The Cellar Door

August 26, 2007

My first month

Filed under: life — oglezah @ 9:22 pm

I am now going into my fourth week in nyc and I’m just starting to love it. My first three weeks were a bit rough thanks to my luck running out in many areas of my life, including but not limited to housing and speeding tickets. By the end of this month I’ll have lived in 5 places in one month! But thank God for a great and fulfilling new job and for amazing friends. I’m beginning to conquer the subway system, I’m finally moving into a more permanent apartment in the financial district next weekend, I’ve successfully given directions to lost tourists, and I’m IN LOVE with the city’s energy.

August 1, 2007

Ciao Manhattan!

Filed under: life — oglezah @ 2:51 pm

Here I am, day 3 in the capital of the world.  It’s been exciting, exhausting, exhilirating, exuberant, excruciatingly hot, EXCEPTIONAL.  I love it already, although the sentimental gal in me misses DC as well. I am pizza-ed out and whereas before I was in the grasps of the subway system (while in the city last month  I was trapped underground for two hours bouncing between stops I did not want to be bouncing around) I am now in control of its reins. While I am waiting for my real full time job to start next week, my current full time job is apartment hunting and it is the bitch that everyone who’s gone through it calls it.  Although no closer to a place to live than I was when I first got here, I am getting to know what’s out there, what’s for me, and what’s not for me.  I am pretty certain I would like to with roommates in the downtown area, but open to as far as upper west/upper east.  And if nothing comes out of this (which something will) I am at least getting more familiar with the neighborhoods.

July 24, 2007

Around the world with Google

Filed under: fun, life, travel — oglezah @ 1:54 pm

Since this is my last week at work, I am pretty useless at the office, so I will be travelling the world with Google. This morning, upon reading the news that HIV medics incarcerated in Libya for the past 8 years were released today, I decided to spend some time getting to know Libya. My first destination was the capital Tripoli. Technology is amazing. Google earth now has photos tagged to different areas of each destination, taken by amateur and professional photographers alike. Thanks to this new feature, during my trip to Tripoli where the streets are haphazard, I watched the sunset along the coast, shopped for houseware at a bazaar, got a taste of Islam with visits to several mosques, got cultural at the Green Square, saw some Italian architecture at the Tripoli Cathedral, and met the Colonel via billboards. The last time I was in the Mediterranean was 3 years ago while in Spain–today it was just as beautiful on the south end as it was on the north end. Unfortunately I was not able to work on my tan. I also did a whirlwind of a trip to England to check out the Severn River that flooded the small town of Tewkesbury last night. This cute little English town boasts cute little Elizabethan houses that is a pollination between suburb and a Shakespearan scene. This afternoon I hope to make my way back to North Africa and visit Algeria, the hometown of my soon to be ex-lova.

I can’t wait for what the rest of this week’s travels beholds! So far, my itinerary includes North Korea, Japan, and the Middle East, particularly Iran, Iraq, and Dubai. I love maps…and cities. Thanks google!

July 11, 2007

Cultural Immersion

Filed under: DC, architecture, art, books, movies — oglezah @ 9:51 am

I have been Miss Culture this past week with my visits to The Corcoran’s Modernism exhibit, the National Museum of Women in the Art’s Free-da Kahlo Day, and the Chuck Klosterman book reading at Wonderland last night. And I think I need more of this in my life, to be fed by art, architecture, and all things creative.

The Modernism exhibit was amazing to say the least. It had everything from teapots to chairs, original drawings to scale models, oil paintings to bronze sculptures. This was the era I should have lived in: it was about defining a utopia through art and architecture. One of my favorite pieces there was the Mies van der Rohe original drawing of the Ontwerp Friedrichstrasse. Architects don’t make beautiful drawings that generate emotions like that anymore; today’s version of it would be a 3d rendering from China with metal panels, developer-style, trying to imitate reality as best as possible. Within Modernism was one movement after another, or beside each other in different countries: precisionism, futurism, da-da, etc.;I was especially fascinated with the difference between the subjectivists and the constructivists, mostly because I’m still not quite sure what the difference is. Modernism seems to be where industrialism and existentialism collide. Houses were machines for living, yet art, architecture and literature could create whatever meaning one desired in their lives.

And then there was Frida. Wow. She was a woman who lived her life passionately, despite all obstacles. I highly recommend watching the movie before going to the exhibit. The exhibit had amazing photographs of her, she had this intensity in her eyes that blew me away. Love letters. Photographs of her body cast. I hope I find a passion that gives me that same kind of intensity one day.

And then last night I met Chuck Klosterman, the advanced guru of pop culture. I am not a follower of pop culture, but I got into him when the cover of his book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs would catch my eye every morning in the hands of my fellow readers on the bus. So I picked up his new book at the Harvard bookstore during my Thanksgiving in Boston trip. And since then I’ve been addicted to his writing. I only know maybe 1% of the things he talks about in his books and during his reading, but the way he analyzes and dissects his topics is like a comedy show for me. Very different, very refreshing. And similar (but way more insightful) to the way I look at life. And the best end to the evening: after the reading my friend Kevin and I went to dinner down the street at the newest contributor to gentrification in Columbia Heights, and as we were sitting outside digesting our meal, we saw Chuck hailing a cab with his buddies so we ran down the street and yelled “Bye Chuck!” And as he elusively disappeared into the cab he said “Thanks for coming out!” And to top off my brush with pop culture’s most advanced guru, I watched the new Harry Potter movie last night. I’ve never read the books, nor watched the movies consecutively so I went in expecting to fall asleep (it was after all a midnight show) but surprisingly, I was able to follow the movie and be entertained by cool effects and a good story line.

And that my friend, was a lot of deep-linking, my new buzzword. (Last week’s was “Another one bites the dust.”)

This weekend I would like to do the National Portrait Gallery, as well as a day at the pool.

July 6, 2007

Filed under: architecture, cities — oglezah @ 3:53 pm

The list of the top 25 urban elements that make our cities around the world.

July 5, 2007

Wednesdays off

Filed under: fun, life, music — oglezah @ 10:04 am

America would be a happier country if we had every Wednesday off to set off fireworks. It’s like you have two weekends every week. Monday becomes a Thursday and Tuesday becomes a Friday, which leaves only the best days of the week because everyone loves Thursdays, Fridays, and the weekend. So here’s to a two weekend week!

July 4, 2007

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Filed under: Uncategorized — oglezah @ 10:01 pm

June 27, 2007

Words of Wisdom

Filed under: design, humor — oglezah @ 1:39 pm

To fellow bathroom designers: Please do not use light colored glossy tiles on the floor of bathrooms with floating partitions, as this material tends to show unseemly reflections from the stalls next door.

June 26, 2007

Filed under: environment, humor, politics — oglezah @ 3:59 pm

America’s answer to global warming.

June 24, 2007

Locked Out

Filed under: adventure, humor, life — oglezah @ 4:00 pm

Have you ever been locked out on a roof deck? It’s way worse than getting locked out of your house. Today I went to work to photograph a site model I did for my project. As it was a beautiful day out, I took the photo shoot to the roof deck. I’m taking photographs, and realize the model would be easier to photoshop with a black background. So I try to go back in to get some black cardboard, AND THE DOOR IS LOCKED. *@#@$#@%(($#*% IT’S A SUNDAY AND NO ONE IS AROUND I’M GOING TO HAVE TO JUMP ONTO THE FREEWAY OR JUMP DOWN THREE STORIES BUT I DON’T WANT TO DIE OR BREAK A LEG SO I’M GOING TO HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE ROOF TONIGHT AND MY BOSS IS GOING TO COME IN TOMORROW AND WONDER WHY THE HELL IS THIS GIRL SLEEPING ON MY ROOF OMG WHY ARE THERE NO WINDOWS OPEN OMG HOW DID THE DOOR LOCK BEHIND ME??? BUT MAYBE I CAN PICK THE LOCK OPEN BUT HOW DO I PICK OPEN A LOCK WHEN ALL I HAVE IS A CAMERA AND A MODEL?? OR MAYBE I CAN BREAK OPEN A WINDOW BUT THEN I’LL OWE MY BOSS A MILLION DOLLARS AND I’LL PROBABLY LOSE MY JOB THERE’S GOT TO BE A BETTER SOLUTION. Those were the thoughts running through my head as fast as my heart was beating. So i’m banging on all the windows, banging on the door, jumping over guardrails, looking down the three stories hoping someone is coming up to the office. I even break my metal bracelet to try to pick the lock open. And then I notice that a few windows are not locked. I try and try to open them with my bare hands, no luck. I look around the roof for pieces of metal and concrete that could help me in this endeavor. I manage to pry open a crack in one of the windows with a 1 inch long, 1/2 inch diameter metal tube. Thanks to that piece of metal, I escaped breaking a leg, dying, and/or sleeping on the office roof. And thanks to poorly detailed windows, all I have is a few scratches from being squashed under the weight of the window.

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