The New Place

So I finally got it together and have a whole album of photos of my new place on Facebook. You can see it by clicking this link. This is a public link, so even if you are not a member of Facebook you can still see the pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Just to put this in perspective - this apartment is nearly three times as big as my apartment in NYC. It has two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a dining area, living room, kitchen (with a dishwaser!!), includes water and two parking spaces, all for $1350/month. Split two ways I'm paying significantly less than I did in NYC. I do love and miss Phyllis and the fam in Jamaica, but I am really digging the new situation. :-D

Fun Times in Los Angeles

Greetings loyal readers. Thank you for your patience while I've settled into my new place in Los Angeles. After a week of unpacking, three trips to Ikea, countless trips to Target, a pilgrimage to Wal Mart, and lots of assembling, I finally feel I am totally settled into my place and am now able to focus on the rest of my life.

Where to begin. I arrived on June 30 without a hitch. I was astonished by the beauty of our apartment. Brand new dark hardwood floors, tons of light, perpetual breeze, brand new light fixtures, dishwasher, central air... I could go on and on. The movers came very late that night (9pm), and after taking all of my money and demanding more, all my stuff made it in. My roommate arrived the next day and was equally impressed by our new digs. We spent a good part of the following five days together getting the apartment whipped into shape. I will put up a separate post devoted to the new place.

Now that I've had some time to bop around, Los Angeles seems pretty awesome. My neighborhood reminds me a lot of Queens, just more spread out and much louder. The house next to us has four yapping dogs and a screaming dysfunctional family... fantastic. Worth the fantastic view and killer breeze, though. The demographic here is largely Mexican - lots of fun shops and restaurants.

I've noticed some interesting things about LA thus far. First, the weather is gorgeous. I don't know if this is normal, but it has remained sunny in the low 80s with no humidity and a glorious ocean breeze. Second, apparently there are no regulations as far as where one can purchase alcohol. Our local CVS has an entire aisle of hard liquor at really decent prices. Who knew? Having become so used to the immense congestion of NYC, everything seems pretty tame around here (unless of course you're at Ikea on a holiday weekend). There's a lot more room for cars and a lot less pedestrian traffic. Even the infamous weekday gridlock hasn't been a big deal, though to be fair I haven't really been commuting. I've been very lucky to have a good friend (who is also a foodie) who has been showing me the neighborhoods and all the good spots for great and affordable food. Already I've discovered tremendous Vietnamese noodles just down the street from my house and phenomenal Sushi in Little Tokyo. Yum. I have also collected a ton of random little anomalies. For example, you can't get Poland Springs water here. Also, there are very few if any mailboxes; you have to either give your mail to the carrier or drive to a post office.

The more I travel around, the more I am in love with where I live. Below is a map showing me in relation to school, Hollywood, and downtown. Blue marker is my house, the apple is USC, movie reel is Hollywood, and the purple is downtown. Up next, all about the apartment and its location.

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