It's a New Day

Thursday, 9.4 00 8 

Another day all over the place. I'm calling my second album 'Walk'. There's a reason why. On the move and 'flying in' are words you often hear on the radio. Flying in! Fast. Motion. There's no time other than now to take your chance. Step. Don't just stand there. Move. Do SOMETHING. Walk. I walk everywhere. I enjoy it, surely it must be one of the human races greatest past times, going for a walk. The streets, roads and paths have changed. They've gone away. They've gone from dirt to stone to gravel. Back to grass. And we're on our own two feet. Bi-pedal. If you don't step you're not making use of the two. You need the two because without it you can't get to three. And we all know how important the third is. Sometimes I feel like my life is a constant state of a full count and the pitcher throwing fastballs at me. When I hit it's big, and when I miss it's just as big. 

Lately it's been big for me. I'm very grateful and I think that the gratitude results in my optimistic attitude. I'm working hard, and I'm happy. I have to believe that it can only get better. I have to believe that. 

It's a New Day

One Time 4 Your Mind

Wednesday.

Halftime. 

Almost there. Tomorrow's payday. 

Then it's friday, and yeah, friday's good. 

Illmatic playing, my O.G. iPhone which survived a pool but couldn't handle the crush of the pathfinder's door, is done for. I need to get the new one. There was an hour + wait at the 5th ave Apple store earlier. I'm not havin' that. 

I am sometimes so very much in love with my job. At Silvercup studios, current home of Gossip Girl, 30 Rock & Entourage (yes they're in NYC for a few weeks). We're on stage 3 in the cafe / art gallery set. They put a giant balloon in the middle of the cleared gallery. We rigged 3 projectors in the corners of the room up above the ceiling.  We rigged one projector on a stand that had wheels so we could send the thing up as high as we wanted and roll it around the room. So we rigged everything, the projectionist comes in and hooks it up, the other two techs take out 4 macbook pro's (one for each) and start the animations. All it does is project the image of the computer screen onto the surface. The surface here happens to be a giant balloon ball about 7 feet across. Spinning and waving with the animation. Two camera guys come in, and the D.P. joins us. We like it. We're going to move the mounted projectors higher above the grid tomorrow for a better angle. 

We mess around with it. In comes the producers, the A.D. and the director of that episode going to be filmed. They like it. Everyone loves the giant trippy balloon (now with some crazy animations). Someone says "anything else?", someone else says "let's do acid" (NOT ME). 

Today was a fun day. I was in the cafe set(which is actually in the same spot where Dr. Melfi's  office once stood) making extensions for the crates that attach to the lights to direct the light, called snoots. I had my little table set up and my process was going. 10 Big ones and 4 littles ones. "Taking meticulous care & pride in accomplishing small tasks". My little work table was set-up in the cafe adjacent to the gallery set while people worked around me, clearing the set, hanging lights, painting walls, moving walls. Constant motion. Lifts, paint brushes, hammers, screw guns, cameras, lights, ACTION! The real action is there. Constant cast of new and old characters. I truly believe it is some other world of insanity sometimes. And I love it. 

Hello, Goodbye

Today my former roommate(who was with living with me for the summer) moved out and went back to live with her family in China. She had been in New York for 6 years and was here going to school, she recently graduated from NYU. She's going back to run a charity that she had started when she was in high school. It's kind of sad really knowing that I won't see her for a long time(or ever! Who knows?). I can't imagine just up and leaving everything here behind, but then again, she's going home. I want to wish her luck on her journey and I hope she succeeds in everything she set out to do!

I started a new roommate search. Within 10 minutes of posting my ad on craigslist I got over 10 responses. An hour and a half later and I've got 50 e-mails with people from all over. London, Australia, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, and other places. Students, artists, classical musicians, fashion interns, attorneys and even a self-described bad ass motha fucka. Even living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn a place known for it's out-of-town residents, I am surprised by the overwhelming response. New York is where people want to be. New York is where people come to learn. People leave New York all the time but I wonder if they ever leave the city behind for good. How could you? I look forward to having someone new in my world. I hope I can be a good host and representative of this great city I will always call home. 

 

Get Away

Sometimes I feel I've got to Get Away.

One of my favorite Mobb Deep songs. 

It's been a long time since I've left this shining city on the sea of New York. And though I'm in love with it, and it is everything to me, and everything that I am is owed to the experiences I've had here, I feel like I need to escape it. The city that never sleeps. The city of lights. There is always something going on, but there's always something to miss out on. New York can and will beat you down. In every sense that you could be. It is a constantly in motion turbine of life. Spinning. A microcosm of the universe. I'm in it. Spinning with everyone else.

I need a break! As it turns out, this isn't one of those rides you can just ask to stop and get off. We all have obligations. Responsibilities, necessary tasks to handle and an economic requirement to take care of. (Of course if you are certified BALLIN' like Jay-Z, none of this would matter and you'd go as you please, but, like myself, most people reading this aren't)

 I want to lock myself in a room in a glass house in the middle of nowhere and make music for 6 months straight. I want to breathe in deep fresh air through an open roof without the exhaust of 8 million people. I want to lay on my back and see stars without the ever present glow of street lights.(Film school pro-tip: We get the color of streetlights by putting Sodium Vapor (Super white flame 232) diffusion in front of blue HMI lights). I want to walk on the Earth and save my tired feet from the constant pounding of concrete, marble, steel, and all types of stone they are subjected to being supported by. I want to walk on trails. I want to climb a mountain. I want to sit on a mountain and do what I've done in hundreds of places all over this city : write. 

 I want to get away, and I will. It's only a matter of time. But damn, don't you sometimes just wanna GO? 

If you read this and have any ideas on where I should go feel welcome to leave suggestions