the Cat

I was enjoying the free snacks at work when I heard the Girl with the Accent comment to the Pregnant Woman at work, "You look really nice. You have a glow to you."

"Really? That's strange because I've been under the weather lately."

"Oh no. What's wrong. Are you feeling sick?"

Pregnant then starts weeping, "My cat died this week."

At this point, I find this a bit comical. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's because cliches said in an accent are amusing. But then it gets better. Accent presses on, "No! What happened?"

Pregnant is now near sobs and starts to tell that her cat jumped out of the window. SHe had only cracked the window a little but long behold, the cat found its way out. And then there was a thud.

Accent is sympathetic and starts to telling her the cat was her friend and has to be grieved. At this same time, HR lady walks in and quickly looks concerned as to why there is a pregnant woman sobbing in the kitchen. As she walks over to touch Pregnant's shoulder, she looks to me for an answer. I mouth "cat" and she gives me a look of disbelief. Clearly, she's also amused but being in HR I quickly realize she's going to handle the situation in the way a trained professional way.

HR then states. "Oh Honey, I'm sorry. Is there anything that I can do?" Pregnant shakes her head as more tears fill overwhelm her eyelids.

And oh boy, HR then continues, "My friend's cat just had a litter. SHe has too many cats. Tons of them. I can get you a cat. You want a new cat? No? Are you sure? It's free. You don't have to pay anything."

During this exchange between she and Pregnant, HR has caught my gaze and can see that I'm trying not to laugh as I continue to snack away. I can now tell that she wants to laugh too and was looking for support from the kitchen crowd.

I may be unintentionally mean by finding all this hysterical, but I'm not as cold-hearted as to laugh at a crying pregnant woman's death of a cat by suicide. Before my actions turn really insensitive, I make a dash for the door as if I just realized that I'm late to some meeting. HR quickly follows my lead and trails behind me. "You cold-hearted b*tch", I hear her whisper behind me. Once she's caught up to me, we're far from the scene of the crime and I can finally let out a giggle. She joins me in laughter. "What is wrong with you?"

"Me? Oh, excuse me. Do you want a new cat to replace your pain? It's free. Come on, because that was so sensitive!. She obviously thinks a lot of her cat. You can't treat it like an object that can be replaced."

"Really?" HR's serious tone would almost make you believe that she wasn't smiling at the time she said this.

"You wanna hear what else?", I continue, "Her cat jumped out of the window."

"Stop lying!"

"Her cat jumped out of the window. Thud."


This refreshed my day. With all the serious moments I've had this past month about death I got to laugh at it today. Sorry, Cat.

look Ma... no hands!

I am twenty-five years old and cannot ride a bike. Never learned to. Don't even recall ever being on a bike with training wheels even. I think my first time on a bike was on an exercise bike in college. My mom (rightfully so is what I can now admit) never let me hang out with the "up to no good" kids on the block.

This was my secret for a long time. Then I slowly started telling a few people here or there who I thought maybe wouldn't laugh at me. Most times I was successful. I even told Kevin who has a knack for brutally laughing at my expense, at all times.

I can't ride just yet but I did have my first bike ride ever last night. After weeks of harrassment, I finally gave into letting Kevin give me a lesson but on my terms. Late at night with no one around on a desolate street. I didn't think Kevin would find such a street in Brooklyn but long behold, he did.

A police patrol was nice enough to stop us and ask if we were okay. Gotta love the NYPD. We were in Crown Heights, I guess I should just be happy that they didn't shoot us. I was so embarrassed, got over it, and unsuccessfully tried to both pedal and keep my balance at the same time.

I hit one parked car after the very first time I actually rode the bike in a steady line. Kevin yelling out "Yeah, Nomad. Go Nomad! Look at you! You're doing it!" broke my concentration. I saw the SUV and at my speed, I'm sure it saw me but I didn't know how to stop. We didn't get to that part of the lesson till later.

a day like every other

"Would you be interested in coming to a Black Panther meeting?"

I shook my head, "No."
(Wait, did I not say "No, thank you"? Where are my manners! Anyway...)

"Do you know what the Black Panthers represent?"

I nodded.

"May I ask why you won't come?"

"Not interested."

"Okay, I respect that my Sister. Have a good day."

I smiled, and bowed my head. "Thank you. You too."

Just another day of waiting for the train during Monday morning rush hour. I fuc|(ing love this fuc|(ing city.

what to do?

I was in a predicament yesterday that I hadn't found myself in for a while: I was bored, 5PM. Gorgeous day in NYC and I'm sitting in my apartment with a loss of what to do next.

I've stopped property hunting weekends because I've made an offer on a place and am hoping that goes through, so no more of that.

I took a 4hr nap on Friday as soon as I got home. If you want to be technical about it, the nap started on the subway ride home. So no more of that was necessary.

I did not want to read in my apartment and the fire escape is out of the question because I don't trust those things. Plus, I kinda live in the hood and I didn't want to be a 'hey ma' target for anyone walking by.

Taxes are in. Did not need to file an extension so kudos to me.

I did not have a to-do list! So it turns out I don't know how to put one foot in front of the next without this. How sad.

I wound up taking the train to Manhattan since I didn't think driving in would be a stress-free situation plus I decided to go to two very high traffic locations to get two small errands out of the way.

I went to Whole Foods for the first time and chose the Union Square location for the debut. If I ever wanted to appreciate being in my quiet 1br in Brooklyn 30 minutes earlier, stepping on yuppies' flip flops when trying to move forward made me do that. Nonetheless, I got the new hair product I'm going to start using daily.

I then went to 34th St. to drop in on "Jack's World." Jack's is a huge discount store behind Manhattan Mall that has one floor dedicated to dollar items. I was unsuccessful in sticking to the loose list in m head of just some hair and cleaning products. I strayed and bought $3 of cheap cosmetics only to come home and realize that I have no idea what to do with eye shadow.

where's cheeky?

The first time this happened to me at work this was not a big deal, kind of a predictable outfit.













A few weeks later I thought I'd try something similiar but spiced up a bit it up without the use of an iron or an addition to my closet. I can't wear the black slacks again until I iron them. And oooh, let me add some color. Green, perhaps? White or red would be too predictable. The result was as follows:

i know i'm getting old when i see little kids on the street act a fool and i wanna smack them. and by little kids i mean anyone under the age of 21 (and i'm 25)

the irony

So I came home to some hard news. My friend's brother passed away. He's the same optimistic friend I wrote about a few weeks ago when his brother first went into a coma. Today is also the birthday of one of my close girl friends.

at least the smoke detector didn't go off

I made mozzarella sticks for the first time today. What a disaster. I can't bring myself to just throw away food, especially because I know there are way too many hungry people in the world (though they would've probably just been happy with the cheese as-is minus the breadcrumb and egg mixture intricacy). So I ate some, threw away the pieces that got stuck to the paper towel( I shouldve used wax paper like it said in the directions), and saved the rest for a rainy and very hungry day.

the joke's on me

Short version: I have keys to Kevin's studio. He was out of town for a week. So I let myself in and rearranged all his furntiture.

Kevin and I have a great hate/love/hate relationship. He's the male friend who everyone think I'll end up with only because they don't know any better. We work as friends but not as long term roommates so I think marriage is out of the question for this reason and many others.

I have keys to his studio and he has keys to my apartment. We do this for the convenience of letting ourselves in when we visit but also for the security of having a spare set of keys. Kevin was out of town for a week and I decided to have a little fun. So I let myself in and re-arranged all of his furniture. I didn't do this completely out of malice. I meant to help him appear to have more space in his studio, but I also thought of how funny it would be to mess with his OCD.

I flipped all the furniture from one side of the room to the other, and angled his bed differently and to a new wall. In the kitchen, I simply lowered one of his shelving units. I thought the height difference to be minimal enough to throw him off while he wondered what was different with his new picture. I had to wait two whole days for his return and reaction shortly thereafter.

He called me on his return day.
Kevin: Hey Nomad. Miss me?
Me: Never. What's up?
K: What are you doing this weekend? Wanna come over?
Me: I don't think I'm doing anything. Okay.
K: You know what we should do?We should fix up my apartment.

So at this point, I think he's onto me. And in retrospect, what was I thinking? HE has keys to MY apartment too!

Me: Okay. Hey, what's that noise in the back? Where are you?
K: I'm on the train, leaving the airport now.
Me: Oh okay, well since you're not home yet I'll let you go. See you this weekend.

Ninety minutes later I get a text message.
"Haha!LMAO. I owe you some good sex Nomad. You're officially my girlfriend now."

Damn him. The only satisfaction I got out of this was when I saw him a few days later. Kevin's brother was crashing at the studio, kept the secret secret, and helped me move the heavier furniture. The brother left before Kevin returned so when Kevin saw the rearranged apartment he thought his brother had stolen something because the new layout made it look like there was missing furniture.

my iron forecast

It's amazing how long I've gone without ironing. I never thought it was possibly but laziness has made me more inventive.

My minimal spending budget has inspired many new outfits out of existing pieces that I stopped wearing altogether. Maybe to conmemorate the fact that I began a new fiscal year, and that i survived the Month/Quarter, and Year-end activites (all while being guided by a uncommunicative trainer who liquid dances on his spare time and has very little social skills) I should iron everything iron-able in my closet. And maybe then I wont have to iron again till next quarter.

I made it to Spring without buying any new clothing. Now I'm setting myself up to see how much I can hold off buying until i move. It's a little neurotic but i see something i like and tell myself that it's coming out of my down payment, this has done the trick so far.

One thing I do know is that once I start shopping again, umm, I need a lil more color in my wardrobe. I went through a tans and neutral phase, and now I'm stuck in black and dark colors. I can't even blame the fact that i'm back in nyc, cuz the clothes were part of my repertoire before I got here.

Actually, I have made one purchase this year that was completely understandable. I got pearls! A co-worker went to China and I told her to bring me back 30 dollars worth of any pearl she could find since the pearl market there is inexpensive. I was very happy with the results. $30 USD later I had a set of earrings and a bracelet that I happily wore and was completely distracted by for the first two days I wore them.

Being who I am, what else was I to rock it with on a ironing strike? Why cargo pants, tim's, and a button down of course. Have i ever mentioned liking my job's dress code policy?No midriffs, nor workout clothes. The end.

well, what do you know

At the burial the pastor read a verse that stuck with me. Well it stuck with me in terms of me thinking "I need to google what he just said." (I guess this does prove that I am of the Millenia(?) generation).

I've never heard of Thessalonians so after unsuccessfully googling the search terms "Corinthians mourn", I found it:

1 Thessalonians 4:13
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

If not for faith, I should pick up the book every now and then just for the literature. Good stuff.

I've accompanied some of my friends to some church services over the past few years. To be honest, I am usually distracted from what the pastor is saying by the show, for lack of a better word, around me : mostly it's the people dropping to the ground, or speaking in tongues. I always stare and wonder if they're faking it.

oops/yay

I had to pull one of my more recent posts; it was a rant about Yankee Stadium. A friend erroneously informed me that there was going to be a new stadium in Manhattan. I had an online fit. But it's over now, they're just moving across the street. The Bronx Bombers will still be in the Bronx.

Another more important note that's cheered me up: I spent the past two days with one of my best friends. Sadly, she was in town for her dad's funeral. I made the wake as originally planned and even made the burial despite getting caught in a 2.5h ride to her house that normally takes 40-60 minutes depending on traffic conditions. I worry like it's my job and so I was relieved to find her in a good state given the circumstances.



I finally went to the dentist this morning and have no new cavities. This always brightens me up because the first time I went to the dentist I was 7 or 8 and I had four cavities. These were in the days before the nice white fillings so I've been robo-mouth ever since. On my way back it ocurred to me that I could maybe ask the dentist to go over my existing cavities with the new white filling. I would most likely have to pay for it out of my own pocket but who cares? I didn't pay for any of the other procedures I had today.

The father of one of my best friends passed away a few days ago. The email was sad and unexpected. With that said, I don't feel like writing much. Just been thinking about a lot of stuff as a result. Luckily works keep me busy during the day.

The only funeral I've ever attended was four years ago. It was for someone who was like a father to me but I never really thought about it or realized it until his passing. I'm attending the wake for my best friend but I'm still not sure if I have it in me to attend the burial.