Just another day...

Some days nothing out of the ordinary happens...other days you have a totally random only-in-NYC-and-at-Likeable kinda day. Today was one of those.

The day included:

...My buzz builders (what we call our interns) making a remix of the Fresh Prince of Belaire rap and making me sport a fluorescent NKOTB hat while they filmed me

...People randomly laying face down in different odd spots around our office - or what I later learned was "planking" -Never heard of it? Neither did I! Read about it here - You're welcome :)

...A good old-fashioned hot dog eating contest with an added Likeable twist - contestants had to wear our now -famous orange foam thumb while competing

...A late lunch break at Bryant Park where I got all weepy missing my boyfriend and remembering when he used to meet me there for lunch breaks back in the day

...An awesome run along the Hudson river followed by a frozen yogurt delight on a park bench

All in a pretty solid day dontcha think? Oh - and happy #socialmedia day to those who celebrate...(I say that because I'm often reminded by my non-SM friends that they don't know what I'm talking about half the time.) Just today, I got questioned when I wrote on a friend's Facebook wall "FTW." Jen/Erin if you're reading this, it means "For The Win!

Sunday night somethings...

The big 3-0 is getting closer and my mind is racing! So many things to start doing and stop doing and focus on and not worry about and places to see and people to meet - oh my!

Some random summer focuses...

1) Run, run, run - and get new running shoes from The Super Runners Shop where they let you run around for them and then they tell you the best shoes for your stride - however awkward and "Phoebe-like" it may be (Friends reference number 4,864...)

2) Take advantage of the coveted rooftop deck of my apartment building - anyone want to join me for sunset cocktails? (weather permitting!)

3) Beef up my international travel fund (so I can stop spending so much time loitering in the Travel section of Barnes and Noble living vicariously through Frommers and Lonely Planet...)

4) Decide where I should live for the rest of my life (or at least for the "early thirties - no kids" chapter of my life...)

Oh, and in honor of the Tony Awards that I am watching LIVE while writing this (from the Beacon Theatre a few blocks away) I'll add "see more Broadway Shows!" to this list too... :)

Life: The unedited version...

Why haven't I written for literally months? Why do perfectly blog-worthy experiences come and go without a word typed? What's my excuse? What's my deal?

Well a) I'm busy b) I have been deferring to my "private" blog AKA my little notebook of thoughts that I use to express the things I don't quite feel comfortable dumping here c) busy again d) lazy (yeah...it's true)

I'm back with a vengeance though and probably a very lengthy ramble of thoughts, observations and general rant to the blogosphere...

How come some days I feel really proud of my life accomplishments and where I am (location-wise and "metaphorically") and other days I find myself lying awake in a panic thinking I've gotten it all wrong. Like wrong career, wrong city, wrong everything! How come I am constantly in a love/hate/really hate/really love relationship with this gosh darned city!

Exhibit A: Today at approximately 6:44 pm I was nearly killed. No really, I escaped death by a really narrow margin and somehow brushed it off until writing this post. I was crossing 34th street at Herald square, AKA, the busiest intersection in NYC, if not the world, in the pouring rain with a giant umbrella, a mob of other people with their giant umbrellas AND a giant bus obstructing my view of the crosswalk light when I stupidly followed the crowd in front of me and began to cross. ALL OF THE SUDDEN I was literally thisclose to be mowed down by not one, but TWO cross-town buses only to make it past those and literally have to stop a car WITH MY HAND illegally turning INTO ME! Sorry for all the ridiculous punctuation but for real! So anyway, I lived to tell the tale AND I made the M-16 bus as a result of my ridiculous "misjudgment" of the traffic. (Mom, I know if you're reading this you are probably freaking out by my carelessness but don't worry - lesson learned!) Once I got on the bus BTW, it was SO packed with angry, wet, crazy, oversized-umbrella-yielding New Yorkers that I just had to laugh. Why are NY'ers SO uptight?? And why am I becoming uptight after 25 plus years of being the most carefree person ever. Yikes!

Exhibit B: Spent this past weekend in Newport, RI, my "happy place" and was quickly telaported back to a time when life was easy all the time. It's weird because when I lived there I WAS happy but I was also searching for something else, something more, something I was SURE was in NYC...now, I'm not so sure...

Exhibit C: After getting my tooth-pulled a few days ago I was craving one thing and one thing only - A Wendy's Frosty! After a long day at work, I decided to reward myself with a quick late-afternoon trip to Wendy's (the one across from the Empire State Building and riddled with tourists, homeless people and other assorted characters...). Well, there I am waiting patiently on line A when the register in front of me opens up and I place my order of "One Medium FROS--"YO MISS, WHAT THE {EXPLETIVE DELETED}! I'M NEXT!" I am then pushed aside and crazy man from Line B starts rattling off his long and random order to the shocked clerk with the facial piercings. The best part was how I looked back at the line for moral support and no one even looked at me. Long story short, I held back my tears, got my frosty and got the heck out of there!

OK, I realize my three exhibits didn't exactly exhibit much other than my randomness and slight craziness but my point was that living in NYC on a day-to-day basis can be amazing, inspiring, career-changing, etc. but it can also be scary, overwhelming and stifling. So I ask myself, do I want the ocean, the no-worries, the simple life or do I want the lights, the sirens, the ladder climbing, the "dream?" It really depends which day you ask me!

Email address frenzy!

Since I first entered the "internetz" circa 1999 I've had 4 different personal email addresses (NOT counting various work email addresses).

First, it was AOL, then my college URI.edu address, then Hotmail because AOL was "a joke," THEN Yahoo because Hotmail was a joke...and NOW I feel Yahoo might be a joke and I should switch YET again to Gmail?! Where does it end folks? Will I forever be changing my email address every few years just to have the coolest, newest handle or is there really an advantage to me getting a Gmail account? I've completely phased out my AOL account (although as I noted in my earlier post, I totally DO still have my original AIM screen name), I basically keep my Hotmail account as my "sign up for stuff" account that I rarely check, although I definitely still get email there, and my Yahoo is currently my main, sent to my phone, email account.

To be honest, Yahoo works fine for my personal needs and rarely gives me any problems except for the occasional freeze or temporary glitch on my iPhone, but overall, it does the job. So, my question is this, should I really switch to Gmail just "because" or are there legitimate benefits to it? I need some concrete reasons why people! And is there an easy way to get the word out on my new address, any services that will forward from all my old accounts, etc.? Do social media types really judge someone by their email handle--I mean I've seriously heard people say (or occasionally seen people tweet) things like "he called himself a social media expert-and then gave me his Hotmail address, LOLZ" or something to that effect. So what's the deal folks, convince me, switch to Gmail to be "hip" or just stop the insanity and keep what I have for now?

Edits and Updates

Papa Zog pointed out a few grammatical errors to me in my previous post so rest assured they will fixed and I will be proofing more carefully from now on! Although i still stand by my belief that it's ok to be a little unedited in these things, I don't want any future client, colleague or otherwise thinking that I am not on point... so from now, I will do a once over before hitting "publish post"...happy dad? :)


As I'm sure the world has heard since my last post about the missing school teacher, she tragically was found dead, her husband facing murder charges. The story is chilling to me. I just can't see how a person is capable of murder, especially to someone they claimed to once love. It's scary that some people can snap without warning. From what I have read and heard both on the news, and first hand from people at her place of work, she was an amazing teacher and person. My thoughts are with her family...

Thoughts from the Dentist's Chair...

Been a while...I've been tired, cranky, crazy and busy, and although Ive had a rather eventful and "blogworthy" few weeks, I've realized that not everything should be posted online...To protect myself, my friends, my lovers, my enemies, my clients, and my coworkers, I promise to always "think before I blog" and not wreck anyone's lives (at least intentionally) by say, announcing their extra-marital affairs on my blog (just a random example--I swear!)

OK so anyway, today found me in a dentist's chair for the umpteenth time this year. After not having insurance for a few years, I was forced to go to the dentist when one of my teeth literally rotted out of my mouth a few months back. My dentist is a pretty nice guy, his receptionist is NOT. Yes, I have cancelled appointments, blatantly not shown up for others, and today, I arrived 27 minutes late (by her clock), but there's still no excuse for the death stares while I'm awaiting my torture. As I am writing this blog, my cheek feels like there is a flaming metal ball stuck inside it, or something else equally painful. Hopefully the percoset will kick in any minute now...

Here's my question of the day. When getting dental work done, do you keep your eyes open or closed? I know it's random, but I need to know! I usually keep mine open and watch TV or stare at the fake clouds on my doc's fluorescent lighted ceiling but today, shards of my decaying teeth literally sprayed me in the eye! I was forced to close them and it was almost relaxing, minus the drill sounds, taste of latex and throbbing pain. I am now committed to brushing my teeth 3-6 times a day, flossing diligently after dinner and gargling to the tune of happy birthday. Anything to keep me out of that chair after my remaining 6 cavities are filled!

In Your Dreams!

I've always been blessed or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with REALLY vivid, borderline psychic, dreams. Lately my dreams have been an intertwined jumble of clients, coworkers and my personal life (sorry to freak anyone out, but if I see you on a regular basis, chances are you're in my dreams...) Usually I don't pay much attention to them, I brush them off as a byproduct of my overstimulated brain. But every once in a while I get to thinking, "what is my subconscious trying to tell me?"

Last week, while telling a coworker about my latest dream involving my email account, coworkers, and a fried chicken restaurant, a conversation started about whether anyone else had these crazy dreams. The next day, like three people in my office came in to tell me about their crazy work-related dreams. Apparently, my wild imagination is contagious!

Without going into too much detail, last night's dream found me, among other things, surrounded by cherries. My roommates tell me I fell asleep during a movie and was snoring up a storm. While certain scenes of the movie did sneak into my dream, they assure me that there were no cherries involved. Before Asking Jeeves what the heck the cherries meant, I decided to come up with my own ideas. Could it be a sign that my upcoming trip to Vegas will have me seeing three cherries in a row? (That's like a jackpot or something right?) Will my company land a new account in the fruit distribution field?

While I realize that dreaming about people and places you see everyday is normal, I am a big believer that dreams are trying to tell you something.

I ran track most of my life, but why can't I ever run in my dreams?

Why do people suddenly change into someone else in the middle of your dream?

And, why do you always wake up seconds before a) the face of your future husband is revealed b) you're about to collect your lottery winnings c) god himself is whispering the meaning of life in your ear?

Hopefully subconscious Allie will guide conscious Allie down the path to fame, fortune and a rent controlled apartment with a sweet skyline view! Until then, sweet dreams :)