My New Apartment

As I sit in my new apartment, the windows letting in a nice unfamiliar breeze, the birds chirp and the sound of children playing, horns honking and the trees rustling in the wind-- make me glad to be out of my confined asylum I use to call an apartment. It's strange how things play out in the scheme of things and I never anticipated moving 3 times in 3 months. It's taken a lot of adjustment and a lot energy to haul your life from Florida to New York and then from apartment to apartment, up 4 flights of stairs and a car ride loading and unloading your belongings. Despite it all I'm happy to be where I am now. I can already sense the relief of having my own place minus the regulation and sly remarks. The situation is better and I'm really looking forward to getting this place all set up the way I want it. That said-- I have absolutely nothing! There are no pots, pans, or plates. I do have a bed though, so there is an upside to it all. In the two months that I'll be completing July 8th-- the only thing I've managed to accumulate is two night stand tables and more clothes for work. Other than that-- I'm starting pretty much from scratch with the whole apartment items. However, this luxury affords me the chance to invest in some things that I've been wanting for a while now. Once everything gets settled-- and I get at least a few more checks-- I fully intend on buying a flat screen, flat panel LCD 720p television and accompanying surround sound system. It's a staple in any man's apartment. With all the change that has been going in the last couple of months living in New York-- I've realized that I'm officially doing this all on my own. No help from the parents. It's strange-- and exciting to know that I can afford to pay my rent, utilities and manage my own money without having to rely on calling for more. At times, it's a bit of a challenge and it takes discipline not to go out and blow it all on that t.v., but I make up for it by going out and having a good time (such as last night). Interestingly enough I never wanted last night to turn out the way it did. I was only going to have dinner with my buddy Chris from London and maybe a few beers before meeting up with my favorite person in the world Tami ;). We checked out this really fantastic sports bar with the best burger I've had (sober) in NY. The place as called Pour House on 11th and 3rd ave. Aside from the good burgers, they had a wide selection of beers and more t.v.'s than Best Buy. As we waited for Tami and her girls to show up to the city (they live in Long Island)-- we knocked back a few brewskies. We met up with them and were going to go to this "hoppin" bar called Joshua's Pub, but the line was unnecessarily long, so we opted for the place next door. It was your typical NY bar with low lighting, modern couches, red accent lighting, thumping music blasting as the videos play on the flat screen t.v.'s etc. etc. etc. We immediately jump into a round of SoCo and Lime shots and order some gin and tonics. As a working man it's nice to afford to treat your good mates once in a while to a couple of drinks. The gesture undoubtedly gets repaid. Needless to say, Chris, Tami, her friend and I were out for a good time, as we began order shots of Patron (which even just typing it makes me cringe a bit inside) and Jueger. A couple gin and tonics later I am wasted, but perhaps the most interesting (or annoying depending on who you ask) thing about last night is the amount of UF people I ran into that I knew. Most of which lived in my building back in Campus Lodge, so it was primarily AEPhi girls... all of which are nice enough to pretend like they know me (because we did living the same building and I did date one of their sisters) but really could give two shits. Quite frankly-- neither do I. It's just nice to see what I'm not missing anymore about Gainesville. I did happen upon one old friend (who spotted me from across the bar) who was stopping in NY before her flight to Rome to study abroad-- Emily. She was awesome to run into and looks great. She was never one of the typical bitchy sorority girls. I also ran into my friend Ali from UF who will be starting law school in the fall, and whose sister I studied abroad with and Chris also knew. Small world or popular bar? I can't say which.