NYC Diet

Salt is not a staple food. Nevertheless after going through my fridge and realizing I had absolutely nothing to eat, not even a single stray egg, I went out and bought salt. Because I was out. Then I told my boyfriend this. He knows me well enough to realize that salt is indeed a solid foundation to a meal.

I ended up figuring out some food to make. I actually did have some pasta lying around and a small piece of cheese from the back of my empty fridge became the not really adequate sauce. I am now making bread because as I've mentioned before all it takes is flour, yeast and water. And I did have those. If I was feeling more motivated I would have just dragged myself over to Whole Foods but I did not feel that motivated. Going to the corner store to get salt in fact used up my entire store of get out of the house energy.

I will need to go to the grocery store tomorrow unless I want to start sharing cat food with Guinness and Shale. And frankly they do not get the super fancy expensive cat food, so really really not appealing (it is perfectly adequate cat food and they get treats sometimes so no reason to get mad on their behalf). But for tonight at least I as able to actually scrap together a perfectly decent if not very colorful meal.

Edited to add : I just noticed the ad on the right is actually food oriented at the moment. Does that mean that whatever random program decides these things thinks I'm a food blog? I'm kind of a food blog right?

Apartment Hunting

I've been looking for a place for a while, since my current neighborhood is not wonderful and in fact features nightly screaming matches between a rotating cast of men and women outside my window (free entertainment?). However, as everyone knows it is freaking expensive to find a place in NYC. Forget Manhattan, even the boroughs are expensive. I have heard that if I get a couple Chinese language newspapers they might have some cheaper apartment options in them. This would be a better tip if I spoke Chinese, but hey, I can work around that. So hopefully I will soon find a little place for myself and the kitties somewhere safe and cheap. I am accepting advice from anyone who has apartment hunting tips for someone on a kind of ridiculous budget.

Vegetable Curry

I'm really proud of myself for attempting a completely new recipe for vegetable curry I found online. And it is good. Really spicy juicy tasty good. And since I made enough to feed an entire army, it's a good thing that I like it.


Above is an artistic depiction of myself about halfway through the recipe, when I was looking at my pot and then looking at the huge mountain of eggplant I had to try to cram into it. Notice how my shoes and shirt oh so tastefully match. That rarely happens in real life, but I allowed myself some artistic license.

Usually I only try new recipes if a friend makes something I enjoy and I force them to show me how they did it, so I'm pleased with myself for the curry initiative. I cook mainly Italian food, with a few other dishes I've picked up along the way thrown in, so this is outside of my comfort zone cooking wise. I was looking for something healthy but that still felt like a full meal, and this is definitely making its way onto my recipe list (the one that exists only in my head).

You can follow the link above to the recipe. I modified it a bit, replacing the cauliflower with zuchinni and using flour instead of cornstarch. I also used some random fresh spicy green pepper instead of the spicy green chili, because I couldn't find the chili in my supermarket. It makes a ton of curry. The eggplant (I used an entire one, not sure if that's more than the recipe calls for) barely fit in the big soup pan I cooked all this in.It was really easy to make though. I pre-chopped everything and just dumped stuff in the pan in the appropriate order and let it simmer. I added extra spices at the end because I do like it pretty spicy. After just a day and a half it's almost gone and it saved me the effort of cooking for a few meals, so great.

Health Care Addendum

I just read an article on MSN about medical tourism and it is just embarrassing that someone who needs, for example, a heart valve transplant can get it for almost 20 times less somewhere else. Yeah, we're a first world country and there is some peace of mind that comes with that but $160,000 vs $9,000? Where the hell is all that money going? It's absolutely shameful and is a big reason why we need a total health care overhaul in this country. I've wrote a post not too long ago about my stance on public healthcare and this article just reinforces that opinion.

Job advice for grads

I wanted to put together some of my thoughts on how to get started in the tv and film industry, since it is not easy. I obviously am still figuring it out, but nevertheless here are my hard earned nuggets of advice.

Walking across the stage

It may seem obvious but an internship is absolutely critical. As many internships as you can fit in before you graduate or even after if you can afford it, the better. Keep in touch with people you work with - almost all the jobs I've ever gotten have been through someone I've already worked with mentioning my name. This is particularly hard for me as I am actually kind of shy and calling a boss or collegue out of nowhere to catch up is really hard for me. This is probably my personal biggest handicap - my advice for others is to get good at this.

Be confident in your abilities. No one knows everything but each person brings their own set of skills to the table and it is important to know what your skills are and be able to convey that to your employers. Take every opportunity to learn something new in your field and be flexible. Most people want to be in a certain niche - editor, producer, director, grip, camera, etc. but when you are starting out be willing to do ANYTHING. You will not just fall into exactly what you want to do and be able to make a living off of it right away.

Be prepared to be unemployed. I mean that both financially and emotionally. The nature of the industry is that you are hired on a project to project basis. That means when one project ends you are on your own to find the next one. The better your networking skills and the higher people think of you the easier it will be to find your next project but inevitably at the beginning there will be gaps. This is what ends up driving a lot of people into other industries. Being broke and unemployed is no fun. It starts wearing on your confidence if you let it. I strongly believe the longer you stick with this career the bigger a network you will eventually have and those employment gaps will get shorter but even professionals who have been in the industry for many years still have gaps.

Be professional and don't burn any bridges. You may not like all your collegues and you might think some jobs are too low paying/low skilled but you never know where your next recommendation is going to come from. Be nice and professional with everyone.

Lastly, my favorite job hunting sites are Mandy.com and Craigslist.org. This is because they are free. I am going to try to expand my job hunting horizons a bit and try some new sites that have been recommended (media bistro being a recent one) but they are my go-to sites. I have gotten a couple jobs off of them, which is actually pretty good since almost all jobs in this industry are word of mouth.

Hopefully this helps some recent/soon to be grads in entertainment. If anyone further along has advice for me please let me know. I am still learning and getting my feet under me as well.

One (or 5) a day keeps the doctor away

Picture thanks to freefoto.com


I, as previously stated, love coffee. And I now have further proof that it is actually great for you and everyone should basically mainline it. Not only can it apparently repair alcohol induced liver damage, but now it is said to reduce the risk, or symptoms, of Alzheimer's. We are obviously on the cusp of discovering it also cures cancer and can induce world peace. In the meantime I can gloat that I am actually being proactive and healthy when drinking it. And I love nothing better than a good gloat.

Love

My boyfriend is wonderful. I just had a full on quarter life self esteem crisis, high pitched shrill speed talking included. This is mostly relating to the fact I thought I would be rich and famous and artistically respected (well, maybe not quite all that but you know) by now, and he talked me down from the ledge, figuratively speaking. He first tried to fix the problem, which did not work AT ALL, but then he wised up and just said soothing nice things towards me and that worked much better and now I feel ok. So yay for nice boyfriends. Love you honey!