ny home four

it only took 228 e-mails, 5 weeks, 23 visits, and 8 offers, but i do believe i've found my barbie dream house. i'm going to be the queen of bushwick.

youtube comments to national anthem

Actually my mom is cuban and my dad is white and I have been told by thousands that im the most beautiful girl in miami so you can take your hateful, loser comments elsewhere. I bet if we video chatted we would both jaw drop. You: cause im gorgeous Me: cause your an unfortunate looking weasel

life in the financial district

thursday night. piggy is drinking water out of her tiffany's wine glasses.

homeless chairy

this is me

spineless

this is how i do my physical computing homework and slug at the same time. my father would not approve.

arduino from valerie chen on Vimeo.

happy birthday ows

birthday bagels

not sure what this was about

happy world rhino day

belated happy world rhino day to all rhinos and the people who like them

the west bk

i am the only pc in this entire coffee shop

washington square park

today i hung out between classes with a delinquent piggy, who was skipping her second class of the day. we sat in washington square park and observed a squirrel that had the bowlegged swagger of a man and then we played with a so soft and so furry goldendoodle named murray. afterwards, we ate some very decadent macaroons in a very small bakery that smelled overwhelmingly of butter.

then i went to a class where the modus operandi is basically for everyone to out-weird each other. last week i brought in a puzzle of a life-sized, but rainbow, giraffe. today a girl took her top off and another slapped herself until she cried.
after class i'm pretty sure i walked through a tornado to see the twelfth apartment so far in my housing search. i know i said i would never live in bushwick, but i liked this place. also, i'm getting desperate because i'm getting kicked out of carroll gardens in three-and-a-half days. it was storming so hard that i couldn't see ahead of me and my shoes were boats filled with water and my pants were soaked from mid-thigh down. i used my flimsy umbrella to keep my laptop dry and to hell with all else. i kind of enjoyed it. i walked into the apartment dripping water and they gave me a towel.

sprinkles

i feel myself drawing nearer to this thing. it is irresistable. i've been craving cake for days. where is the alcove

new venture

here is where the documentation of my new learnings will reside.

me n bag

sharing some german stroopwafels

homeward bound

i was being responsible when i left a birthday party tonight at 2am. however, i fell asleep on the metro (i actually decided this morning that i may legitimately be a narcoleptic) and woke up to a bunch of guidos shouting, "wakey, wakey!" thank goodness for those creepy guidos because i didn't even recognize the stop we were at and realized i was very far from home. i jumped out of the subway just in time to see the train that could take me back departing from the other side of the platform. i ran out of the subway, intending to find a cab. outside, i realized that i was in a ghost town. avenue N, practically to coney island and 12 stops from home. i tried to run back into the subway but my metro card was locked out from recent use. the man manning the subway booth said, "now, i know you just left here, so imma let you back in. my question is, do you know where you're going?" i said, "Carroll Gardens!" i ran back up to the platform and sat for the quietest fifteen minutes of my life. the only sound was quite literally a whistling wind and the entire platform would sway strongly side to side as the wrong trains went by. eventually the F came back and i jumped on, forcing myself to stay awake while everyone else in the car slept. when i finally arrived at my stop again, i walked out to scary and violent fights erupting in the streets. nypd was everywhere in our quiet neighborhood. i hurried by but men grabbed at my arms and called me china and muñeca. this is why we don't stay out past 2am in los angeles. now i am very happy to be back on my air bed, eating mac n cheese, albeit two hours delayed.  

false sad

i have this post-nasal drip that's making me feel like i've cried a million tears and it's making me think I'm depressed even though i'm fine

cholesterol during my own devices

last night i had beer and cookies for dinner and the night before that i had beer and french fries for dinner. grown up living has deteriorated fast.

splishy splashy

still havent figured out how to turn on the shower head in carroll gardens sublet, still bathing like a lagoon monster.

days like this mama said

skype sesh 2. from now on me ma pa an missy will skype every sunday night at 7:30p pt/10:30p et, which is a nice thing to have since i've been so far unable to shake feelings of utter displacement and sort of emptiness. nothing makes me happy the way seeing my family does. i've spent the whole of the last three days working on a silly and emotionally draining school project and once that's done in two days will go back to looking for a suitable place to live, since i only have two weeks left in carroll gardens. yesterday i saw a beautiful little dear of a king charles spaniel poking her head out of a bag on the lap of her owner on the subway. she had the biggest and brownest eyes and looked at everyone with suspicion while her owner kissed her repeatedly on the head. she was draped with the most perfectly curly chestnut-colored ears, which would be the envy of all little girls.

new york day twelve

yesterday i had my first skype session home. i felt heart pangs seeing friends and the house and the dogs again. then, in the evening, i sat in a car for the first time in almost two weeks. i went out with friends in prospect heights and was mentally agonizing about how i would find my way home afterwards when frank said he had his boss' car nearby. we took a scenic drive through brooklyn and i'd never been so grateful for the quiet, intimate pod travel that is transport by car. after i was dropped off in front of the apartment, on the stoop i met the girl who lives in the apartment across from mine. she told me the best place to buy cannoli in the neighborhood, where to get lobster rolls, and that though our neighborhood is safe because it's protected by the mafia, still not to walk down our street because that's where the shootings happen.

sublet day five

it is hot and it is rainy and it's gross. i haven't been able to figure out how to make the bath water come out of the shower spout so i've been sitting and splashing around like a honey bear.

buttermilk and paprika

felt homesick so i bought some really expensive tickets home for thanksgiving.

i'm by myself in my sublet. i think i spent a million dollars today. i'm marinating some chicken legs in buttermilk and paprika. are we sure marinating isn't a quack science?

fish out of water

i walked into something really hard in a bar tonight. my bad knee is really swollen. it hurts and i'm trying to ice it. maintenance makes the metro lines run wonky on weekend nights and my journey back took an hour instead of fifteen minutes. today i saw a macaw on a woman's shoulder on the subway. i feel nauseous. sometimes i feel pretty neutral about being here and sometimes i really wish i hadn't left los angeles. there are a lot of cool things to do and see here but i don't really feel content. i feel completely rattled up so tomorrow for labor day i don't want to do anything but read cook and be quiet.

carroll gardens queen

i've got a sublet i've got a sublet i've got a sublet hey hey hey hey