Saw The Smurfs Movie In Production

Yesterday I went to the East Village for Thursday morning bootcamp and ran in to the filming of the upcoming Smurfs movie.

Living in NYC, it's not uncommon to see movies and tv shows being filmed, but this one was particularly exciting as I was OBSESSED with the Smurfs when I was a kid. I used to collect the little plastic Smurf figurines.

Apparently it's going to be live action movie with Neil Patrick Harris playing a human, but also with Smurfs. I don't know.....

Fred Armisen is the voice of one of the Smurfs which is cool. And Hank Azaria is the voice of Gargamel. But Katy Perry as Smurfette? Come on!

Saw Shakira Perform on TV Twice In One Day

Sorry if you missed me the last two days, I just didn't get to it.

But today something truly important has happened. I saw Shakira perform her new song, "Gypsy" twice on television. First on Ellen and then on American Idol.

This song features the soon-to-be classic lines, "I'm a gypsy, Are you coming with me? I might steal your clothes and wear them if they fit me."

Yes, that's really the chorus.

I have been sitting in front of the TV for too long.

Saw Greatest Cover Band Ever in Times Square / Saw Kendall Meade Tell a Drunk To "Pipe Down" from Her Minivan

Yesterday I saw a band of 50 somethings playing covers after work. They were pretty great. They are playing "Blister In the Sun" by the Violent Femmes in this photo.

Today, actually about 20 minutes ago, I was coming home from dinner with my friend Kendall. We were stopped at a red light listening to Stevie Nicks' "Belladonna" and when the light turned green the cab in front of us stood still while a drunk man put his friend in the cab. We were just sitting there and the drunk dude starting flipping us off rather violently. It was totally weird. He then walked toward the van and Kendall rolled down her window and said, "I didn't do anything, so you better pipe down buddy." He replied, "Kiss my ass." You probably had to be there, but it was pretty hysterical. Kendall doesn't say things like that, in general.

I should mention that this happened in front of The Turkey's Nest on Bedford Avenue. If you live in or near Williamsburg, you know what I'm talking about.

Had a Conversation About What Makes The Sun Burn and For How Long it Can Go On

I was at work tonight and someone asked me, "What make the sun keep burning?"
Which made me think of the Choo Choo la Rouge song called, "">The Kind of Noise You Can't Turn Down" where the lyrics go, "The sun is gonna burn out in just about a billion years or so.--"

Well, as it turns out, after doing some quick iphone google research...the sun is actually going to burn out in about 4 billion years....and what keeps the sun burning is that it is like a thermonuclear bomb. Hydrogen atoms fuse together to make helium atoms and the nuclear reaction produces heat and light.

And that is what keeps the sun burning. Thank you and good night.

Did Circuit Training Boot Camp at Gentry Plaza Park In Long Island City

Proof by means of photographs are forthcoming, but for now you will just have to take my word: today's premiere event was one of vigorous physical triumph. Er, well at least physical exertion.

I've been going to a weekly bootcamp for the last month or so run by my girlfriend's brother, Zack. The people who go to the bootcamp with the exception of me and my friend Michael are all employees of the restaurant that Zack manages, Boqueria. They are all in really good shape and it is quite difficult to keep up with them, but I am doing my best.

Today's activity was circuit training. Today's leader Kate, did a great job of setting up some seriously painful shit. There were 8 stations, approximately, including such activities as lunges, jumping rope, ski jumps, crabwalking, abs, step-ups and more! We did each station for a minute - cued by music on an ipod boombox - for 15 minutes straight. Then we did the whole thing 2 more times. We also played some cruel version of tag that involved pushups and other arm torture.

Exhausted does not do this feeling justice.

Goodnight :)

Spent some time on Lala.com

Yesterday I checked out Lala.com. Lala is a site where you can stream any and all songs on their site for free - but only one time. My songs are up there as well as all the bands on my label Kiam. I think its a pretty cool idea and will definitely use it more in the future.

I perused one of the best of 2009 lists and decided to listen to some of those artists. I can't say I liked too many of them. Oh well, I'll keep looking and listening!

Ok, now to sleep a few more minutes before bootcamp in L.I.C. which is probably what I will write about later for today's entry.

Watched The Pilot Episode of The Sopranos

I watched The Sopranos fairly regularly when it was still on but I certainly didn't see every epidsode of every season and I hadn't seen the pilot episode until yesterday.

I've become a bit obsessed with Edie Falco lately because I love her new show Nurse Jackie. And so, this led me to the idea of watching the entire series of The Sopranos. We rented the first disc of the first season last night and watched the first two episodes. I watched the next two episodes today. I think I'm going to have to pace myself with this endeavor though because its such a stressful show. The violence is one thing, but there is something so unsettling in general about the show, at its very core, that runs deeper than just the violent aspect. I'm not exactly sure what it is.

Saw/Worked Fela! (today) / Dreamed That My Girlfriend Was Also Dating Ashton Kutcher (yesterday)

Ok, another two for one Friday/Saturday combo

TODAY. Today I worked a double at the musical Fela! I was happy to be working this show because I hadn't yet and because I am a fan of Fela Kuti's music. What I saw of the show was fantastic. And the music is crazy good. Antibalas is the band and I don't see how they could have chosen a more fitting group.

YESTERDAY. The only thing I can think of of new/noteworthiness that happened yesterday is that I had a dream that my girlfriend was dating Ashton Kutcher. She was still dating me too. I was pretty upset about it in the dream but she seemed to think it was just fine. Normal. No big deal. When I woke up and told her about it, she mumbled something about Demi Moore and went back to sleep.

Used A Neti Pot

I have bad allergies!!! I used a NETI POT today for the first time and I'm excited that it will give me some relief. It did a little today. It feels weird though sticking that thing in your nose and having water come out the other nostril! What?

In other news, I posted a new song to the Kiam Records blog. I just wrote it. You can download it for free. It's called "How I will Get By or How Will i Get By" I don't know yet. It may sound nothing like this when and if I actually put it on a record. But who knows about these things?

Love,
Jennifer

Met Friend of Pema Chodron on the G Train

I was riding the train home from work tonight, wondering what I was going to write about today in my blog. I gave up thinking about it and picked up my book, "The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron. This is a book I have read many times. Pema Chodron is a buddhist nun and one of my favorite authors. I have read and reread most of her books.

I started reading and then heard someone say, "You are reading Pema." I looked up to see a kind faced lady looking at me. "Yes, I replied, "I'm a big fan."

She proceeded to tell me about how she knew Pema and had worked with her on a project. Pretty cool.

Interesting that I had given up on finding/doing my something new for the day and then it just fell in my lap. Very rarely do I speak to someone I don't know on the subway. Rarer still that the person knows Pema Chodron!

As we parted ways, I found out her name was Sasha. She gave me a "prosperity card" with the number "8" printed on it. It also says, "Prosperity comes frequently and easily".

Sounds good to me.

Received a 10 cent tip. In pennies.

Mailed A Package to Estonia

For those of you who don't know, I am an eBay seller. I have been selling stuff (mostly cds and records) on ebay as a part-time job of sorts since 1998. This is my ebay page/name in case you feel like following my auctions/buying stuff from me.

Today, I sent some cds to someone in Estonia for the first time. That's 12 years of mailing stuff all over the globe. First time to Estonia. Today. April 12, 2010.

What does someone from Estonia buy from me? 2 cds. McCarthy's I Am A Wallet and Air's Moon Safari.

Estonia has a cool flag!

Goodnight,
JO'C

Ran to Queens

After working all week, the last thing I wanted to do was go running today, but I made myself do it anyway. I live right on the border between Brooklyn and Queens and so today I ran to Queens. I never have before. Probably because it involves running over a bridge and that makes the running quite a bit harder. But it was a beautiful day and I went for it.

Out my door and to the right, over the Pulaski Bridge onto 11th Street, down to 43rd Avenue where I turned right, over to Vernon Blvd where I turned left, down to 50th Avenue where I turned left again and then back over the Pulaski Bridge and home. 3 miles, approximately.

I got home and sat on my couch until my legs stopped vibrating. I made a smoothie with strawberries, grapes, whey protein, soy milk, yogurt and peanut butter. I took a shower and slept until it was time for dinner.

We went to Amy's brother Zack's restaurant Boqueria with Jim and his mom Kay. It was delicious and I'm so full I can't speak. Back in bed. All in all a very good Sunday.

Friday and Saturday

Didn't get a chance to write a blog yesterday so I'm doing a two for one today.

Yesterday on the way to work, I saw the above gentleman performing Tom Petty's, "Last Dance With Mary Jane" in Times Square. First of all, stellar choice of songs to play while busking. Secondly and more specifically, great Petty song to choose. I've always wanted to cover that one myself. Sidenote, I'm going to see Tom Petty for the first time on August 24 and I'm super excited.

But let's talk about that guitar. I didn't see what the model was, but look at it! It's an orange Flying V with a built in amp/speaker. He was badass. I asked him silently if I could take his picture and he gave me the nod. Rock on, brother.

How weird! I'm writing this and watching Saturday Night Live and they just showed a photo of Tina Fey playing a Flying V. Right now after I just wrote that description of the dude in Times Square!

Part Two:
Tonight, while I was wondering around on my break I walked right by the Brill Building. I had never seen it before. It kind of took my breath away.

Goodnight,
Jennifer

Rovered

Tonight I worked at a new theater. The musical: Jersey Boys. The position: rovering.
What's that? Rovering is walking around the theater with a contraption strapped to you filled with water and beer and candy.

It was heavy and physical work, but I actually really liked this job. I ran around like a maniac for about a half and hour before the show started and for about 15 minutes during intermission. I sold a bunch of crap and impressed my coworkers.

Stepped On A Grilled Cheese Sandwich Entering A Subway Car / Saw Mayor Bloomberg

Today was special because I did TWO things I've never done before.

First, when I stepped on the train to go to work, I heard a crunch. I looked down and saw that I had stepped directly onto a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich. I looked at a lady sitting on the bench adjacent to the sandwich and she looked back at me and shrugged her shoulders. Only in New York people. The above is an actual photo of said sandwich.

Second, Mayor Bloomberg came to the see HAIR tonight and walked right in front of me while I was working the coat check. He looked handsome.

That is all. Goodnight

Worked At A Broadway Theater

I started a new job today as a bartender/coat check person on BROADWAY. I've finally made it.

Working on Broadway is certainly something I have not done before.

It was pretty fun actually. The shift is short and the work is fairly easy. I sold some peanut m&m's, some Sam Adams, and checked some bags. I heard quite a bit of singing and emoting. All in a day's work.

The people that work at the theater are young and old and they were all quite nice. The audience was made up of mostly tourists, or so it seemed. But I expected that. I heard lots of languages I didn't understand.

I am tired and am working at the theater again tomorrow for the matinee and the night show, so I think I'm going to wrap this entry up quickly. Until tomorrow, when I will do something else new! What could it be? I have no idea.....

Love,
Jennifer

Ran 4 Miles in 47 Minutes

So today I went running. This in an of itself is not something new. But I did run 4 miles in 47 minutes. The fastest time I had run 4 miles prior to today was 49 minutes. So that makes it a first!

I must admit that I'm finding it a bit hard to come up with new things to do everyday that I haven't done before. Not that its really hard to come up with ideas but that its hard to find the time to do major ones everyday. But then I realized that this project isn't just about doing something totally new and exciting every day. It's about noticing the things that I do - all the things - exciting AND mundane. And usually, even if I don't go out of my way to find something new to do, I usually end up doing something fairly out of the ordinary every day. I just maybe didn't make a point of noticing it before.

So it's about awareness too, not just challenging myself to create new opportunities.

On my run today, I ran to the track (one mile), then I ran 2 miles on the track (8 times around) and then I ran the mile home. The songs that I listened to were "Change My Life" by Spoon, "Equinox" by Cass McCombs, "Keys Open Doors" by Clipse, "Violet Hill" by Coldplay, "I'm Not Angry" by Elvis Costello, "Sovereignty" by Japandroids, "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" by Jay-Z, "Here With Me" by Jennifer O'Connor, "Chop Me Up" by Justin Timberlake, "All Falls Down" by Kanye West and "Takeover" by Jay-Z.

I saw cute babies, fit hipsters, and soccer players. I thought about the new job I'm starting tomorrow and the songs I want to write.

Ate a Chocolate Cream Sprinkle Donut with Hot Pink Sprinkles (for Easter)

Today's new thing that I did wasn't much of a stretch, but it's Easter, so that's my excuse.

There's a famous donut shop in my neighborhood called Peter Pan. I walk by the beautiful display case of drool-inducing donuts almost everyday. Every once in a while I'll have a donut and they really are some of the best donuts I've ever had.

My girlfriend Amy's favorite donut is the cream chocolate sprinkle donut. It's a glazed donut with pastry cream on top and covered with chocolate sprinkles.

This morning we walked past the shop and the cream chocolate sprinkle donuts were covered with pastel colored sprinkles and they looked like a patch of Easter Eggs.

We went inside and sat down and split a pink one. It was wonderful and uniquely special in its pinkness.

Happy Easter everyone!

Love,
Jennifer

Walked Over The Williamsburg Bridge

Choo Choo la Rouge played at Cakeshop tonight and I decided I would walk there. It was 70 degrees today and I've become a fairly physically active lady lately, so I thought I'd walk from my apartment in Greenpoint to the venue, which is in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The map program on my phone told me it would take one hour and 5 minutes to get there and it did almost exactly!

I walked down Manhattan Ave, took a right on Bedford Ave and then another right to get on the bridge. A dude on a skateboard came barreling toward me almost immediately. His friend on a bike behind him, said "That was awesome" to me. Uh huh.

I listened to The Replacements on shuffle on the entirety of my walk. Some songs I heard were "Waitress in the Sky", "Unsatisfied", "Back to Back" "Seen Your Video" "Kiss Me On the Bus", "I Will Dare". Good walking music.

By the time I got the the middle of the bridge, I was thinking about how I had never walked over this bridge before. I had walked (and biked) over the Brooklyn Bridge many times, but not in quite awhile. I'm not a person that is especially fond of heights, so at the beginning of the walk on to the bridge, I was a little bit nervous, but by the time I reached the middle, I was feeling pretty good about my endeavor and myself.

I read the graffitti: "Graffiti is Lame" "You Are Out of Your Element" "Think Low Carb"

Anyway, I got to thinking about how doing things you don't normally do is a good practice. I also thought, "What if I tried to do something I have never done before every day". And then, "What if I wrote about it - like in a blog...."

So that's how I got here.

I'm going to try to do this everyday. First, do something I've never done before, whether big or small and then write a little something about it. And maybe post a picture or two.

My little project.

Day 1.

Love,
Jennifer