Not surprisingly (if you know me), I have very high expectations for this first post. I feel pressure to write something profoundly compelling that will immediately attract traffic from across the blogosphere, or whatever it’s called. I mean, it took me months just to decide which blogging software to use and what to name this puppy.
While we’re on the subject, it seems apropos to elucidate the title of my blog. In its most literal sense, I really have been all over. Now in my 25th year, I’ve lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Bozeman. I’ve also had the opportunity to travel all over the U.S. and Europe on several occasions, as well as spend a month in China. The title of the blog is also self-referential in the sense that what I post here will indeed be a range–dispatches for my family back in California, essays and articles I’ve penned, musings about the progress of my magazine idea–”Solo”, as well as a smattering of advice about how to live in New York (and the world) Shambora-style.
One of the toughest parts of writing a blog is that you have to decide how candid you want to be. For instance, people could find some of my behavior questionable. However, I’m not sure who I’m kidding here. I recently gave my mom a full review of a certain battery operated device dubiously dubbed “The Rabbit” which I purchased per her suggestion a few weeks ago. Then back in July my dad and I visited the notorious Bada Bing from the Sopranos. Clearly my parents and I enjoy a certain level of openness and honesty. Regardless, mom and dad, the first rule of the blog is that you can’t ask any questions about anything you read here. I’m thinking of including some fictional details to make this a little easier for you, not to mention making the blog more interesting.
But for now, in an effort to take it easy on myself, I’ll start with the mundane details of my day. This morning I woke up at 7:30 to meet a new running partner on CPW (Central Park West) to go for a 20 mile run. As I left the apartment I noted that the cover of the New York Times read “Everything you ever wanted to know about BEDBUGS but were afraid to ask.” This was a nice encore to the piece they pubished last week about mice invasions.
I was introduced to my new running partner by a woman I met at the laundromat (who I had intended to train with until she was injured). We exchanged a few emails and decided to try and diminish some of the monotony of pounding the pavement in loops around Central Park by teaming up. Once I got past my apprehension about keeping up/going at someone else’s pace, it was great. We swapped stories and philosophies for three hours. I really enjoyed getting to know her and she just furthered my theory that there are a lot of great women running (literally) around New York. I should mention that running 20 miles isn’t my idea of Saturday fun, but rather part of my training for NYC Marathon in three weeks. The run went well, notwithstanding the chafing I am experiencing in crucial places on my body. It took about 3 hours and according to my heart rate monitor I burned about 2500 calories. I replace some of those with energy goo/gel. If you have any need for the stuff, I highly recommend Carb Boom vanilla orange.
The run was followed by some mildly obsessive apartment cleaning. We had our place painted this week and my roommate and I are very happy about it. It’s sort of a honeydew melon color. I will post some photos soon. I also hit the library, the hardware store, the grocery store and that hopping social scene–the laundromat. I don’t mind doing my own laundry. I get to observe the Korean woman owner and the Hispanic girls who work for her conduct their business. It’s hard work and hard for me to imagine what it would be like to do other people’s laundry for a living. But I try.
The plan for tonight is to meet up with my roommate at this fantastic little Karaoke bar in the Grammercy area followed by a late night rendevouz with this Parisian I met at Webster Hall a couple of weeks ago. By “met” I mean I went up to him, told him I thought he was cute, and asked for his phone number. Like I said, just trying to keep things interesting.
2 Comments
October 31, 2006 at 4:57 am
When are you going to write about me?
November 9, 2006 at 6:11 pm
I enjoy reading about the travels of others and hope you keep an open mind when you do so. I have lived all over the world, mainly in SE Asia and the Middle East, and think that you should post more about your time in China!!
Travel on, and be safe.