Ces, not Seth

2013: My first year in New York as viewed through my iPhone

16 Jan 2014

I wanted to write a longer recap of 2013 and New York and blah blah blah. I also wanted to write it earlier than a month into 2014. Anyway, I went through all my iPhone pictures and picked one from each month that made me happy looking at it.

January

Washington Square Park is one of my favorite places in the city. I wish I could tell you no no I'd rather go to this more obscure park only locals know about. Nope. My favorite park is the one that the zombies destroy in I Am Legend. My first time walking through the park was on my way to sign one of my many sub-lease agreements. I celebrated the rest of lunch with a lamb shawarma at one of the chess tables.

Part of my love for Washington Square comes from being fond of that first experience. Part of it is that it was one of the first places I became familiar with since it was on my way to work. And part of it is that it's a place where I was able to shoot the picture on the left then turn and shoot the picture on the right.

"My first real sublet"

February

LOTS of mirror pictures this month---mostly shirtless. Either I was in better shape or my old bathroom had better lighting. Hopefully the latter but probably the former. Here's a shirt-on mirror pic with Curt and Tony at Eileen's Cheesecake. My first visitors came during 2013's "blizzard". I'm using scare-quotes to try to look cool---it actually was pretty freaking cold.

"Hawaii"

March

This is why people put cameras in phones.

"Eggs at Spotted Pig"

April

I went to Spotted Pig with Stephanie and we got six orders of deviled eggs and two orders of chicken liver toast. I remember genuinely thinking this was a great idea. We found out it was a genuinely horrible idea. We didn't eat at Spotted Pig again for months but it's still one of my favorite places.

"Friends visit New York"

May

Absolutely one of my favorite weekends of the past few years. Feels like there wasn't ever a gap longer than five minutes where we weren't laughing.

Jason arrived a day after Junior and Garsh. And he was touching down from 2 days of travel from Afghanistan, where he had been for eight months. We were running slightly late for his first meal in America and it happened to be at Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare.

It was my first time at a 3-star Michelin restaurant. No pictures allowed. Or notes. Not that they'd help me write about it now because it'd basically be, "Dish 1. Good, 2. Good, 3. Good… 27. Good, 28. Good."

Question I had for the waitress, "What's this tiny spatula-knife thing supposed to be used for in this course?" Didn't ask because 1.) I didn't want to feel like an idiot and 2.) She was busy fielding actual questions like, "Is this so and so caviar? Ah, yes. I recognize the tin from home."

And a question Jason had for us: "What's this gold stuff in this dish?" Answer: "It's gold!"

Then one of the women in a group we were talking to near the end of the meal asked us why we were wearing suits. Then I asked the universe why I do I feel like my mom dressed me up for church?

"Heat vs Spurs"

June

During one of the NBA Finals games, some of the cousins got roped into playing a game called "Take shots every time LeBron scores." Everyone lost.

July

There are a bunch of outdoor movies held at city parks throughout the summer. I only went to one at Chelsea Piers when they played Argo. I wish I went to more. I met up with some friends after work on a Wednesday and it was a take-out potluck.

"Citi Bike"

August

"Which one of ya'll got fleets on your keychains?" Tell Drake I got the answer.

"Lion King"

September

From inside the Minskoff Theater looking out. Linda visited from D.C. before moving back to the actual Washington. She was in New York for less than 24 hours. We did our best and managed to watch The Lion King, go out in East Village, go to the top of the Empire State Building, hang out in Washington Square Park, and shovel down a decent number of meals before it was all over.

"Ikea"

October

This is the day I got all my furniture at IKEA. It's a hassle to get to Ikea since nobody has cars here and the best option is IKEA's water taxi. Though I'd say it's one of the nicer hassles in life because you get out on the water and make a day trip out of it.

The not-so-nice hassle is that you're likely to have to buy everything because delivery is flat-rate. My friends came and possibly didn't know that I was trying to buy everything in the world. There's hardly any reception and we all got separated and people were just sleeping on various couches in the pickup warehouse by the end of it.

Anyway, it was nice to eat meatballs together.

Mystery Month X

I went to my first concert where I was taller than everyone.

"Outdoor Movie"

November

My brother and Jamie visited over Thanksgiving break.

We went to The Knitting Factory to watch some stand-up and Louis CK dropped in. They hit capacity so some people were being held in line outside and eventually pressed their horrified faces up to the glass once they realized who was dropping in. Of course, Dan and Jamie barely recognized him. Good times.

I was also really happy that my brother finally got to meet the Korean family that adopted me.

December

And of course, speaking of them, here's us saying hello to 2013 on the left and saying goodbye on the right.