My year in music

This year, music did not disappoint with dozens of amazing records released. Whether you enjoy electronic, pop, rock, or the ambient sound of crickets mating – 2007 was a great year for music.

I believe that there is also room for everyone. There’s room for the dearly departed voice of Jeff Buckley, and the experimental force that is Bjork. There’s even room for the hot mess with even hotter beats that is Britney.

Here are my top choices from 2007.

Hit the road blues

I cannot believe I'm typing this.

The last few days have been as crazy and stressful as they have been exhilarating.

We did it. My roommate and I found an amazing apartment.

The location - Hells Kitchen!

My lesson of 2007, and probably the biggest is actually learning, that not all brokers are terrible.

Mind you, I still believe that these housing angels are in the minority and competing with ravenous extortionists.

Eithe way, we found a great broker through Cherie Properties and rented out the apartment. She even took the place down about $400 a month.

I love her like I love pumpkin pie.

What I have done in the past five days

-Put in an application for our fabulous two bedroom apartment complete with a rather nice sized living room, nice kitchen, and not so fabulous bathroom (You can't win them all.)
-Spend the night of the application huddled in a corner foaming at the mouth at the thought of having to look at one more damn apartment
-Spend the morning eating everything in sight to keep my body busy chewing instead of thinking. Apparently it's hard for me to do both.
-Get a call from the broker. "Hello! It's BLEEP, I've got news for you!" "Jamie-Lynn is a hot mess?" "No silly, she's a scalding mess, but you got the apartment!" "oh wow."
-Hang up the phone only to get a pain in my stomach. Then my chest. Then my stomach again. Oh my god I'm going to be broke
-What am I talking about I'll be fine?
-There goes the pain again.
-See the apartment again, explore every nook and cranny for ugly crawly things, accept.
- Clean apartment, begin furniture shopping, having a nervous break down at Ikea because the direction arrows are lying sack of shits.
-Go to apartment again to measure
-Sit down at a Thai place down the street, look around, smile. I did it.

The next few days are going to be tough. The next few weeks even tougher. I really hope everything goes well.

If all else fails I'll just make my baby sister famous.

Oh god, I miss you

I know I'm going to end up posting alot of music on here as well as "top 10" type of posts featuring artists.

Now, I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about music. All I do know is that it's one of the things I truly love in this world.

And if I love music, I adore PJ Harvey. I guess it's fitting my first "omg listen to this" posting is about her recently released album "White Chalk." I'll be discussing this album and my other favorite albums of 2007 soon but why not post a little preview.

This is a favorite of "White Chalk" titled "The Piano." If you want an idea of the musical change she went for on this album - you can hear it in this song. Her voice unusually fragile for PJ, almost as if she's someone else; perhaps the characters in the song. Interestingly enough, her dangerous bite is still present
just a little more subtle.

Postal

Apparently a Brooklyn based mailman decided to dip into the deep and generous pockets of the Holiday Bank:

Mailman arrested for stealing cards

Although, holler to the way he was caught. Sydney Bristow was totally on the case.

World Wide Encyclopedia - Not the Wiki kind

His name was Tom– a formerly plucky encyclopedia salesman who rang my parent’s doorbell when I was eleven years old, living in a not so nice neighborhood.

To this day I think back and wonder how his confidence must have wavered the more he explored the neighborhood I was living in at the time; slowly realizing that selling encyclopedias to non English speaking immigrants that barely knew how to read them was futile. This shroud of realization was written all over his face when I answered the door. I remember his speech on why the encyclopedia was set was necessary for us, and an even clearer memory when remembering the excitement in the room when my mother actually purchased them.

This was 1994 – the early nineties, when the internet was new to me and its potential completely unknown. During that phase, I couldn’t fathom even having a computer.
I thought I had all the wisdom and knowledge in the universe in the palm of my hand.
To me, the internet has become this unbelievable and overly expansive encyclopedia where you can find information on the politics of the Maldives or the mating habits of the Moroccan Cockroach. It’s clichéd to say that with all of the power and knowledge that we have at literally our fingertips, there comes a responsibility to really ensure that the site is factual.

This always occurs to me when I find yet another great and useful Web site. The following are some of these random online spaces of information that I use on a weekly and sometimes daily basis that help me explore the world and how to live in it.

www.bookmooch.com
This Web site is a type of “book trading” Web site that allows members to trade books with other avid readers throughout the world. There is no membership fee to join. All you need to be a book moocher is a few old books you don’t need in your possession. You receive points for posting books, sending books, and leaving feedbacks. I’ve been a member for only three weeks and already have received two free books and sent out four.

www.mint.com
Money management is tough. After graduating from college three years ago, I still don’t know much about it. Among the many resources I have found to learn the art of managing the Benjamins (in my case the Washingtons) is Mint.com. One of my favorite sections of the site is mint.edu where your money questions are answered quite clearly.

www.dawdle.com
Dawdle is a great alternative to the usual eBay and Funcoland video game trading businesses. Dawdle is a gamer matchmaking site, matching a buyer with a seller based on system, game and pricing.

www.hopstop.com
Subway systems always confuse me – no matter where I am. The only Subway that was easy to understand and did not leave me completely turned around was the London Underground. Anyone who is familiar with New York City knows that the Subway can be a convoluted web of transfers and unclear intercom announcements. Hopstop eases this difficulty with door-to-door Subway directions and delay alerts. Currently they have information for various areas including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

www.alternet.org
Alternet is another option for internet users who like their world news a little less filtered than the usual CNN or MSNBC media outlets. No matter where you fall in the political spectrum, there are some interesting stories in there. What other online news outlet features stories like “How I Survived Men’s Prison as a Woman” describing the plight of transgendered women in men’s prisons and “The Health Industry’s Secret History of Delaying the Fight Against Cancer.”

www.shittyhabitats.org
The New York City real estate market is just as bad as you think. You fight to acquire your dream apartment; agree to give your iPod and all of its music up to the landlord (the equivalent of first born to many young professionals) only to have roaches you will probably hear breathing under furniture, mighty mice, and leaking toilets from the tenant above. Shitty Habitats advocates proper and effective building management and crucifies faulty brokers, landlords, and building management companies while always remaining honest about its reporting.

Let me know if anybody knows of any other Web sites that can make my life a tad simpler.

Declare Independence

Bjork never dissapoints me. Her music is amazing in every sense of the word. I have always considered her as much of a visual artist as a musical one. Every album has a theme, a common thread and Volta is no different than her past ambitious takes on modern music. She manages to get her point across on this video - but oddly at the same it makes no sense. Either way, it looks pretty damn cool.

I'm getting a latte..

I'm not sure if this is hysterical because it reminds me of my two best friends or because it is.

Cockroach

I can honestly say I have officially broken my “brokers vertigo” cherry.

What is broker’s vertigo you might ask? Well – this is the special ability that brokers in New York City have to completely confound apartment hunters by promising oranges and then providing kitchen sinks.

Against our better judgment, my future roommate and I decided to visit a friendly neighborhood brokerage firm.

This is how the conversation progressed when we first arrived all dopey eyed and optimistic:

Alvaro and roommate (Now imagine us all done up and pretty to be presentable of course. We even had matching man bags.): Sleazy, we’re looking for something low fee ok? If it’s anything else we rather not waste your time or ours.

Broker (As you can tell I’m calling him Sleazy): Of course! We have the best apartments ever for you! Of course! You can get anything you want! I’m SO easy going and rad!

Alvaro and roommate: So what’s the fee? Is it as low as 10%?

Broker: Of course! We have the best apartments ever for you! Of course! You can get anything you want! I’m SO easy going and rad!

(Alvaro and roommate look at each other.)

We saw three apartments.

The good one

The first one was actually the one we enjoyed the most. It was in the West 80s, a section of Manhattan we did not even think of living in until we saw the apartment. It was a fifth floor walk-up with a generous living space. The way it was set up was as follows. You walked in, there was the common space, a kitchenette on the left. In the living room (which by the way had the highest ceilings I’ve seen in an apartment under $3,000) was a small loft crawl space. This was more of a “walk space” since it could fit at least six people lying down. There was a small wooden ladder that led you up to it. Walking further into the apartment was the bathroom on the left and then the bedroom. This is where it became a little odd. The broker was adamant on showing us apartments that needed convertible walls. They insisted that putting up a wall in the middle of the room would give us both enough space.

We might as well keep our cars and sleep in them. At least we’d have more leg room.

Gouging price: $2,495 per month

The yuppie one

You know the buildings that feel as if they belong in Jersey City? It was yet another annoying “needs a wall and presto” apartments that this broker seemed to get a hard on for. Even so, the apartment had no character or any feeling whatsoever that it could be home. The manager was also apparently an asshole so no thank you. I rather live on West 85^th than West 34^th anyway.

It also reminded me of my ex. I shuddered, twice.

Gouging price: $2,695 per month

The cockroach

If a large cockroach with a tiara signaled and caused millions of tiny cockroaches to ceremoniously carry us into a dark dungeon I wouldn’t have been surprised. Not even with the tiara.

The price was good, and WOW a REAL two bed room? It just…. Seemed… dirty.

I can’t explain it. Maybe it was the window opened in the apartment that looked out to a dark abyss in between two buildings or the horrendous color- something wasn’t right.

We are aware that there is no perfect NYC apartment at our price range, so we were about to be flexible with this and take it. It even had the last month free!

That is, until our vertigo began.

The broker sat us down and explained to us why we would have to pay the 15% full fee.

Sleazy (Eyes begin shifting back and forth erratically): Ok, since you get a month free, we can’t lower the fee. I mean we have to pay health insurance for the company’s employers! If you factor in 29 dollars for the toilet you really are paying 1200 per month and then add the 2999 rent is really 2400, coming to 2495 per month. It’s a great deal! (Not having any commas here is purposeful because seriously, he said that all at once.)

Alvaro: What?

Roomate: Toilets?

Sleazy: Well it’s a great deal (repeat the above again.)

We walked out.

We’ve decided to this on our own. It’s pretty much the Himalayas of apartment renting, but we’ve got time.

Oh god we’re screwed.

What am I getting myself into?

Tomorrow I meet with "no fee" and "low fee" brokers.

I've heard so many negative stories regarding brokers and their deceptive ways.

Apparently they're worse then that possibly gay guy that filmed Ana Nicole Smith acting like a little girl.

What's his name again?