Good Friends

I am getting home from dinner with J and her boyfriend. The three of us had a great time, and the company was good, too.

It's a nice feeling to have good friends like them. They want to include me in their lives, which is unlike the sentiment I recieve from a lot of people in my life today.

These are the kind of people I want to continue to meet in my life-- genuine people.

And I guess the fact they're rare helps me appreciate them that much more.

Sappy, yes. But it's the truth.

Even after a few glasses of vino.

This Is A Test

Trying out the e-mail feature of blogger.  Now I can go mobile!

Iceland Comes To Me

My weekend social calendar is pretty booked.

Amidst all the exciting alcohol to be imbibed, and friends to be around, I am very excited to be meeting with my host sister from Iceland, Lilja.

There are a myriad of reasons for this, but the main focus for my excitement is because I haven't seen/spoken to an Icelander in almost 6 years (except for yesterday, when a family of tourists came through the shop,) let alone seen anyone I actually know.

My exchange student trip was an amazing one. If you don't already know, Iceland is one of the only countries in the world whose language is still basically the same after 2,000 or so years. This is a paramount fact that Icelanders the world over-- all 300,000 of them-- are proud of. This little fact about their language enables them to clearly understand what happened thousands of years ago, through the Viking Sagas (yes, the word saga means history, which is an Icelandic root word.) A basic understanding of their language, also regarded as one of the most difficult languages to learn, really helps to uncover what had happened many generations ago.

To go along with this, Icelanders are a very friendly people. My host family was amazing at best, and they took me in with open arms and included me in everything they did for the 10 months I was there.

Beyond that, I made many friends there, some of whom I am still in contact with today.

I was thrilled to be from a unique place like Alaska, and even more thrilled that I spent a year in a foreign country so unique as well. I was quickly known as "the guy from Alaska," and gained a lot of notoriety because Icelanders don't meet a lot of foreigners with brown skin. Needless to say, I loved being me.

A few more fun facts about Iceland:

1.) Iceland boasts to have some of the most beautiful women in the world. And speaking first-hand about this tidbit, I must claim that this is also fact. I never encountered a more savvy, more fun culture, chock-full of hotness. I fell in love almost every day there.

2.) The Blue Lagoon is one of the country's most prized tourist spots. It is said to have natural regenerative properties, due to the amounts of minerals and sulfur in the lagoon. It makes for a very relaxing, youthful spa experience.

3.) Icelanders are multi-lingual. Beside their primary language, Icelandic, most of the population speaks Danish, and English. You can choose to be educated in German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, and French, among other languages when you get to their equivalent of high school. The interesting twist to this is that the younger generation learn colloquial British English, yet absorbs American English culture through movies and television, which divides the English-speaking population between British and American accents.

This further enhances the fact that Icelanders speak in both British and American terms (i.e.: using "flat" for "apartment," and so on.) This also influences their tastes in pop culture-- many Icelanders favor British bands and American hip-hop artists simultaneously (how many people do you know love Franz Ferdinand, Blur, Wu-Tang Clan, and Tupac?)

4.) Icelanders love to travel, which means that a lot of them have been to both Europe and America, which, by my opinion, makes them a more worldly people. This is due to the fact that their capital, Reykjavik, is positioned equidistant from London and New York.

5.) The movie, Judge Dredd, was filmed in Iceland. My host dad was part of the production team that filmed the icy, mountainous scenes. Also, a little known film, The Viking Sagas, was also filmed there.

All of these facts were offset by the fact the bar scene also has a legal drinking age of 20, and to frequent the bars and clubs wasn't hard. They loooove to drink. And have lots of sex (there isn't much else to do up there in cold Scandinavia.) I was glad to be a part of it. Soooooo much fun!

I'm looking forward to seeing Lilja again. There's a lot of catching up to do.

Lilja is very dear to me. She helped make my foreign exchange experience a very good one. This was because I went to school with her, and she helped my transition getting integrated. My other host sister, Bjork (no, not the Bjork,) went to a different school and had a more demure personality (and a boyfriend to which they both rarely came out of the house.)

So I am very thrilled to be reuniting with Lilja, since it's been almost 10 years since I've seen her. I hope to be speaking a lot of Icelandic this weekend, which will be a refreshing highlight to an other-wise fun weekend.

Addendum

Okay. Maybe she will call you.

But don't expect anything.

Some Things I Learned This Weekend (In Florida)

1.) Never travel 100 miles to go on a blind date if you don't have reliable transportation (like a rental car.) A Greyhound is NOT an acceptable form of transportation. And rental cars are expensive for deposits. Just don't go.

2.) Never show up to the bus station less than 1 hour of your scheduled bus ride. You'll get bumped to the next schedule. And end up spending 6 hours frustrated.

3.) If your date arrives dressed more casually(read: flip-flops, jeans, and a baseball cap) than you are, you will not be having sex. This is the message she is sending you.

4.) Have a solid plan to get back to your point of origin. Don't "wing it," or "see how it goes." You will be shelling out for a hotel room. Alone.

5.) No matter how cool the chick is or turns out to be, assume that this meeting will be a one-off; she won't be calling you when she comes to your town. Just accept it.

6.) Even though she will say that she's a "private" person, someone you know will find out that you met them recently. Don't be surprised if they ask about your so-called "date."

7.) Be wary of body language. Most girls today aren't appreciative of modern-day chivalry (i.e.: offering jackets, opening doors, paying for dinner, etc.) They will only see your actions like the way Chris Rock pointed them out. ("May I get that for you-- May I get you some dick?") Your seemingly harmless chivalry will only be interpreted this way, albeit being somewhat true.

8.) Agree to go dutch. That way you won't feel like a tool when you end up shelling out for dinner, just because you're a "nice guy." This will also lessen the blow when you get the "hug" at the end of said date.

9.) You're better off trying to date someone closer to home. At least the cab rides aren't that bad.

Ugh. Learning experiences, huh?

I'm (Not) Looking At You

I feel compelled to write about last night's (non) encounter with PG, only because I find it interesting how two people, in spite of friendship and a small disagreement, can be in close proximity. And pretend not to know one another.

I've written about our "fights" before. This will be the longest bout between us, only because we no longer work together, thus the chances of our bumping into each other will be significantly smaller.

But hey, it's New York, right?

I went to this small bar on the LES, to attend the birthday party of an old work friend, Pinchie. I didn't think I would see PG there, only because she doesn't seem to be friends with Pinchie. So while I was having a great time with Pinchie's friends and family, PG kept her back to me the whole time. This gave me ample opportunity to admire her legs. I guess not all fights have to be bad, right?

I think the best part was when I went to grab my beer from the bar. I know PG saw me coming, because she purposely didn't look back when I tapped her on the arm to move aside. I just brushed past her saying, "Excuse me," then promptly took my Corona from the bar. I sensed she was anticipating me trying to talk to her, because she froze slightly when I spoke.

Then I caught her looking my way the rest of the night. Not like before, though. I would just catch her right after her eyes would dart away.

What intrigues me about the whole spectacle was that I was a little turned on by the whole thing. Maybe because she seemed to put so much effort into ignoring me, it seemed like she was trying to accomplish the opposite and garner my attention.

That probably explains why I was checking her out.

On The Thought Of Becoming Twenty-Eight

I'll be 28 next Friday.

I had somehow thought I would be a little more accomplished by this age seeing as how I used to think that "almost 30" was so old. I thought I would have a degree, a wife, a home in the suburbs, and 2.5 kids. I thought I would have a moderately successful movie career.

Pipe dreams, all of them.

I made a semi-evaluation [scroll to bottom] almost 2 years ago. I think that where I am now in my life is a lot better than I thought it would be, especially since there seems to have been a shift in my thinking. It seems that I feel now is when life is starting for me; that now is when I can start to have the experiences I want to have.

I realize that being (or becoming) 28 is the start of a whole new chapter in my life. It's been 10 years since high school, and yet it's taken me this long to get my act together. But hey, no one said there was a deadline on life-- you take it as it comes.

And I would say that my general outlook on life is great.

1.) Although I'm not dating (actively) per se, I have continued to be confident toward the opposite sex. I'm not afraid to hold a passing glance at a girl on the train. Talking to hot women all day (I met a bikini model today,) has deafened the terror of talking to women in general. And I'm not as superficial as I used to be. To me, hot girls are nice to look at (and talk to,) but the girl-next-door turns me on a bit more.

I even got an e-mail today from a woman I bought a camera from a few weeks ago asking if I was single. (Definite plus, because although she's married, I think she wants to set me up with someone. Not even my friends would do that for me.) Especially funny since I was very professional and NOT flirting with her.

2.) I love my job. I'm selling shoes (among other things,) and I'm having a great time. I feel challenged; I can grow with this company. And it's nice not to be at the top-- currently I'm in the middle somewhere, not at the bottom, but not at the top. Yet.

3.) I'm caring less about what others think and more about what I think. I didn't use to have this kind of confidence, but I'm starting to see why it's important to be unfaltering on your path in life. People will try to influence you, but in the end you have yourself to look after.

4.) I'm making new friends. Different friends. There's the new people I work with, but those friendships will come over time. But I'm making friends outside of that. And that's always a good thing.

5.) I will be traveling more. First is Florida. Then Chicago. Then Denver. Then Alaska. Then (hopefully) Italy, which will be a major accomplishment.

6.) To go along with the above, I'm continuing to learn. Languages are my passion of late. I find myself currently studying Italian and French at the moment. Soon will be Spanish and Russian. And it's funny because where I work, I get to practice quite a bit (we get a lot of tourists.) I hope to be fluent in all of them over the next 5 years.

7.) And I'm reconnecting with my past loves. Photography is resurfacing as a (former) hobby of mine. Graphic Design. And soon, music.

8.) I have a plan. I want to have things within the next 5 years. A sizable 401K. A home. A motorcycle. I have things I want to do. I have places I want to go. I have a better grip on how I want my life to be.

These are (some of) the things I want to make happen in my life. Some of them are things I already have-- others are goals I can obtain. But the greatest change from before to now is my attitude; that I can accomplish them.

I think this is why my life is better at (almost) 28 than where it was ten years ago. It's a full-circle that has brought me to move forward. A nice, albeit interesting, piece of irony.

It seems that I may become more accomplished than I would ever have dreamed of in the first place.

Working Day And Night

Or so it seems my recent foray into the world of women's shoes has been.

I can't seem to stick to my schedule. Today I was supposed to work until quarter after five. I stayed the extra few hours because I had a client coming in (and she really needed a new pair of shoes.) Women are funny creatures when it comes to shoes-- they say they want ONE thing, then halfway through they'll settle on a COMPLETELY different item.

But hey, a sale is a sale.

But I'm doing just fine. I've never been one to turn down a client, even if it means I'll come home later. I just feel that if they're making the effort to come down, I should stay with them until the end. I think it's good form, to follow through.

And the late nights don't bother me.


(Cue Michael Jackson:)

You got me workin', workin' day and night (hee hee hoo!)