Halloweekend, followed by Groupwriting

Wow, the past few days have been crazy fun... oh New York! How I love thy late hours, cheap PBR and constant happenings! Yet how I simultaneously loathe them the next morning! And by morning I mean noontime!

Lots of sleeping in, for sure. And napping, too. New York does not joke around when it comes to celebrating Halloween. Apparently they have this monster parade on the actual night, and tons of events leading up to it. All over the city all weekend long were various parties with zombies and blue-haired moonchildren and mobsters and toga-wearing Greeks, all dancing and drinking and celebrating. What fun! I dressed as a rather convincing Frida Kahlo and danced at the L-magazine party in the East Village on Friday, then split with my group to see my friends from Boston (Session Americana) play a few blocks away. However, my plans were thwarted when a really friendly janitor misled me and I ended up walking along the hairy scary FDR and Williamsburg Bridge until I found the correct path. Eep! All the while dressed as Frida whose unibrow was slowly dripping off from the steady rain.

I ended up at Banjo Jim's way after their set had ended, wet and still in costume, but was well entertained by the friendly fellows despite my extreme tardiness. Afterwards, I mosied down the street to another party to re-meet my group, but we all fled the scene once we discovered the amount of horny, drunk, 20-somethings dancing around. All in all, the night was weird, but I did get to see a large portion of the Lower East Side, and definitely had fun getting dressed up and going out with the girls.

And hey, there was plenty more fun to come on Saturday! I went to Queens to meet up with my new friend, Cassie, and we all (including her boyfriend and their friend, and my roomie Liz) made wonderful chili that went along nicely with the finally cold autumn that has set in. I carved a pumpkin while the boys turned into some pretty sexy Catholic school girls, and then a competition broke out with Cass, who was also a school girl, to see who got hit on the most. Definitely received some strange looks while still in Queens but fit in nicely once back in the 'Burg. I again became an extremely talented painter with very defined facial hair, and Liz transformed into a 50s housewife, and we all went to the biggest hipster house party I've been to ever. It felt very much like I was back at Tufts and a group of hipsters created a frat that threw keggers on the weekends...the puking girl, the face-sucking couples, the dance floor grinders, the way-too-loud-and-rowdy boys upstairs...very reminiscent of freshman year, but add in lots of tight jeans and glasses, good music and meticulous, artsy costumes, and a boatload of smokers in the back yard. But I actually had a lot of fun, spending most of my time in the smoking yard since inside was too hot and crowded. Met some very fun people, did a bit of dancing on the inside, then went for more pizza at the damn Alligator Lounge afterwards. I just can't seem to stay away from that free and delicious cheese pizza! Except this time there was no Elli to clean up the leftovers, so I happily took his place. And my lactose-intolerant belly has been mad at me for it all day. Come back, Ells, please, I can't be your replacement on pizza nights anymore!

Woke up at 2 today and met up with the writers group I mentioned. And it's so perfect! Just what I was envisioning when I organized it!

For those of you unsure as to what this group is, when I first moved here, I wanted to join some kind of workshop or writers class but didn't because of their appalling fees. So, I decided instead to form my own group! I posted on Craigslist about what I was looking for, got a lot of great responses, and set it up. During the past week, we sent each other some of our most recent stuff, and today met to discuss it. It was incredibly productive, constructive, and flat-out fun. I love the others' stories, and their input was so genuine and helpful. It felt really good to be in a group of writers and readers who are focusing on becoming better writers, and helping each other in that mission. I'm very happy for this! We're looking for a few new people, so if anyone is interested, please contact me. It was definitely inspiring, and made me feel good that I now have regular coaches, so to speak, while also being able to coach them. I like the reciprocity of it all! And because their suggestions were so right on, I'm now all excited about making these changes that I think will really enhance my stories. Who needs expensive workshops! Craigslist all the way!

So, I'm looking forward to a low-key week (minus Halloween night, of course) full of studying for these delightful GRE's and writing on my portfolio. And visiting with the lovely DJ Define! He's coming from Boston for a whole week and we're going camping over the weekend, and I feel like some ridiculous teenager who has a crush on the quarterback and gets super giddy when they talk. I'm looking so forward to a weekend away in the woods together!

It's very interesting to compare my activities and general feelings now to even just 3 months ago. I'm so happy with this move. Even though it has separated Dave and me, and I very much miss other people in Boston, this has been such a great move for my mind and creativity and overall life. I feel like this was a nearly perfect next step for me. And once I learn my way around, I'll take out those lost nights in the rain and it will be even more perfect. Woo, maps!