Contrary to what I have written here, my apartment and roommates do not equal a frathouse. And there isn’t rampant drugs and sex taking place inside these old walls. Btu we did have our first house meeting Saturday where we learned from our more seasoned tenant how the management works and how we should go about signing the new lease. And we decided that most of us would sign a new one once the repairs were made. Plus it was good to actually talk each other instead of in passing. Because I have felt weird living with people I don’t get to really interact with and it was cool for all four of us to sit down and laid down some house rules and what we needed to purchase ourselves.

My Giving Thanks Day was spent at my uncles home in East Flatbush and almost all the NYC Louissaint contingent showed up and I rolled up there with Kris, whom everyone seemed to like. Then we ended up at Mark’s crib for some random TV watching. But at that point I couldn’t eat any more food. Pictures are coming.

Also on Saturday, I didn’t take a shower and had planned on doing the same on Sunday, but relented. Aside from work and the meeting that day, I was texted by my boy on my new T-mobile phone (which of course has a new model with Bluetooth)and met up with him and our friend, who was here from Hanover for Thanksgiving break. And we got into an interesting discussion on relationships. Needless to say we are all in this transition where our relationships have suffered in varying degrees because of our conflicting schedules (PHD thesis, working on a book and teaching, and me: working and school) and quite possible because at least for me we might not always have those women in the highest of priorities sometimes.

Sadly I didn’t get much schoolwork done this weekend

u know u might have a bad day

when on ur way back to ur house in the morning to get something u forgot, u trip and slide on the pavement while a person who walked by u glances back and keeps walking. and then u get in ur apartment and notice ur flip cell phone is open and when u go to close it the top half is hang off and is only still attached because of the case.

thankfully, my contract with Cingular ends thanksgiving

rest

Mary's house party


Kenji pulls the bottle and here comes the cake

i'm lying here on my childhood bed at my parents' home. i needed to this sort of mini vacation. i came here sunday after work. i hit up two parties including my man kenji's 30th. Please check for his latest book coming out in January.
and of coursed i worked at the salon.

but i was really looking forward to just being "home"
aside from the main floor being rearranged and renovated all is the same. my mom gets really teary now when she sees me even if it's been two weeks since she seen me. i guess to me a borough isn't that far away to me.

The real world isn't so fun when u don't have time ot take pictures and really write
and yes some my rommates rub me the wrong way. i don't like being treated like a stranger by people i share a space with. yes we have our lives and friends. but when u sort blantantly give off a vibe of like "i'm here with my peoples, why are you here Rich" then i'm like what the hell. i just think one my roommate is transparent even though they are polite with me. or myabe they don't see that they are rude in their actions.

i dunno i'd sort of liek to live with peole i cna actually ocnverse with if we around at the same time. it makes dealing with apartment issues much easier.

When Halloween costumes go wrong

i'm sure he thought this was such a cool idea. reminds of that black face college scandal from a few years back.

the real world my world

Me and Jess at Village Yokocho, real Japanese food

there are days now where I wonder if I’ll be able to hack. Where I wonder if I’ll still have the jobs to pay the rent and my living expenses. Where I wonder if I’ll eventually be living by myself. Where I wonder if choosing this apartment with four roommates was a good idea. Where I wonder if I will still need a second job at a salon to pay the bills by the time I am done with school. And I do I recall how hard certain friends said it would be and that I shouldn’t do it, even though they never did the being on their own deal. and then I recall my other friends' experience starting out on their own and how they can laugh about it now-- rats, living over a Chinese restaurant, and fucked up roommates. and they kept on. it gets better they tell me. but right now I do worry, especially having to keep tabs on multiple roommates which I know I don't want to go through again when I move again in early spring or late winter. Finding dishes sitting in a sink, and not really having guests over not sure when a roommates people will be there. Btu all In all I don’t like living with strangers and not being able to really interact with people I live with comfortably. If I need to live with a stranger let it be just one after this.

growing pains. but I know if I make it through this. I’ll be ever closer to being "grown". I just don’t like not having certain variables in check. As long as they are getting my rent checks. If I takeover this lease, i don’t want any laxness on the part of these other roommates. But I don’t want to be stuck with the lease. The lease I sign will be for an apartment that feels more like my own.

So I bought this grip for my medium format Mamiya so now I can shoot on auto and leave that crank at home.

For those who don't look at my photoblog here are two shots of my building taken with my 20D:


the front

my window

I know that I want less roommates when I move again in the Spring. It's just so weird living with people u really don't know. I can understand why my friend's who live by themselves love it. But I do love my location though. There are days where I just want some quiet and just be alone and not walk into a sink full of dishes that are not mine. My roommates are pretty aiight but the building management is shitty, trying to sucker me into taking over the lease. lol. But they sure have cashed my rent checks.