May 20th, 2022 @ 6:32 pm

when i was a kid, i lived in college point.  we lived across the street from what we called “the field” aka the college point fields.  it was old flushing airport that had been shut down a decade before we ever moved to CP.  by the time we got there, there was a hockey rink that was falling apart, a half-assed and quite rundown football field with a running track built around it and some baseball fields off to the right for little leagues.  behind it, there were the old airport hangars and an abandoned runway which now serves as a usable street to get to the shopping area on 20th (target, ulta, etc.).

the field’s track was actually asphalt vs. whatever actual running tracks are made of (clay? lol), so we could ride our bikes around it endlessly, which we did for years.  we moved in when i was about 7 going on 8 and stayed until i was 12.  i guess in the grand scheme of things, that’s not a ton of time, but to a kid – that’s forever.  as a kid that moved frequently, that was also a long time for our family to be situated in one spot.  i’m even still friends with some of the kids from “the block”, which was a block completely comprised of 3 story high, attached apartments filled with families.

anyways, as i’m now 40 and live in this city with 18,867,000 other goons, everything is more annoying to deal with.  the high amount of rent, the number of cars on the road (most households having more than 1 car and also no thanks to uber/lyft),  flexible work schedules leaving everyone being out at all times of the day, etc. – it just makes it so annoying to leave the house in general, nevermind to go cycling in the streets.  while i’m not fully scared to go riding out on the streets, i don’t particularly love it and i’m def not aggressive like some riders.

i looked it up, and the population was 17,983,084 back then.  i can’t remember how it was – if there were less cars, but i imagine in some places that’s the case.  when i grew up in college point, there was no target or shopping on 20th ave, it was all just more fields on the other side.  just straight up grass and weeds.  i remember one time we walked it at night w my mom when we didn’t have a car and i don’t even remember there being street lights.  i would like to believe it was less irritating to live in queens then, with less people and less cars, but i digress.

i really wish that NYC would give us a few more flat tracks or velodromes.  the only one left in queens is at kissena park, and it’s not exactly NEAR my apartment…  but it’s not far enough to super complain.  if there were one every 5 miles, that would be ideal.  i have no idea where there isn’t one in alley pond park – instead, they gave us a mountain bike adventure trail.  i mean, that’s rad, just not really helpful to us track bike riders.  my friends that cycle from other parts of the city can’t get there easily, either.  there’s not even one in flushing meadow park.  i don’t get it.  they invest so much money in parks, but they neglect the people on bikes who can’t even get a break in bike lanes.  we barely have trails and have no tracks…  how is that fair?

if i had a bike track near me, i’d be doing 93793879387 laps a day at like 6AM if i could.  ugh, NYC parks, get on itttttt!

September 2nd, 2021 @ 12:01 am

[via WebMD] Summertime SAD. You’ve probably heard about seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, which affects about 4% to 6% of the U.S. population. SAD typically causes depression as the days get shorter and colder. But about 10% of people with SAD get it in the reverse — the onset of summer triggers their depression symptoms. Cook notes that some studies have shown that in countries near the equator – such as India – summer SAD is more common than winter SAD. Why do seasonal changes cause depression? Experts aren’t sure, but the longer days, and increasing heat and humidity may play a role. Specific symptoms of summer depression often include loss of appetite, trouble sleeping, weight loss, and anxiety.

OF COURSE I AM IN THE 10% OF PEOPLE.  if you ask me an popular opinion question, i’m usually the 1%, so of course my body would have a 10% opposite reaction to what the rest of the world feels when it comes time to freakin seasonal depression, lol.

i hate this shit.
i hate day time, natural light and sunlight (unless it’s browning my skin).
i hate oppressive humidity and heat.
i want more night time than day time.

i want autumn and winter, stat.
i want to have my new, old northface on (i replaced my old, deadstock one – SCORE!).
i want to wear my hockey hats.
i want to wear BOOTS.
i want to see the leaves changing and snow falling.
i want snow so deep that no one can drive and i can walk on quiet, busy streets w/o being bothered at 2AM.

a very snowy, quiet, queens blvd (2016)

[via WebMD] Diagnosis

The main feature of SAD is that your mood and behavior shift along with the calendar. It’s not a separate mood disorder but a type of major depression or bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic depression.

so dramatic!

anyways, i’m starting to get SUPER antsy bc it’s still humid, it won’t stop raining and it’s so hot every day.  i want summer to be over.  i want to ride my bike and go for walks without feeling like i’m panting after a block.  i want to wear my hair down… i would like to cut in my bangs.  i want to wear hoodies and pants!

i have actually been sleeping like shit lately, but i didn’t think it was potentially bc of seasonal depression.  my bed is against one wall and it’s driving me nuts, but my room is too thin to really turn it the other way.  if i do, then i have to do this ridiculous shuffle every time i want to get to the other side of the long room.  i don’t know what’s more important, good sleep or not sideways shuffling.  i flipped the mattress, but it didn’t do a damn thing.  i started sleeping with my head at where my feet should be, and that helped?

i have too much shit on my mind.  i need a big fat change and something BIG to look forward to.

…well, in 59 days, i will be in seattle.  that’s a start.

August 30th, 2021 @ 11:14 pm

…have i ever been to a show in queens that wasn’t a local band?

: scratches head :

does black 47 on irish night at shea stadium count? oh wait, i saw the sleeping one year at flushing meadow park, but i can’t find anything via google that ever happened. i think it was some type of free vans show? i dunno. the internet tells me it never occurred, so i have no information.

WELL… i got to see rancid this weekend, and it was so nice to feel normal for a night. it was the first show i’ve been to since the pandemic happened, but it felt more like 4 damn years.

not gonna lie, singing and dancing at the same time was hard to do, lol. i was winded first song that i really started dancing (erm, in a punk pit for you non-punk show goers, it’s called skanking… if you’d like a visual, this is hysterical, and not a terrible representation at all). it’s confusing that i felt so damn out of shape and out of breath, bc i’ve been either cycling or doing aerobics on a daily basis for the last few months, with cycling being more regular for even longer… maybe it was just that when i do aerobics, i don’t use those mosh pit muscles. either way, once i started getting into it, my body just kind of kept up a little better.

the show was at forest hills stadium, which i never even knew existed. i have no idea how i didn’t know it existed, seeing as that i grew up in queens, lived in ridgewood, glendale and rego park. i’ve even walked over there a billion times and there is a freaking sign that reads “forest hills stadium” on one of the bridges in the little apartment complex/square i’m in love with, by the LIRR stop off of austin st… smh.

i’m guessing no one i really wanted to see ever played there. it was a really cool spot though, and i wish more bands would play it. when you first walk onto the property, there’s a bunch of different booths for local restaurants, lots of different things to drink, etc. and you’re on this big astroturf lawn right outside of the stadium itself. everyone was all spread out and it was nice to not be on top of each other like when you’re at a bar at a venue, in the lobby/merch areas or the floor of the venue.

as big as the area was, people we knew kept popping up out of the woodwork. i’m sure so many people were just itching to come out, too. i went to the show with kristen and missy and we ran into so many people there, from so many different eras of life. old friends, current friends, awkward people, old flames, jeff, marilyn, andrew, frank and buzz, kristen’s MIA friend brendan, a bunch of old buddies i met through greek steve… it was weird/nice to see those folks.

anyways, i didn’t care for the dropkick murphy’s setlist that i sneak peeked from setlist.fm, and missy and kristen didn’t really give a shit about them, so we skipped them. i think we’ve all seen them live, so it’s not like we missed out on them in our lifetimes entirely.

rancid was awesome as usual. i really wanted to see “red hot moon” but they didn’t play it. they also didn’t play “hooligans” or “nihilism” which would have made me very happy, le sigh. hopefully they won’t take another 4 or 5 damn years to come back.

i’m also glad i didn’t break my damn neck on a crushed can doing any dancing or circle pitting on the tennis floor surface.  it seemed more grippy than i had anticipated, and it even took a few kicks to get any crushed cans out of the way that i was trying to move so that i, nor anyone else slipped and humiliated themselves.  i already feel like the old weirdo at the show, lol.

***

i asked my mom if she’d ever been to FHS and her snarky little answer was “OF COURSE! i saw the cars and wang chung there, it was awesome!” and then she mentioned someone else i had no idea about…  my heart yearned to see the cars, life is so unfair.

May 10th, 2020 @ 2:59 pm

i rewatched ally mcbeal again, and this hit me pretty close to home:

“the real truth is, i probaby dont want to be too happy or content bc then what?

i actually like the quest…the search. that’s the fun – the more lost you are, the more you have to look forward to.

what do you know? i’m having a great time and i don’t even know it.” – ally

* * *

i am a person that loves and hates change equally.  i am all about stability – long-term jobs, long-term relationships, constant places i like to call home, etc., but i also love change.  i was moved around A LOT as a child, and never knew stability.  actually, the only stability i knew were via my family.  my aunts – their houses, the love and support.  i think that’s why i hold those places so dearly to my heart.  i think i just enjoy changes of scenery…  i think back to all of the places that i’ve lived on my own in NYC in the last decade, and they’re like small, different lifetimes.  i miss those places so dearly.  the freedom of new adventures, new places, new people… now i’m in bayside and am so miserable.

i rarely fight with boyfriends in general, and steve and i rarely get into them, but the only ones are sometimes about our living situation. he wants to buy a house, and i don’t.  he wants to live here in northeast queens (and would happily live in nassau county) and i don’t.  while i understand the purchasing of property is an investment i agree with, i still prefer living in apartments.  that would probably be my personal goal.

i have absolutely ZERO desire to be here anymore – especially with my family gone.  it’s actually heartbreaking to be alone here in these neighborhoods without those people.  it’s like ghost towns of a former life i can no longer obtain.  driving by my old houses, my mom’s house she just moved out of, my aunt carol’s old apartment or aunt necie and uncles joe’s house? i can’t even.  it’s just too sad.

for me, this area is legitimately stifling.

anyways, the last one argument steven and i had, he actually told me it’s like i live to be depressed.  i don’t remember how we got to that statement from the living situation discussion, but clearly it made enough of an impression on me to linger.  i think what bothers me about it is that he said that as a bad thing.  i derive most creativity and some comfort from being introverted/alone, being sad, having struggles (for lack of a better word).  i don’t mind not being super happy, which probably sounds weird… but, that ally mcbeal quote above kind of summed it up for me.

i’ve always had the overall mindset that refreshing your life is good for you.  it’s how i always handled breakups, friendships disintegrating, other hardships.

“sometimes it takes a painful loss to realize you are free” – the bouncing souls

while getting over things is tough, those feelings eventually pass.  i’m turning 40 soon and i guess it feels like another return of saturn for me.  i need a serious F5.

February 3rd, 2020 @ 5:20 pm

i’ve let go of 4/5 friends over the last decade or so.  i only do this when someone has done something super shitty to me, they’re selfish friends or well, just completely psychotic.  i’m sorry, but i don’t have time for people that are only in it for themselves.  we all have enough shit to deal with on a daily basis, to then have to deal with shitty or fair-weather friends.  that being said, mi amiga bonita sarita tweeted this today, and it couldn’t come at a funnier time:

“if i have to think twice about whether or not i can trust or rely on you, we shouldn’t be cool.”

* * *

i should have trusted my instinct about a week ago when one of those folks came knockin’ at my door.  i figured i’d give it a shot, but apparently this one is just shaaaaaaaaaady? i dunno. maybe it was a drunk add? either way, someone added me, never said anything – iiiiiiiiiiii then reached out and then realized she unfollowed me.

what in the literal fuck was the point?
i gave her the benefit of the doubt even confirming her add, and maybe i’m jumping to conclusions bc she just didn’t respond in a reasonable time frame.  i mean, i wasn’t looking for an essay – just left an icebreaker, but once i realized she unfollowed me, nah.  right out the window.  what a waste of energy.

lesson learned:
if they’re gone, they’re gone for a reason.  leave ’em where you left them.  trust your gut, and def keep ’em as far back as you can – especially when they chill with corny nimrods and losers.  queens is a small fucking galaxy, and unfortunately when you get rid of one, they find the other weeds you cut away.  yuck.

if there’s anything i’ve learned over the years, is that there are so many gross, two-faced, fake shitheads within my friend groups.  some might seem like *oMg sO mUcH fUn* and/or good eggs, but a lot of them have got disgusting insides…  and for some reason, they like to show me those sides, but not others.  so many lessons learned.

you would think nearing 40 that i wouldn’t be dealing with this type of bullshit, but here it is gravitating towards me as usual.  i did nothing to provoke this add, and i honestly don’t understand why people are so fucking odd.

if you’re not going to have an adult conversation with me, just leave me the fuck alone.

December 12th, 2019 @ 10:00 pm

did you know the wu-tang logo was designed by a queens native? i sure didn’t.

it took me 26 years to find this out, but here we are, and at least i got here.

January 26th, 2018 @ 9:56 am

since moving back to a quiet, suburban area, i can’t sleep.  i’ve been here since early december, and i still have yet to adjust to not hearing the sirens and other misc. bullshit sounds of queens blvd all night.

i know i haven’t described my neighborhood or living conditions of the last two years here, so let me just break it down for you.  i lived on a 6 lane, BUSY queens boulevard for a few years.  i moved from the 2nd floor to the 6th floor of my building because of a noise issue in the apartment above mine (aka two lazy pieces of shit that refused to parent their two chunky daughters that would run around and jump off of furniture all day), SIRENS ALL DAY/NIGHT LONG, at one point, they tore up queens blvd for two weeks from 10PM-3AM to repave everything and lastly, they opened up a hotel across the street that had BLINDING flood lights facing outwards.  that’s right, all of queens blvd’s residential buildings were illuminated for god knows what reason.

i filed complaints to 311 and even spoke to the local congresswoman about it, and she wrote them a letter to turn them downwards vs. outwards and they didn’t comply.  i didn’t live directly across the street from the hotel, but my bedroom looked like times square.  i felt bad for the people directly across the way from the building.  it’s disgusting that they get away with it.

anyways, the blvd was also an emergency vehicle super-highway.  if i was home, 85% of my time was listening to ambulances and fire trucks.  it’s funny how immune you sort of become to it, but also kind of accepting.

right before we moved out, there was a 20-something year old girl that had moved into the building with this ridiculously suped up ford focus.  every day this little ratty herb would sit in her car revving the stupid engine, annoying EVERYONE.  like, right in front of the our building.  no hiding it, no fucks given, all hours of the day.  if she couldn’t find a parking spot at night, we heard it.  either way, we’d end up hearing it at least once per day.  it sounded like a broken lawnmower.  it was so annoying.

apparently, it irritated someone enough that they went ahead and filled the exhaust pipes with that hardening, foam filler, lol.  i mean, i feel bad because maybe that could have been dangerous…  but like, take the hint and stop being disrespectful to your neighbors.  tone that bullshit down.  my super even told me that people were complaining to him about it, asking him to talk to her about it.  she didn’t give a shit, though.

those are things i reeeeeeeeeally don’t miss.

but yeah, moving to quiet is really throwing me off.  i became so used to all of that noise that i struggle to get a full night’s sleep.

October 16th, 2015 @ 2:16 pm

i feel beyond fortunate to have lived through NYC in the 80’s and 90’s.  i got to experience pre-transplant/hipster times that they long for, and think that they have.  they don’t, and they won’t… not ever.

see, there are things that have happened since i was born that were raw and early that can no longer exist.  simple things like small shops in the village that had character, graffiti on the trains, the “don’t walk/walk” signs (apparently non-english ppl can’t read, so they switched them out), phonebooths, cool music venues, paper transfers, tokens, lower population – when we had room to breathe, affordable rent.  i know there was crime, and tons of pollution, and gross sex stuff going on in times sq. – but the good outweighed the bad for us.

of course people have always landed here, i’m not saying as a native of NYC being born in the 80’s, that i’m anything special… but this used to be a place people could come and actually live here.  it wasn’t a fad.  these youthful, bearded idiots from other states have filled up the boroughs so badly, that there’s no room for that, or growth anymore.

back in the early 90’s, my mother was making the salary that i make today.  salaries haven’t differed or gone up all that much…  our rents (we usually lived in apartments) were ~$750 per month for a 2 BR in suburban queens.  now… 2 BR’s start at $2-24000 per month.  sure, i also blame the landlords, but i also blame the morons that pile 2/3 people in those 2 BR’s and hike up the rents.

anyways, i’m veering off from the point of this post (i’m sorry, i get transplant-rage).

i was looking for spots in queens recently, that could potentially hold a holiday pop-up shop for a collective of crafters.  i landed on a cute boutique in astoria, queens that had a little garden and it was really quaint, you know?  so i bookmarked it in my brain, and i followed the owner on twitter and instagram (who never followed back, eyeroll).  after a while, i started seeing her posting stuff re: queens pride.  kitschy sports banners, tote bags, t-shirts, etc. and at first, i was like “COOL!”, because i love anything queens related… but then i realized after then only seeing “ASTORIA •  QUEENS” pride, that there was a problem.

astoria, queens growing up equated to the following…
1. greek stuff
2. coffee shops and bakeries
3. diners (usually owned by greeks)
4. steinway street shops
5. astoria park

like any other spot in queens, you probably went there for something specific (ie: corona: ices and good spanish food, or jackson heights for great indian food).  astoria was never “a thing”.  sure, the people that grew up there had astoria “pride”, but no one shouted it from the rooftops like it was some sort of novelty item.  that’s the trouble with these transplants… they seem to think we lack some type of neighborhood pride or community.  they want to celebrate where they landed, thinking it’s the coolest place on the planet.  BUT… it’s. just. queens.

when they’re at home in like, norwoodville, iowa, do they have the same pride?  are there sports banners and t-shirts and tote bags celebrating their neighborhood? errrrm.  probably not.

anyways, back to the little shop that i found…

i started seeing this “ASTORIA QUEENS” pride merch, but no other queens ‘hoods.  of course my native spidey senses were tingling, and i was outraged that i was potentially and initially duped by a transplant.  upon further googling (and i had to dig pretty deep since homegirl never really openly admits her origins, and has “been an “ASTORIAN” (lol) for over a decade), i found out she was from the midwest, just as i figured.

smdh.

they stick out like sore thumbs…  they’re so fucking lame.

i don’t even know what they get from this city anymore, since it doesn’t even feel how it used to.  they’ll never know what it felt like, so i guess whatever this shitty city has turned into is good enough for them, and that’s sad.  it’s bland, it’s too much money, it’s too crowded.

GO LOVE YOUR OWN CITY, ASSHOLES.

February 3rd, 2015 @ 10:40 pm

welp… i’m officially out of glendale and situated in rego park.

this is one of the weirdest/hardest/most annoying moves i’ve had to go through.  steve was/is out of town for work, so we had to improvise bodies.

how it was supposed to go:
kitsos and jimmy were supposed to help me move last friday, POSSIBLY mike – because he still had stuff at my apartment.  i figured if he helped me out with moving, i could use the truck to get his stuff back to his mom’s house. we’d have to deal with snow.

how it actually went:
cable appointment on friday, instead.  jimmy and metal joe helped me move last saturday (kitsos couldn’t switch days). mike never showed up/called back/texted back/tweeted/contacted me, so most of his stuff stayed back at our/my old apartment (which i feel HORRIBLE about, but it was there for a. full. fucking. year. yes, he let an entire year go by…).  it was fucking freezing, but no snow.

if it wasn’t for jimmy pulling through, it would have been a lot worse.  if it was just joe and i, we would have killed each other and probably taken like 3x longer.  i don’t know what i would have done, i couldn’t really find anyone else to help out that day.  i also only just started speaking to jimmy again within the last few months, so  thank god he was being cool about me being bossy and persistent for the help.  we had a falling out a few years back (oh, the soap opera that is my life).

we shall forever refer to this move as #junctioncake (this sign was left on the dashboard, still have no idea what it means). i should google it.

December 28th, 2013 @ 1:31 pm

it’s fucking rough being a native new yorker right now.  i mean, i’m sure it was rough being a native new yorker whenever there was an annoying surge of people pouring in.  i only know this generation’s surge of entitled, rent-raising, lemming-like, transplant brats…  however, i don’t think they were always bratty.  i feel like the only transplants that i have respect for are from other countries.  i’m like, north-american state-to-state moving transplant racist.

i know i’ve complained about transplants on this site before, so that’s not where i’m going with this.  i was actually thinking about WHY i feel so proud to be a native new yorker from queens, and how sad it is that if i ever have kids, it probably will never be like the “old new york” i knew… because of those bastards.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

when i was growing up, i lived in like 13 or 14 places.  it set me up to enjoy change, but it was also great to stay put for a while.  i stayed put the longest in whitestone and college point over the years (flushing/bayside as well, but not the for large chunks of time, really).  i’m glad i grew up in the “burbs” for a million reasons.  i didn’t have a front lawn or back yard, per se, but i had big luscious parks.  my neighborhood was generally quiet, safe, homey.  my elementary schools were great back then, they weren’t terribly overcrowded like they are now.  i haven’t been near my elementary schools in ages, because i don’t live in those areas anymore, but the last few times i was, they had trailers for classrooms in the yards.  that’s so depressing.  it makes me wonder if the schools have gone downhill or do less with the kids now.  i was very fortunate to grow up when i did, because i did so much with my schools back then.

read more…

March 21st, 2013 @ 12:48 pm

JESS HERE…

at the beginning of this year, i started making earrings with lyrics/words/quotes on them… obviously i can’t fit all that inspires me on 3″ diameter hoop earrings, so i took to the t-shirt template. i have been compiling ideas for new york ranger fan shirts for like 2/3 years that i never put to use, so a couple of weeks ago, i just opened photoshop and went with it. i currently go through a website “redbubble(.com)” because i don’t exactly know if the t-shirt business would even take off – t-shirt companies are a dime a dozen these days… either way, i am not trying to step on anyone’s toes – i want to have fun/hitting close to home/true-fan shirts, and this is just my way of paying homage through something that i love – graphic design.

ANYWAYS… i met michelle via instagram at some point in the last few months and we connected on the wu-tang front. i make earrings and she does (amazing) cross-stitch pieces paying wu-tang homage. she’s been on the wu-tang blog before, she’s no stranger to wu-exposure and she included me in my first batch of wu-tang shirts. yeah, i’m actually being featured on the wu-tang blog, insane.

read more…