Click on the links in the blog itself for relevant photos.
12.07.04: gay choir
12.01.04: blue note
11.26.04: thanksgiving day
11.24.04: MoMA, Balloons, Bronx
11.23.04: Lithuanian in Manhattan
11.21.04: gin, boggle, and the homeless
11.17.04: alumni networking
11.15.04: philly
11.10.04: trying
11.09.04: back
08.22.04: basketball mania
08.09.04: photo from china
08.06.04: camping in elektrėnai
08.05.04
08.02.04
08.01.04: LJ camp
june/july entries
april/may entries
blog
12.07.04: gay choir
went to a concert in the bronx with ellen tonight. the performance was by the gay men's choir of new york, and the show was sponsored by ellen's hospital: bronx-lebanon. there were about 300 people there, and concert was...well...i have to say not very great in terms of music. it was quite inspirational nonetheless to see solidarity among gay men from all areas of life.
on a different note, i had forgotten my cell phone on my way out tonight and didn't notice it until i had walked some steps from my apartment building. i thought for a moment of going back to get it, but i didn't. in lithuania, i would've paid a cab up to 10 lits to go back and get my phone if i left it somewhere. here, it's not so precious. i guess over there it was an intergral part of my job and social life, so it was pretty important. here, more things are accomplished via email, and, well, since i don't have a job at the moment, i don't really need it for that.
-dr-
12.01.04: blue note
Neringa and Andrius were in town again today (they had gone to Washington, D.C. for a couple days). They invited me and Vaiva to the Blue Note Cafe (a famous jazz club in Manhattan). Their program had 2 extra tickets, so everything was free...they picked up the $37 cover, dinner, and 2 drinks. And the jazz was the best I've ever seen live. Dianne Reeves was the artist. Fantastic.
Afterwards, we found a dive bar and sang karaoke late into the night. Vaiva and I sang "Paradise by the dashboard lights," and then later I sang "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with Andrius. Both performances were unbelievably awful, but it was fun as hell. Plus $2 cans of Rheingold beer all night. Sweet.
-dr-
11.26.04: thanksgiving day
what a long day! Neringa and I decided to go to the Macy's parade afterall in the morning. My dad had said you don't have to be there before 8am to get the best spots, so we got there at 8, but there were already tons of people there. Nontheless, I would say we got good spots. You can see pictures on my pictures page (there's 2 pages of parade photos).
Afterwards, Neringa and I met up with Andrius down by Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center towers stood 3 years ago. Very somber. The hardest part is impressing on people who have never seen the towers (and even those who have) how BIG they were. They had to have been at least three times taller than any of the remaining buildings. Pics from that also on my photos page.
Afterwards, we walked around in Battery Park, and thought of going out to the Statue of Liberty, but the line for the Circle Line was insane. We went back to my place to have Thanksgiving. It turned out really nice, because Ellen and one of Andrius' friends also came, so there were seven us in all. Vaiva did an AMAZING job with the dinner. I was very impressed with the huge amount of work she did without blinking an eye. We feasted on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, sweet potatoes (yams), mushrooms, salad, green beans, and Vaiva's mulled cider (YUM!). After we were stuffed, we continued with feasting on pumpkin and apple pies, and ice cream. mmm...and we even did apple pie shots (lick cinnamon off your wrist, take a shot of spiced rum (substituted with Starka in this case), chase with apple cider, and finish off with a spurt of whipped cream in your mouth).
We finished off the night with a trip to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building (also 2 pages of photos in the photos section). It was freezing and very windy, so only about 30 of the over 100 photos came out decent. It was incredibly crisp though, and it was amazing to look down on the greatest city in the world. You could easliy pick out landmarks that were over 10 miles away, although we couldn't even see our apartment back in Queens (but we could see the Pepsi sign).
Overall, a delicious, exciting, tiring Thanksgiving day 2004!
-dr-
11.24.04: MoMA, Balloons, Bronx
Our plans changed a bit today, due to terrible weather. Doens't make much sense to go out to the Statue of Liberty when it's cold and raining. So, Neringa and Andrius went to the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). They spent the whole day there and said it was amazing. I have to get down there one of these Fridays (cuz it's free on Fridays).
After they were done, we met up by the Natural History Museum to go watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons get blown up. You can see photos from the balloon-blowing-up here. It was a great way to see the balloons without having to go to the parade at 6:30am, like nyc.gov say you should to get the best spots.
It started raining a bit, so we high-tailed it up to Ellen's place in the Bronx and ordered Chinese food (photos here. We stuffed ourselves, but maybe we should've taken it a little easier in preparation for Thanksgiving...
-dr-
11.23.04: Lithuanian in Manhattan
While I was in Lithuania, I worked on a parliamentary campaign for Gintaras Steponavicius. His campaign manager, Neringa, arrived today for her second visit to the States, and first visit to New York. After having spent six months in Lithuania where almost every day I would have to answer questions about the differences between Lithuania and America, I'm interested to see what she and this other guy I worked with, Andrius, think of New York.
My sister Vaiva and I showed her Grand Central, Times Square, and part of the Upper West side. We met up with Ellen, Andrius, and one his friends at a place called Prohibition, which was very nice. On the way out, we saw a lady who must have been high on crack get arrested. It was weird, because she was screaming curses at the top of her lungs in a British accent and was dressed in nurse's scrubs, but she overpowered the one officer who was there when we got out. He handcuffed her, and then 5 other cop cars and 2 ambulances showed up. Pretty amazing sight for me, not to mention a first-time-in-New Yorker.
Afterwards, Ellen went to Tower Records to get the new U2 cd. They had a free show in New York yesterday which we found out about too late, but we saw them on SNL. I would actually like to hear the new album, because their performance on SNL was really good, and because Ellen is the best!
Tomorrow on schedule is to go to Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, SOHO, and then go watch the Thanksgiving Day parade balloons get inflated. Oh, and hopefully I will get a job.
-dr-
11.21.04: gin, boggle, and the homeless
Went to a potential employer to take an "admin test" today. This means sitting in front a computer for 2 hours and answering test questions on Microsoft Word and Excel. The worst part was the questions I couldn't answer quickly. They were the trickier things like making a header appear only on one page. Rgh. But I did pretty well on it, and they called me while I was still on my way home to schedule an interview, so we'll see how that goes on Monday.
Ellen came over a little while later, and she, Vaiva, and I played this game called Boggle. It has 16 6-sided dice, with a letter on each side. You put them on a board and then try to make words using the letters showing, but you can't reuse letters, and they have to be touching. You get one point for every 4-letter word, and more points for longer words. And as with any game, it was made more interesting with gin. Ellen zonked out around 1, but Vaiva and I played to 400 points (2am), and came out exactly tied.
Ellen and I went to a soup kitchen in Brooklyn Saturday morning. It was weird. I have always been a fan of programs and organizations that stress an individual's worth, and that foster self-help. I believe in things like Gintaras Steponavičius' thought up slogan for the Liberal Center Union party in Lithuania: "Tu gali" (You can). I'm not saying that soup kitchens are a bad thing, but it didn't seem to me like the people coming in there were in dire need of food. Plus, I felt like most of the people who were there for this one-time Thanksgiving Day prep day were wealthy white college grads who wanted to feel better about themselves. It felt like they were all using the soup kitchen for their own needs. In the end, Ellen and I left early, cuz we felt so weird, and weren't really needed. I don't know if I'll go back to one of those.
-dr-
11.17.04: alumni networking
Ellen and I went to a "Boston University Alumni Networking" night last night at a bar in midtown called Social. I had never been to such an event before last night, so I didn't really know what to expect. Not much networking went on, except between some sleazy guys "from the class of 1996" who may or may not have come up from the "8 minute dating" night the floor below us.
Another annoying thing was that most of the people were from the School of Management (SMG, aka Sex, Money, Greed). Now, a couple of my friends are from that school, but they don't fit the typical description. I.E. overheard one conversation where one guy berated another guy for wearing a gold bracelet, saying that it, and his crappy Rockport shoes were not acceptable. The guy on the receiving end even admitted that he looked "a little South Jersey." A nearby girl asked if Movado bracelets are ok. Jeez.
One more thing that sucked and I'll get to a couple good things: the promised food was 3 plates of crappy appetizers for about 70 people, and we were asked to all donate $5 to defray the cost of food. Jerks.
One good thing was that my buddy Selwonk won the biz card lotto for a pair of tickets to Carnegie Hall. The best part is that he threw in a stack of cards right before the drawing! Way to go! I was gonna say that another good thing was the $3 domestic bottles, but after spending the last 6months drinking world class beer at $1 per .5liter, it wasn't much of a deal.
Overall, I got zero business cards, and met only a couple of new people whom I will probably never see again. I also ran into 3 people I recognized, but the recognition was barely mutual. Shitty.
-dr-
11.15.04: philly
went to philly on saturday. you can see the photos here. went with ellen, jen and gerry. Gerry drove and also paid for an awesome room in the Marriott downtown (he got it really cheap through Priceline). The room had free wireless internet, so it was cool to try out the wireless card in my computer for the first time somewhere other than the apartment.
we didn't really have any plans when we got there, so we wandered around and found the free-admission Polish-American museum. We also found the mint and the Liberty Bell, but they either cost money or had huge lines, so we stopped in a couple bars before going back to the hotel. There we drank a bit more...enough to not be able to find the restaurant we had planned on going to. So we ended up eating at Chili's, and eating a LOT. When we got back to the room, everyone was so tired that they fell asleep. It was 10:30pm. I wasn't tired, but since there was no booze left, and no one awake to hang out with, I stayed up to watch SNL and then went to bed after.
i also put up the start of a collection of photos of signs that say what not to do. you can find that here.
well, back to the job search grind, but having a website seriously impedes that process... (:
-dr-
11.10.04: trying
now i'm trying to put as many photos as possible on my site, so that people will get to see what photos i took in Lithuania. This is a surprisingly complicated task. I'm surprised at myself that I haven't figured out yet how to do that and this blog in an easier way. I should have my new library card by Friday, so I'll hit the books on what it is I think I need to learn how to do - asp.
Otherwise, things are going well so far. Finally found a normal grocery store that sells meat today. But it's about half and hour away. Who would've thought that there are places in rural Lithuania, where it's easier to find meat than in New York City?
-dr-
11.09.04: back
Well, it's been almost two months since my last post, and will probably be about a month until my next. I spent the last two months finishing off my stay in Lithuania working on the Seimas elections. Based in Vilnius and Lazdynai (a suburb of Vilnius), I worked for the Liberal party and for Gintaras Steponavicius. The party did better than I thought it would, and Steponavicius won his district, so everything turned out well. I just didn't really have access to internet through which I could update my website...not that I really had the time.
I am now back in New York looking for work and updating my resume, and putting up photos from Lithuania on this site. I've got a great view from my family's new apartment. You can see the view on the main page of my photos (for now at least). I'm looking to learn how to use .asp, so that updating this site will be easier, but I've still got to make it down to the library, cuz I'll be damned if I spend a penny gaining computer skills.
-dr-
08.22.04: basketball mania
As you may have guessed, most of my time lately has been spent watching basketball, celebrating Lithuania's wins, and recovering from the celebrations. I watched the last game (where Lithuania beat the US for the first time) at the Forum Palace, where Adamkus' victory party was. The crowd was pretty evenly split between Americans and Lithuanians, since the event was at the invitation of the US embassy.
-dr-
08.09.04: photo from china
My mom came back from China yesterday. She brought a ton of souvenirs back, but my favorite was her photos, especially this one. I mentioned back on 07.29.04, that I came up with the idea for Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas to give a basketball signed by Lithuanian basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis to the mayor of Beijing. Well, the picture is of that mayor spinning it on his finger.
I'm getting my photos ready from the LiCS camp this past weekend, so stay tuned for those.
-dr-
08.06.04: camping in elektrėnai
went about an hour out of vilnius near elektrėnai to go camping at this beautiful lake. the only problem was a power plant that ruined the view at the other end of the lake. but no problem, just look the other way. the water was incredible. the camping itself was the highest-class camping i had ever done. chairs, wine, salad, etc. the best part of it all was that this one british guy in our party (alex) had met an italian guy (francesco) in budapest a week earlier. francesco was on his way from italy to estonia riding a 50cc vespa motorbike. francesco was full of stories and played guitar for a bit. all along, we did a good amount of drinking, enough to learn the next morning what the british term "piss holes in the snow" means (how your eyes look when you wake up after a night of drinking.
the next morning we cooked eggs in a frying pan over a campfire, did some swimming and some of us then left to come back to vilnius (with a slight delay by an old lady collecting hay on the dirt path that fit only one vehicle at a time and she refused to move until she was done with her work), while some stayed out at the lake for another night. i'm leaving for the liberal party "jamboree" tomorrow at 6am, so had to get back somehow tonight.
-dr-
08.05.04
Decided not to name these blog entries when I don't feel like it. So There. Going to go camping tonight with the British First Secretary to Lithuania (who is actually now the ambassador since the ambassador is away). Should be fun. 8 ppl going all together. Hopefully there will be some good pics going up soon...especially since there's a Liberal Center Union saskrydis (jamboree) this weekend out in the wilderness which I am also going to.
-dr-
08.02.04
Last day of the Liberal Youth camp. Since we told the bus that we had gotten there with that we didn't need it to get back, we were almost stranded out near Anykščiai. We were about to give up and start hitching, but we found someome who was about to leave for Vilnius with an empty car. Score! So we got home. That's all.
-dr-
08.01.04: LJ camp
Left Vilnius on Friday to go to the Liberalaus Jaunimo (Liberal Youth) camp. And by youth they mean anyone, but mainly high school seniors through college grads, but there were even people 40+. But I get ahead of myself. My friend Neringa invited me to go, saying that a ride, tent, and even sleeping bag would be provided...I just needed to bring food/drink, clothes, and 8lits for the camp fee. Turns out the bus driver actually wanted to charge money to drive us out there (imagine that!), so that cost 17lits. No big deal, just unexpected.
Our destination was Lake Rubikiai not far from Anykšciai, about an hour and a half north from Vilnius. Beautiful. The lake and surrounding area were gorgeous. Total, there were about 50 people there with tents and music blasting from their cars. I was surprised to get an actual printed schedule on arrival, but turns out it really was more or less a joke. Not much of it was followed.
First night consisted of meeting new people, sitting around campfires and playing games like charades. Some guy was going around to each campfire instigating fights, and he eventually got what was coming to him, which turned out being a trip to the hospital. Someone beat his face in after he started picking on them. Well, the Anykšciai cops eventually came around to make a half-assed attempt at figuring out who was involved. No luck. Whoever was involved stonewalled them.
One interesting thing was that everyone naturally set up their camps according to city. Vilnius, Kaunas, and all the rest...they camped totally seperately.
The next day was a little better. There was a DJ, and there were different competitions like basketball and soccer. I played soccer and scored 3 goals in one game. Go me. Oh yeah, and there was an intellectual quiz game, where 10 or so teams would have to try and answer questions like "what is the ground in the lowest level of hell covered with?". Our team came in 3rd. Afterwards, we played a bit of volleyball, and then there was a "dance." The DJ blasted Lithuanian pop songs. The music wasn't so bad, but I was beat, so I crashed.
-dr-