Yesterday, I looked at several apartments in Manhattan. These two stood above the rest.

This first one was beautiful exposed brick, slanted ceiling with skylight, top floor, wood floors, older charm, dishwasher, and a small walk in closet. All is good except the living room would be really crushed for my furniture and there isn’t a lot of wall space for art.

This next one was middle floor, wood floors, older charm, large living room, average bedroom, typical tiny New York City closet, a storage cubby above the kitchen, lots of wall for art, and what looks to be a working fireplace. All is good except the bedroom floor is slightly slanted.

I put a hold on the 2nd apartment.

I’m moving! Looking for Found another home that meets my desires. Well, at least my needs and hopefully my desires. So what are they?

• Location
  1. Manhattan: below 34th St
  2. Brooklyn: no more than 2 stops from Manhattan on any subway line A, C, L, etc.
  3. No more than 10 min walk from a subway station
  4. A 24 hour bodega within 2 blocks
  5. The location can be sketchy; I’m tough and unafraid.
• Size if just for me
  1. ~600 sq ft
  2. 1 bedroom at least 15×10 plus a closet
  3. Kitchen(ette), bathroom
  4. Few windows, more wall space; I’m ok with the dark
• Size if I”m master lease holder and will sublet to others
  1. 2500-5000 sq ft
  2. 3-5 bedrooms
  3. Kitchen, 1-2 bathrooms
  4. Still want lots of wall space
• Style? I prefer rawish spaces; e.g. I don’t want to build out a bathroom or kitchen
• Yearly lease

Leads on empty places, partial spaces, roommates, shared living, etc. are appreciated and can be sent to .

Also, read in the New York Post today to Brrace Yourself for Fuel $pike. The good part of the article says the Eastern US could be on the verge of its coldest, snowiest winter since at least 2003-4; that winter will start early this year with December bringing perhaps the most severe weather of the season.

YAHOO!!!! Blizzards! Snow! Brown slush! I wananananana want it!

When I first moved to New York City in 2007, I was possessed by the subways; those mysterious tunnels that transported me from one neighborhood to another and sometimes under water. Now that I’ve been here over a year, I better understand where the neighborhoods are and the lines run. The mystery fading away.

Until tonight.

You see, I’m starting to look for vast dark spaces in New York City to preview an installation I’m building for Burning Man 2009. I heard of the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage and that it closed permanently in 2001 due to security paranoia. An anchorage is a large, very stable stone structure on either side of a bridge. Creative Time used it for eighteen years as a forum for the exploration of artists working in many disciplines including new media, music, fashion, film, design and video. Visitors compared the cathedral-like vaults (nearly 50 feet high) to Piranesi’s “Carceri”, to ancient catacombs and to the austere intimacy of a monastery.

I’ll likely never be able to see them; doubtful put a public installation in them.

While I was reading about the Anchorage, I found the book New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City by Julia Solis. Its a collection of images with history, legends, and facts of the places we don’t see underneath New York City; its abandoned train stations, cathedral crypts, and subterranean hospital passageways, and other delectable places.

Now, my mystery and wonder of the subway is back. And, I am still looking for that amazing vast dark space for the preview. Anyone know of?

I’m fully ill now. *blech* As I was coming home, I noticed the light which shines up from the old Twin Towers location. Its nearing September 11th. So maybe I was sick or maybe I was moved. Either way, I got out my camera and tripod and took some pics.

New York’s skyline is amazing. I wonder what the city will be like in a few days. My building is next door to a Catholic cathedral and I took pics of their steeple.

I called my friend, Heath, today to hear of his skydive this past weekend. He loved it. I heard the excitement in his voice and it reminded me of when I jumped from a plane in the late 90s with Scott Daniels, Brian Gorr, and other Seattle friends.

It was for someone’s birthday; I think Scott’s. We headed out to western washington; across the water west of Seattle. Once there we took the training class and waited a long time. It was a busy day and lots of jumpers were queued up. While we were waiting, we went to a local store to goof off. I grabbed two Furby toys. (I’ve had fun with them ever since. My house cleaner would position them in different places or holding different things. Sometimes, I would accidentally knock them and they would spring to life talking or playing games together.)

It was finally my time to go up in the plane. It was the pilot and pairs of instructor/novices. There was no door on the plane. I was strapped on to the front of my instructor and as we got closer to our jump location, he pulled me in tight. Super tight. As in we-move-as-one-body tight. I asked him how we jump. He smiled and said, “We fall out of the plane.”

That didn’t make any sense to me.

“Huh?”, I said. He said, “We will rock back and forth at the edge of where there should be a door; 1-2-3 and we would just roll and fall out.

And we did.

We were rolling head over foot, spinning around in all directions. One second I see the group, the next I see the plane getting smaller and smaller. And then it hits me. There is nothing holding me up. There is no ground for me to quickly land on my feet. I’m free falling through the air thousands of feet up. I LOVE IT!

The instructor, still strapped tight to my back, stopped us from spinning and we were falling face first. If the chutes failed, which is very unlikely, I would likely die hitting the ground at terminal velocity (120 mph) by bouncing. Bouncing is when you hit the ground so hard that your bones break and you become more…umm…gelatinous and bounce back in the air.

I wasn’t thinking that then. Instead, I was just enthralled with the swooshing sound of the air as we fell through it, the freefall feeling, and the ground getting closer. It is one-of-a-kind and amazing. Very freeing. Eventually, he opened the chute and I was bored.

Later, I went to the gym, took some urban shots, saw a “Doggie In the Window”, met friends for a few drinks, and made a new friend who is 6′7.5″ tall. Wow!

Before heading off to a date, I suddenly heard and felt a loud BOOM. I asked my house mate who also heard it and we went out on our rooftop deck. There, we saw lots of people on their roofs and found out that something exploded under the street and sent a manhole cover shooting into the air. I could see it from my roof, it was on the same corner as my building.

Maybe one or two minutes after the explosion, fireman and police were on site. They didn’t seem too concerned. They went into some nearby basements. Walked around the manhole. Watched as it sent out green and yellow flames with like smoke. Eventually, they took some yellow tape and garbage cans and blocked off a small area around it. Meanwhile people and cars were free to go by.

I soon jetted off to a date. We met in the East Village and headed West towards the Hudson River. Took a couple of pictures along the way; beautiful tower on a public library that was a courthouse in the past, a real gas lamp outside a townhouse. Finally, we ended up on the pier at the end of Christopher Street and laid on the grass for a few hours. It was fun hanging out and, as he’s a modern dancer, we did some contact dance and weight transfer exercises while canoodling. (Ha! “Canoodling” is a great old-school word.) I dropped him off at the (1) subway about 10pm and I headed home.

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped to get a chicken kebab, hummus, and the works. Then over the radio comes a memory, a song from my past. “Give Me Tonight” by Shannon. This and her more well known “Let the Music Play” were two early dance songs that I loved. I can remember driving down the road in my used white Ford Fairmont, with bench seats and a/c which you need in Alabama, listening to Shannon on a cassette tape. I loved “Let the Music Play” but when I heard the whole album, I discovered “Give Me Tonight” which became my favorite of hers. Several remixes of both songs came out around 2000 by Junior Vasquez and Hex Hector and are available online.

Last night, I was having a beer with a new friend. He’s lived in the city for a while and had me in stitches laughing. Then while telling a funny story, he said something amazing. “Nothing is private in New York City.” I think he could be right.

NYC is huge and has millions of people living in small spaces one on top of the other. People leave their tiny homes and go outside. While outside, with millions of people, you can easily overhear conversations in a cafe, on the subway…everywhere. You can easily watch people across the street in their home from your window. Not that I’ve done that. Ah-hem. Finally, people here in the city are brazen and forward. They speak their minds; I love that.

As an example, later in the night, I was having a trivia and dare competition with someone else. It was my turn for a question and the dare was taking my shirt off. Shannon popped in my head and I asked him, “Who sang the song ‘Give Me Tonight’?” Without hesitation he said, “Shannon.” Damn it. So I went double or nothing which meant that I would have to take my shirt and pants off. I thought a little more, still on the 80s kick, and asked who sang the song, “Cum On Feel The Noize”. In my head, the music style for Cum On and Twisted Sister’s “We’re not gonna take it” are very close. Both their videos (Cum On, We’re Not) also destroy houses. Again, not hesitating he said Quiet Riot. And like the trooper I am having no problems with nudity, I took of my shirt and dropped my pants for all to see.

Nothing is private in New York City.

Well lookie here. I have three raccoons which are regularly using my water feature at night as a bathing pool. Being raised in Alabama, I learned that you don’t mess around with raccoons without a weapon. So I turned on the lights in the water, which they seemed to love, and snapped some pics from inside.