New York Living: Day Something or Other

Monday was an important day. That morning, I had my transfer student orientation at Hunter College, where I learned about registration, general ed requirements, and all of that exciting stuff. My preparation for my new college has just begun though; my list of things to do has greatly increased since I learned all the things I have to take care of before school starts. Ah, well. All part of being a student.

Hunter's facilities frankly aren't very attractive, except for the cool old building you see below. The quality of the education is supposed to be great, though. It sure as hell better be, haha. Their Film program seems promising but I have to say I'm dissappointed with their offerings of Japan-related classes. They have a whole program dedicated to China and the Chinese language, but Japanese is merely thrown into the "Classical and Oriental Studies" category. Apparently I won't be getting a minor in Japanese at Hunter. Honestly, it makes me have second thoughts about finishing school there; maybe I'll transfer yet again to another school in New York that has more Japanese offerings--if there is one.


Speaking of things Japanese, after orientation I checked out this beautiful shop nearby called Things Japanese. They had all kinds of genuine Japanese antiques, woodblock prints, paintings, decorations, dishes, and such. And I do mean genuine; this wasn't the cheap, touristy Asian gift shop I'm used to seeing. They had real, old Japanese stuff. That equals tres pricey, my friends. So, I couldn't afford anything, and I just gazed around and dreamt of the day when I'll be a wealthy film maker picking out all sorts of nifty decorations for my apartment on Central Park West. Or Riverside Drive. Or 76th Street.

On my way back home, I walked through Central Park because it was such a gorgeous sunny day. Here's some photos.




On Tuesday, my mom and I spent the afternoon shopping for groceries and other household necessities. It was actually kinda fun checking out our neighborhood. I also peeked in a store called Futonland, which had some nice futon furniture, shoji screens, and shoji lamps--which I loved because they're exactly the type of Japanese-style lamps I've always wanted to buy. But they were kind of overpriced.

On Wednesday, I headed to Pier 1 Imports, but before I found that, I stumbled upon a cool comic book shop called Time Machine. They didn't have much in the way of manga, though, so I didn't stay long. Anyways, after buying a cushion (for my desk chair) at Pier 1, and getting some good ol' New York style pizza, I walked to Forbidden Planet (near Union Square), a paradise for comic book and manga enthusiasts. They have lots of decently priced action figures from all the biggest franchises--mostly Western, some Japanese--but they didn't have much DragonBall stuff this time around. However, I spent the rest of my afternoon on the second floor, which is dedicated to manga and anime. Their selection is pretty fantastic, and of course my personal favorite thing about Forbidden Planet is their outstanding selection of yaoi manga. I have never seen another store with such a large section dedicated solely to the genre. For that matter, I've never seen another store with a yaoi section at all. Freakin' sweet. I bought some, not gonna lie.

But enough of my gayness. Thursday, the heavy rains came back and I just spent my day doing things around the house and writing up lists for college-related tasks. It's been quite a process getting our decorations up and it's still not even done. I've still got to figure out exactly where I'm hanging things in my room. But last night we did get my shoji screen up behind my bed to act as a decorative headboard. It looks pretty awesome. Today, I drove myself crazy working on arranging and rearranging my room again, and mom and I took a walk down Broadway.

No pictures of our place yet. Sorry. All in good time.