i'm (not) a publicist.: August 2007

24 August 2007

The Last 5 Years.

Well, today is a milestone for lil old me. Today, August 24, 2007, marks my 5 year anniversary of living on this little island known as New York City. I know it’s not that long of a time period, but to me, it says something about me and my commitment to this city and being here.

When I was in college , I thought that I wanted to move to Chicago. I thought that NYC was just too much for me, that it was too big and that it was too fast-paced, but that Chicago was a good median. Then, I came here for a Madonna concert when I was a senior (how gay, right?), and immediately I had a newfound love for this city. I knew that this was the place that I was going to move to. This is where my life was going to take me.

I would come up here for a few days at a time, and stayed with Eric & Wendy on their couch in Murray Hill while I was looking for a job. I would be up here for 4 days, home for a week, up here for 3, home for 4, and so on. I moved into Will & Todd's apt on August 24 and started work at the Parker Meridien on the 26th and then started the apartment search. 5 years later, here I am.

It’s be a whirlwind 5 years. I have done so much with my life, met so many incredible people, and I really think that I’ve lived to the fullest, or at least I've strived to do so.

Let’s take a look back, shall we:

Jobs in Chronological Order:
(and I'm sure I'm missing one or two!)
Le Parker Meridien
Soy Luck Club
SparkPlug Communications
Barking Dog
Soho House
(for 2 hours, then I quit!)
Cafeteria
Urban Outings
Onorato/Wixom (OW!)
Junket Productions
Café Mozart
Play Underwear
Creed Fragrances
Strohl & Company
Comix
Shecky's
MKG Productions
JM Visuals
*EDITED FOR CONTENT*

Apartments:
Cornelia Street (Will & Todd’s couch) – 2 weeks
44th and 10th – 2 weeks
63rd between 1st and 2nd – 14 months
36th and 2nd – 1 year
24th and 8th – 2.5 years

Friend’s who have left NYC since I have been here:
Will Acton
Justin Klinger
Chris Saunders
(has ANYONE spoken to him?? Please let me know! Trying to track him down!)
Matt Schaefer
Jenny Slobotkin (neé Sobie)
Tom Suiter

It’s been a crazy ride getting to where I am now. I’m not saying "Yay! I’ve made it!", because I don’t know if that is necessarily the case, but I do feel like I have come far from where I was when I first moved here. I have a more self confidence, more friends, more memories. I have had some really amazing experience and some real hardships. I have grown and I am much more understanding of the person that I have become.

It seems silly to adhere to the old adage that you aren’t a real New Yorker until you’ve lived in the city for 10 years, regardless of where you are originally from, but there are days that I will walk down the streets and people watch and listen to the cacophony of city sounds and I think to myself: this is my home.

20 August 2007

past the awkward, into the unknown...

i heard a really good quote yesterday, that just seems to be very appropriate for me: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."...Dr. Seuss

It’s been a mad mad couple of days for me. Where to begin...

Lets start with Thursday: I went to PopRocks with my boys. Dancing, drinking, open bar, good times. Well who should walk on in? the one person who I have been both waiting to see and avoiding all at the same time: TA. This was the moment that I feared, when I saw him at a bar. What made it worse was that I was dressed mighty shabbily, and of course he looked great. he was there with the guy who we had both gone on a date with a few months ago, which answered my question as to whether they were still hanging out, and made me feel better about telling him that I can’t be friends with him, even though I really enjoyed his company...

So I ran. Quickly said my goodbyes to all my friends and ran downstairs from the roof. I stopped and called jill. I needed some advice. Do I leave, do I say hi? Well, I decided that this was my golden moment. If I didn’t go say hello, then I would regret it. So I used my liquid courage (did I mention the open bar?) and said hi. We chatted for a little bit, then decided to take a walk. We walked, sat on a stoop, and I laid it on the line. I said everything that I had to say. I cried a bit (again, did I mention the open bar?), I probably made a fool of myself, but I don’t regret it for one minute. I needed to get out what I said. He, being him, walked me all the way home from the bar. It was uncomfortable but it was good. I said I would contact him sometime in the future.

Friday I basically had a minor nervous breakdown while in Long Island for work (by myself), while I was processing my encounter with TA, although I'm better now.

Saturday morning, I’m on the phone will jill chatting about our European extravaganza (we’re going to Amsterdam now too!! Woohoo!), and I get a text from TA asking if I want to catch up. Why did he text me?! I was planning on waiting a while to speak with him again, but he texted me! I guess it was a sign that he didn't want to avoid me, and that made me feel better about it all...

After some deep thought and counseling from Jill and Lil’ Steve (and going against their suggestions), we met up for coffee and took a walk through the village and to the river. It was actually really nice. We shopped a bit and then grabbed some lunch at Murray's and shopped some more. Yes, there were awkward moments, but I am very glad that I saw him. We chatted about dating other people, moving on in life, and making new memories, something i've been striving to do. He has new friends and a new car, but he's still the same old TA.

I was concerned that the lingering feelings that I had for him would rebound me back to la-la land, and I would be hurting more because seeing him would remind me that I can’t be with him. As much as those feelings are indeed still there to some extent (and may never go way), I don’t think that us hanging out was a bad idea. Being with him just reminded me of who he is, and why I care about him. I will contact him sometime down the line because we both would like to be in each other’s lives, but right now I think that I need a little more time to process it all, ya know? I don't know when that will be, but hopefully soon.

Thank you again TA, you are a very special person, and I am looking forward to the day that we can be good friends.

Saturday night was the Night of a Thousand Parties, as I had 3 to go to, and they were all equally fun! Last night Jill and I went to pianos to go see my friend matt perform. I have never been able to see him with a live band backing him and playing his own music, and it was awesome. Matt is so unbelievably talented, and I feel honored to know him. Here are some fun pics!

13 August 2007

a bbq, a brit and a brennen...not necessarily in that order

simply put, another fun ny weekend.

Friday night, I stayed in. after a long week at work, recovery from the previous weekend, and a general sense of blah, I decided to relegate myself to the couch. Tele, tele, tele. 'twas a good time.

Saturday I had a really fun day with brit ben who i hadn't seen since his bday in may. Brunch at 44 ½ , then down to vitra and design within reach, in the meatpacking. After that and some wandering, it was off to revel for some mid-day mojitos. Afterwards, I met up with brennen and we did some shopping. And by we, I mean he. I didn’t buy anything. Brennen however mistakenly bought a pair of c-in2 sling briefs and nearly ripped his nuts off in the process.

Saturday night was vlada, then a black/white party (not in a hairspray racial-integration kinda of way, in a ‘please wear black or white’ kind of way) then the ritz, all with brit ben. A fun night that included kissing 38 people during a game of spin the bottle,burgers at 2am, and waiting in nervous anticipation for a mouse to shit in a box...seriously, don’t ask...

Sunday was brunch and shopping with ms. madelaine mayer, which is always a blast, and then trekked up with brennen and the aim to 152nd Street and Murder Avenue to ben-ben and brendan’s bbq. I swear, when ben-ben and I lived together, the boy never cooked anything other than chicken breasts and white rice. Now he’s a gourmand, making pasta salads, burgers, HOMEMADE sorbets and ice creams! It’s crazy! It was delish boys, thanks for having me!

i'm getting incredibly excited about my upcoming european extravaganza that i have planned with jiller. gots me some awesome guide books, and i'm just superjazzed about it all.

I leave you all with this GORGEOUS picture of me red-faced and sweating my balls off, and wondering why in the world I trekked all the way uptown…oh yeah, free food and drinks...gets me every time!

09 August 2007

good news, good times.

Well, it looks like things are looking up for old Gil!

*CONTENT EDITED*

Last weekend was excellent. Was out at eric & joes on fire island (thanks again boys!). Weather couldn’t have been any nicer. Had some great Eric and Me time, got myself some great color, hung out with a bunch of friends, went skinny dipping with all the boys (this would be the 2nd year in a row for that, thank you very much!), drank, relaxed, cleared my mind . ‘twas perfect. Here are some pics to enjoy...

their gorgeous house!