Martha's Vineyard. Yeah, it's fair to say I'm pumped.

July is the new July

Well how cute is that! No, July is not the new September or November or May, just like pink isn't the new white or something like that. I mean, right? This copy is in white. This copy is in pink. How are these colors the same???? Despite whatever Vogue or Cosmo try to tell you, they're not. So by the same deduction, it would stand to reason that July is simply... July.

What prompted this startling revelation, you ask? I just realized that today is the one year anniversary of my departure from New York. So just over a year later, next Tuesday, I'll be making my triumphant return. For all y'all in the NYC, you get ready now, y'hear?

Throwin' Stream of Consciousness Kleinballs

I've been really into the stream of consciousness writing these days. And since I don't have much else to write about, I just sat down and wrote about whatever poppped into my head. Besides typos, haven't edited any of this.

My house is still good. I think I like the people. I think. Most of them are good. The Turkish guy's a little strange. He laughs like a hyena. And he describes all food as "very nice", but it sounds more like "veiwy nice." Kinda like Bugs Bunny. Not that this is what makes me dislike him. And I guess I don't necessarily dislike him. He's just strange. Which, I said above. Let's leave it at that.

It probably doesn't need to be said, but Lynyrd Skynyrd spells their name very strangely.

I think I've seen about 30 cumulative minutes of the NFL this year. I have absolutely no idea what's going on. And I think I'm okay with this.

Everyone wants to know about how my work is going. And I really don't know what to say. I mean, after that first few weeks, I found that it was really quite similar to working anywhere else. Except I have to dial "0" before a number except "9". That's probably been the biggest barrier to my domination of the Sydney market and ultimate ascension to becoming the Spam King of Sydney.

I miss New York. I miss being within five minutes of dozens of restaurants and bars. I miss stores being open past 6 and banks open on Saturdays. But I love living by the beach. I love walking along the water. And the smells of the ocean.

If I had to rank the continents, I think it would go: Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Australia, Africa and Antarctica. That's 100% subjective and not based on any criteria. Although I'm not sure how Antarctica could ever been anything but last.

Christmas cards are interesting.

I'm already fearing the winter here. Yes, I know that's insane. For several reasons. But it's true.

Welcome to Andy Blog 2.0

You can do anything at Andy Blog 2.0. The only limit is yourself. Yyyeeessss...

What's up party people! It's been well over a year, but in the words of Michael Jordan, I'm back. Dust off the keyboard, boot up that old Mac Classic, log on to World Wide Interweb and get yourself a glass of tang, because it's Andy's second go at a blog. Andy Blog 2.0. (Maybe Andy Blog 1.1? Or Andy Blog 1.0001? How exactly does that work? I'm just gonna make it easy and say it's Andy Blog 2.0.)

For those keeping track at home, Andy Blog 1.0 was Son of Yhency. It started off as my ruminations on life and all my wacky observations, but ultimately, it took on a life of its own as I tracked the every move of the Los Angeles Dodgers' Yhency Brazoban. I know, I know: boring. But no more! For as much as Yhency tempts me, I'm moving on, in every conceivable way. Emotionally, spiritually, physically, you name it.

The interim title for Andy Blog 2.0 is AK All Day. Why? Well, it rhymes, it contains my initials, I like it, it works, and some people have taken to jubilantly exclaiming it in my presence. Plus, this name doesn't limit which topics I can discuss, as Son of Yhency did. So we have an interim title. Unless something better strikes me (or you have any suggestions), I think it may quickly become the official title. Because hell, the URL for this blog is already http://akallday.blogspot.com/. If I changed the title, I'd have to change the URL as well, right? Right.

Anyway. To the purpose of this blog. As anyone visiting this undoubtedly already knows, I have left New York after living there for four years. And now, I will be moving to Sydney in a few weeks to find a place to sleep and a place to pay me. Preferably in this order. Although in quick succession. And for all of those who care enough to see what I'm up to or find out about all my crazy adventures, I figure that instead of sending emails every once in a while, it's easier for me to post updates and let you check at your own leisure.

I'll touch on the details of the move in future posts, but for now, I'd just like to say hello. The next few weeks, months and years should be interesting, so y'all come on back now, y'hear?