Condensed January

Hello, 2008! I'm way late to the party I know. I've been traveling and when I'm not traveling I'm working and when I'm not working I'm raking leaves in my backyard and when I'm not raking leaves in my backyard I'm playing video games. Because I am anything but your typical chick.

January always seems to be a whirlwind for me. I returned from snowboarding on New Year's Eve and barely stayed awake long enough to see the ball drop. I slept until I had to go back to work and even though there have been 25 days since then I honestly could not tell you what I did on most of them. The days are short and cold, and I don't feel like going out as much. There hasn't been much to blog about because I haven't been doing much.

It could be a downer...everyone in New York City hates January because it's cold and windy and all that crap. But I love it because it's cold (which means snow to snowboard on) and my birthday is this month dammit, so suck it up. Nothing is a bigger bummer than hearing others talk about how depressing your birthday is, even if only by proxy.

This year my birthday did have some major suck quality because Heath Ledger died that day. It's already been talked to death so I'll just say I was very sad to hear about it. "10 Things I Hate About You" came out my sophomore year of high school and like many I've loved him ever since. I had plans to meet up with two girlfriends but we all decided we were just too bummed out. I'd had my birthday party over the previous weekend so it wasn't a huge loss. Although now my birthday will be an infamous day for a generation...

My apartment continues to be mostly wonderful. It's quite cold at night, thanks to the A/C unit in my window and the now-drafty door to my backyard. I've weather-proofed both but it doesn't seem to matter much. The temperature is OK when I'm up and about but when I first wake up it's hard to get out of my snuggly bed. At least I have heat though. A friend of mine has been living without heat for almost a month, showering at the gym and running space heaters 24/7.

This year will be my first year paying NYC taxes as a resident, and I'm aggregating all the crap I'm learning for a future post. For instance, did you know your landlord is supposed to deposit your deposit into an escrow account and every year you get a 1099 form with the interest? It would be nice if I knew what the hell a 1099 form is! Eventually I'd like to create a webpage called "25 Things Every New NYC Resident Should Know but No One Thinks to Friggin Tell You!". My heard hurts just thinking about taxes. I'm sinking back into the blur for now.