Harajuku dreaming

Last night I got a good nights sleep (maybe even a little more than 7 hours!). When I do, I actually have dreams I can remember. Last night I dreamed of Harajuku. When Jonathen and I were in Tokyo we spent basically a whole day hanging out in Harajuku. Harajuku is the local hipster, fashion, design centre of Tokyo.

My memories of Harajuku come to me in jump cuts. Almost, cocaine cuts. As I walked through the both old and new streets I see boys and girls dressed at the leading edge of fashion and design. No sooner than my head has been turned by an incredible texture against a funky colour, I see a flash of smooth skin offset by jewelry I could never have imagined. It was a sea of bodies, moving, talking, just being different. I heard Japanese, French, English, something germanic. I smelled clean, fragrant, gorgeous, heady scents. I fell in love, was repulsed, wanted, hated, and saw things I should never have seen and always wanted to see.

After my out of place, cocaine cut dream last night, I began to see the same thing in NYC. I was out at lunch time Friday, and saw (amongst the throngs of tourists) a group of young Asian girls and guys, dressed at the edge of fashion … houndstooth and knee boots, splashes of colour and texture that I would never put together but carried off with confidence and style. It’s true. You can find anything in New York … even slices of Tokyo. But next to this group of avant guard kids, was a plumber from Brooklyn yelling at a client on their cellphone, a young PR assistant crying at her (just) ex-boyfriend, a Swedish couple wearing matching outfits, and a homeless man pushing a shopping cart of aluminium cans. Those things didn’t exist in Harajuku. Or if they did, they were so culturally separated from what I saw, that they did not register.

In my new role in design, I seem to be paying more attention to the world around me. I like the change it is precipitating in me. The world seems filled with so much more to see now. Conor, Doug, Derek, Millie, and Brian are changing they way I look at the world. Whether they know it or not …

Filed under: nyc , color, design, fashion, feelings, harajuku, manhattan, new york, tokyo

Long Weekend on the Cape

This weekend we decided to take an extra day and take a long drive up to Cape Cod in Massachusetts (yes, ok, I admit it, I had to spell check that). I had checked directions and maps and was pretty sure it was a 3.5 hour drive and only a few miles across. I got up early, ran 4 miles, then we began the long drive. After stopping for a wee lunch to satisfy some cranky kids, we finally arrived at 2.30. Not due to traffic, just a lot further than I thought.

I was a little worried about a bunch of things: a cheap looking/sounding motel, a location too far from stuff, inability to find good food, just the usual holiday angst. We arrived at the motel, and low and behold it was great! Indoor and outdoor pools, passable rooms (nothing like the hotels us advertizing execs stay in, but really nice). We spent the afternoon combing local travel mags and deciding which beach to head to.

We scooted about 1 mile down the road to a small Nantuket sound beach … voila! Sand, sun, and seaweed! Actually it was nice, reminded me of a busy Dunedin beach on a busy day (people wise). However, the shoreline was 10 feet deep in forest green seaweed. At first the kids were a little put off: “it’s slimey”, “how will we swim?”, “ooooooh yuckie daddy”. So we set mum up on the beach (shes not much of a beach bunny, so we got the umbrella and chair all ready, while the kids and I headed down to the shoreline). The local kids had made a seaweed island, a 3′ high mountain of seaweed that kinda floated and that they used for diving into the water, past the seaweed line. I discovered that I could kick most of the seaweed out of the way, and proceeded to clear a 10′ square patch of sand by the shoreline and me and the mini-engineers got down to building a decent sand castle! We had a blast, running around in the wee waves, building sand castles, moats, pools, quicksand, boats, and finding our way out to the water. The kids are not quite ready for swimming in the ocean (still a little scared) but all in all a great day.

After 3 hours of fun in the sun we had the hunger … rrrrooooowwwwlllll went our tummies as we looked for the local tourist recommended restaurant. Captain Parkers Pub turned out to be a great place for seafood! Who woulda guessed it? Anyways, after a delicious, filling, and fresh dinner, we rolled off to a swim in the motel pool and an early bed time.

Saturday dawned, bright, warm, not humid, and beautiful. Everyone was excited and ready to explore. I wanted to head to the bay side of the Cape and hang out on a beach there. It was idyllic (in my mind at least). Long stretches of smooth sand, not crowded, no boardwalk, cool blue water, sand dunes, and not a cloud in the sky. Again, we got mum situated, then hit the water front. Kylie found a wee hermit crab, and we spent the entire morning making wee houses for “Hermie” and digging! We paddled, chased waves, played a bunch of crazy sand games and had a wonderful relaxing time. Mum finished her book and napped in the shade of our umbrella while us kids went WILD! We packed up a little after 1 and headed to a wee cafe for espresso (to fix my addicts headache) and cannoli (which was surprisingly good). Then off for an early linner (or is it dunch?) of lobster and fresh fish and more swimming in the motel pool. Not quite as good as last nights, but hey, its LOBSTER. Do you find that you always crave lobster, but when you have it (in southern new england at least) its never as good as you imagine?

Hunters swimming is really coming along, he swam about 30 “lengths” from the steps to Daddy. The pool was about 6 inches too deep for him, but his confidence is way up thanks to mum taking him to swim lessons every day this summer! Kylie is turning into a wee water baby, confident, fast, and lithe in the water. Now if only she could coordinate the arms and legs

So next up was a quick trip to Boston to visit one of mum’s school friends and her family. Kids a little younger than ours, but Teik is from Malaysia, so I spent a few hours picking his brain about Kuala Lumpur and the region preparing myself for the trip next week. It was a loverly lunch (much better lobster than the restaurant) cooked by a Shanghai cook It was nice to see them again and reaffirmed a bunch of things for Sharine and I

The drive home was long, we didn’t account for weekend traffic, all returning to New York City Exhausting, good, tanned, happy, relaxed, all in all it was a fantastic wee vacation.

Filed under: happenings, nyc

A rainy day

Today was the first real rainy day since moving to Westchester County. We have had our ups and downs through the move, and now the weather is starting to cut in too. Normally, when a train arrives the small pond of people collected at the fixed points where the doors open, all begin to contract their personal space and sardine into as small an area as possible. You feel like the world is closing in on you. Then, without pretense, as the doors open, everyone becomes an arrogant New Yorker. Pushing, shoving, moving, groping their way to be next onto the train, to angle for their perfect seat. The glares if you take someones seat … oi! Once, people are in … silence descends and the first stanzal from Mad Mad World by Michael Andres and Gary Jules occurs to me …

All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up theior glasses, no expression, no expression

Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow, no tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad

The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had

I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take

When people run in cirlces its a … mad world … mad world

Now, on top of this, imagine everyone has an umbrella. Golf umbrellas, purse umbrellas, superior feeling w@nkers in North Face Rain coats AND umbrellas. The logistics of pissed off, wet New Yorkers crushing a train door are frightening. I believe that if I held a lump of coal on my way in, it might turn into a diamond through the pressure of bodies and egos during this kind of event!

Well, the good news is that the family and I are off to Cape Cod tomorrow. The pictures and plans remind me a lot of the southern New Zealand coastline, I can’t wait to get to a beach where we don’t have to pay, and a small motel that serves breakfast can be our hub for summer fun! I have a long day of meetings and documents to write, but once tonight rolls around, roll on summer long weekends!

P.S: So, after searching for a good video of Mad World, I cam across this version … maybe this is a little more apropos … enjoy …

Filed under: nyc

Upper mediocrity class?

Last night I broke our internet connection. Again. I literally spent 2 hours rebooting routers, setting IP addresses, debugging clashing DHCP ranges, and making sure I was not double firewalling or impeding traffic to machines in my home network. It was exhilarating, it’s been a while since I did any real networking, it works, and I have mega-squodgies of bandwidth to all devices in my home network (there are 4 devices, 2 of them routers) But consequently I was up late, eating badly (beer and crisps) and this morning was a drag. Felt like it used to feel in DC: long commute home with the rabble, kids to bed, dinner, a beer, 30 minute TV show with the wife, working, working late, sleeping late, dragging my arse outta bed, then rinse and repeat.

I noticed an interesting thing, that in DC didn’t bother me: the people who ride the subway are still the middle of the curve. When you are in New York City the curve is very different to the DC curve. i am working for client who have personal fortunes in the billions. Waaaaay different. The median is way higher, the ends of the curve are also significantly more sigma from the middle. And yet, amongst all the lawyers, doctors, consultants, and other pleebs at the Hartsdale train station, there we all are: middle of the curve. We can’t afford to live, really live, in the city. Many of them, I am sure, have settled for this suburban life. Am I really comfortable with my suburban life? Boy I love hanging out with my kids, living vicariously throgh them. I love meeting new people and learning a new area. I love the inevitable "sorting out" of all the crap you cart around with you (I think I’m a closet pack rat, thanks mum!). But why does this feel like DC already?

Filed under: nyc

The long walk home

So last Thursday was the first night I had a social engagement in Manhattan, and had to catch a late train back to ‘burbia. This was a strange event for me, squiffy, happy, but feeling very alone walking home in the dark. let me tell you a story …

The evening started out complicated anyways, it was an employee’s going away party. I was his boss, he used to be the boss, he wanted to take some time to re-evaluate and work out what to do next. Did I push him out? Did he sense that he wasn’t the right fit? Did I just not know how to best use his abilities? I wished him well, but things were a little awkward. He was beloved throughout the office. I felt like, and probably was to many of the folks, the usurper. But, things need to change, the world is changing around us, we must adapt or we may fade away.

It was great to hang out in the city again. Drinking cocktails, talking to people, meeting new folks, socializing with the team, and enjoying being a grown up. 9pm rolled around with a lot of smiles and a decision to get some dinner. We walked across the road to Hill Country BBQ, which was GREAT! Loud music, meat by the pound, wowsers! Time rolled on and I became considerably more nervous about the trains.

Trains to Scarsdale run every 30 minutes at rush hour and roughly every hour after about 8.30pm. I wanted to be home by midnight. I rushed through dinner, paid up, then (in a pretty squiffy state), snagged a cab to Grand Central. Made it in time to watch the 10.30 train pull off the platform. Rats, sheet fork, feotid dingoes kidneys. An hour to wait for the next train. So I began to explore the station at night. What an interesting bunch of folks, most of them lit up, young, old, quiet, bold, people of all types. I had a blast watching people and trying to settle on music for the train ride home. I had been listening to REM’s new album Accelerate at the station, it’s awesome, a great return to their roots, but it was way too upbeat for that time of night.

So as I made the 11.15pm train I settled into an iTunes curated “Indie Chillout” playlist, easing into my ride home. The Shins, Nike Drake, Coldplay, Sufjan Stevens, Keane, Snow Patrol, The Cure, its a great playlist. As I was riding home, I realized how different life was to living in Manhattan. The logistics of getting to, waiting for, riding on the train were killing me! But still, kind of expected.

On the walk home, I lay down in the middle of the Greenacres school playing field, looking up at the stars, listening to Sour Times by Portishead and Fade into You by Mazzy Star ,,, quiet, STARS omg so many more stars than Manhattan, but so many less than New Zealand. It’s like I am in a celestial middle of the curve.

Hartsdale/Scarsdale is a great suburb in general: close to train, big box retail, small mom & pop stores, and parks. Much more real than the McMansion-ville of Rockville. The whole commute home, squiffy, missing the first train, was about 90 minutes. Not too bad, I was home by 12.15am. Tired, exercised, smiling, and ready for bed.

Filed under: nyc , indie music, nyc, scarsdale, stars, train, walk

Dreams

So as the week accelerates into craziness (meetings, lawyers, Toronto, and the final drive), it seems I am relaxing. Last night I actually dreamt. A great dream that I actually remember. Just to put this in perspective for all you dreamers out there. I can only recall 2 other days this year that I have awoken and remembered a dream.

I was mountain biking, looked like Naseby, but with taller mountains. Hunter was there cheering me on.It was like soaring down the mountain, I felt like I was flying. I haven’t been mountain biking for several years. I miss it. But, its dangerous, scary, exhilarating, and exciting. Imagine, kitting up, pedaling slowly and carefully up a high, forested mountain. You are exhausted, tired, drained but ready for the descent. As you push off over the edge at the top, your brain races with the fear. Will I be able to conquer this downhill? What’s around that corner? OMG the first bend is off camber! Did I refresh my shocks? Did I check my tire pressure? Where’s my biking buddy? Oh sh!t, here we go … then the feeling of bumpy weightlessness as you begin the ride. The wind howling in your ears. Adrenaline pumping, eyes scanning. Body suspended, perfectly weighted over your bars. The ground rushing towards you. The blur that is the ride … the constant fear, battle, success, and finally the coast out onto the plain at the bottom.

It’s almost religious for me. I miss mountain biking. I miss Naseby, Callan, Nigel, and the rest of my biking buddies. Maybe its time for a new bike? It’s definitely time for more dreams like this one.

Filed under: nyc , dreams, moving, music, nyc

The final weekend

Ouch, my liver … it’s been a week of “lasts” in counterpoint to the list of “first” from an earlier post. This was the much lauded final weekend without the curfew and familial duties that will arrive with my family on Friday. As excited as I am about that, as Neil Young, the Kurgan and a messed up Kurt Cobain once said “its better to burn out than to fade away”. So in those spirits last week entailed:

• Monday with dinner and drinks on Monday (Lunetta and a random bar)
• a 5mile run on Tuesday
• dinner with a couple of friends on Wednesday (Coffee Shop Bar)
• a sad goodbye dinner on Thursday (Little Piggy Market and The Smoke Joint, more on that later, once my head is screwed on straight)
• end of my “single in the city” beers and drinks on Friday (Ginger Man and the Black Door)
• walking the Brooklyn bridge on Saturday followed by great cocktails (230 5th, Pravda, the Pegu Club, I wrote a short review on yelp for the Pegu Club, the cocktails were incredible!)
• brunch on Sunday at Jane on Houston, and
• a final weekend ramen dinner and a movie.

Phew, 7/8 nights with drinks … many nights a LOT of drinks. Thanks to all those who made the weekend a real blast: Chris, Sarah, Brad, Jarrod, Dave, Gino, Amy, Fanny, Marina, Alesha, Phil, Ting, Rebecca, Clint, and many more! Rock on everyone!

Exhausted, happy, recovering, packing, ready for the family to arrive and reset my life into suburban bliss …

Filed under: happenings, nyc , dinner, drinks, fun, night out, nyc

Almost the end …

Well, here I am just back from my last weekend in DC. Had a great time at Kylie & Hunters piano recital, then a great going away party with our favorite neighbors that involved some great beef, beer, wine, and scotch whilst the kids rocked around downstairs getting exhausted and happy. A whirlwind of a time in DC, not even enough time to see any other friends! Mothers day was a blur but nice, now I am looking down the barrel of my last 2 weeks living in Manhattan before moving out to the burbs. I am thinking of having a wake for my second “bachelorhood” this weekend … anyone up for coming out?

So when i first moved to NYC, a good friend sent me a list of things to do, see, experience while I was living in the city. Here’s the list, annotated with stuff I haven’t done in bold and all the things I loved in italics! All in all looks like I have had a pretty good run of some of the fun things in the city. Anybody interested in doing one of the things in bold below with me over the next 2 weeks should drop me a line.

the master list. enjoy!

http://rooftopfilms.com (summers)
http://whitney.org (the biennial is awesome)
http://ps1.org (moma offshoot – also hosts summer parties)
http://going.com
http://tourfilter.com
http://summerstage.org (summers)
http://thepoolparties.com (summers)
http://ifccenter.com
http://outside.in
http://gothamist.com
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/
http://www.villagevoice.com/
http://www.bam.org/

some areas to check out:
queens–>
1. long island city: ps1 museum, noguchi museum

brooklyn–>
2. williamsburg: beer garden (http://radegasthall.com/index.php)
3. park slope
4. carrol gardens
5. red hook: you need a car for this. there’s a huge fairway grocery store there with a deli in the back where you can eat next to the water that has a view of the south tip of manhattan and the statue of liberty. also has the best key lime pie shop. ikea to come.
6. fort greene: my neighborhood. best senegalese food and bam around the corner. also a target.
7. brooklyn botanical garden
8. DUMBO (down under manhattan bridge overpass): lots of galleries and places to eat. polished brooklyn.
9. brooklyn heights: yuppytown. i don’t know what’s there. let me know if you find anything good.

manhattan–>
8. les (lower east side): mercury lounge (live music), meskel (best ethiopian), cake shop (very chill bar – hipstery), lava gina (supposedly good live latin music on weds)
9. east village: st. marks (japan town. too much to list. just try everything)
10. soho: la esquina (best tacos you will ever have. also a secret restaurant downstairs)
11. west village: magnolias (best cupcakes), ‘snice (best coffee shop to spend hours in)
12: chelsea: El Cocotero (cute and yummy venezuelan place), rocking horse cafe (yummy mexican)
13. union square: farmer’s market on saturdays, beard papas (near union square: best cream puff pastries in the city)
14: chinatown: east of broadway on canal st.
15. bryant park: kinokuniya bookstore (japanese bookstore – cool stuff downstairs), the library, free ice skating at bryant park. also good hot chocolate.
16. koreatown: 32nd st between 5th and 6th ave.

the numbering is messed up b/c i remembered more things later on and just added. oh well.

also some things you should do:
: walk across the brooklyn bridge from manhattan to brooklyn. reserve this for when it’s warmer out and on the tail end of sunset. it’s very pretty.
: the apple store on 5th ave
: FAO schwartz on 5th ave (ok this is getting into tourist territory but it’s still a good one ;p esp with your kids)
: a burger from the shake shack in madison square park (when it’s warm out)

whew!

Filed under: nyc , bachelor, city, happenings, list, nyc

Portishead and MOMA

So today arose with a dreary wet rain and the family driving off back to Rockville, MD and an empty house. They will be moving in with a friend for the next 4 weeks. Quiet, sleepy weeks at the end of spring, prior to moving up to NYC on Memorial Day weekend.

So this morning I decided to go see the Design and the Elastic mind exhibit at MOMA. I grabbed a copy of the latest Portishead album “Third” and began my walk about. It has been a long time since I have been to a museum like MOMA. I was totally not ready for the sheer number of people who go to MOMA on a rainy Sunday. It was very frustrating. The exhibit itself was great, inspiring, stretching my mind a little and reinforcing my push towards the design arts not the systems integration sciences. The nano engineering, the materials exploration, the social impact these devices might have, and the sheer inventiveness of the human spirit made me smile.

I am still in two minds about MOMA: I love the space and many of the exhibits, I hate the impersonal crush of bodies all trying to be selfish and look at the exhibits. I am used to NZ museums that allow you to build a much more personal rapport with the art and exhibits.

All the while, the new Portishead album wailed and cried in my ears. A fitting accompaniment to the exhibit. The day rounded out with a small bout of retail therapy (new sports coats for Deano) and a short 45 minute run.

Tags: portishead, moma, nyc, lazy, champagne

Filed under: nyc

The big move

So this last week has been a whirlwind: Monday crashing on a couple of projects, Monday afternoon flying to San Francisco, Tuesday company leadership team meetings in which the CEO resigns, tours of beautiful Architectural Digest worthy homes, Wednesday the realization that Technology delivery is completely in my hands, Thursday a day of canceled meetings in San Francisco, then flying directly to Washington, DC on the red-eye to pack and move our household to Hartsdale. Phew, what a week!

So Thursday night, I manage to get a (what I thought was) great seat on the red-eye. Forward of the wing, it was a middle seat, but I figured it’d be ok. What I didn’t know was that 9B on a 757 is the row before the exit row. And hence I fly red-eye to NYC without being able to recline the fricking seat! This was the beginning of doing my back in … much more to come.

Friday dawns a clear, warm day in Rockville, MD. Town & Country Movers arrive early to begin the packing. T and his crew are great. It turns out T played for the South African under 21 A squad, almost made the national team. We talked rugby for a while before they settled into moving the thousands of boxes that Sharine (mainly) and I had packed. The team worked quickly, quietly, they were happy, and courteous all day. By 4pm it was all done and the truck drove off. Sharine and I packed up the kids and drove to New York City. We were tired, exhausted even (me from the red-eye, Sharine from the stress). I had to relinquish control of the vehicle around the Maryland border (something I would typically never do) as I was so tired I couldn’t focus. I tried to sleep in the minivan, to no avail, the seats were horribly uncomfortable, and don’t support your upper back (the next stage of doing my back in)!

Saturday morning, early, we arrive in Hartsdale/Scarsdale at our new house, awaiting our truckload of belongings. A new crew (still led by T) arrives and they proceed to quickly, efficiently, and politely unpack everything. Re-assembling our furniture, scarfing down our coffee and bagels for energy they work so fast they were done by 1.30pm.

There we were, moved in to our new home. Boxes everywhere. Kylie playing minuet and trio on the piano, Hunter riding his bike around the driveway, Dean reviewing estiamtes for large content management system builds, Sharine bustling around the house with a vacuum cleaner. The picture of domesticated bliss. The new place even has a pool table. Once I had lifted off the table tennis table cover, there is was in all its glory, a pool table! Oh, and this was the final straw that really put my back out!

It felt odd, to be both in NY and yet not in NY. We will not actually be living in the house for another month. The kids and Sharine will see the last month of the school year out in Maryland at a friends house. I will remain in Manhattan (why add a commute) for the next 4 weeks.

Exhausted, Sharine and I crash into a lazy evening complete with champagne and a lazy bublegum for the brain movie to watch … roll on low stress summers!

Filed under: kids, nyc , hartsdale, maryland, moving, nyc, rockville