When you move me, everything is GROOVY

It's been over three weeks since I've written anything - at least on this blog. Not quite sure why that is. I guess I figured that if I really wanted to say something, then I would. And up until now, I haven't needed to say anything. Although - to a certain extent, quite a bit has happened in the past few weeks.

Since we last spoke (or at least since I spoke, in this monologue I refer to as a blog) several new arrivals at my current workplace have occurred. It's always nice seeing new faces, meeting new people, being exposed to different viewpoints and opinions. Even if you don't agree with them. Sometimes I enjoy being challenged, at least in intellect and opinion. Life would be relatively boring without some form of intellectual stimulation. I guess that's a good description of what I've missed the most since high school. "Intellectual stimulation". I miss that feeling of originally being wrong, but later realising your mistake and learning from it - ultimately being consistently more correct due to aforementioned mistake. More on my pursuit of stimulation later (intellectual or otherwise).

I went into the city yesterday for the second time since I've arrived in New York. We spent the whole day doing absolutely everything we could. "We" being myself and a good friend of mine, Richard. There's actually a funny story about how Rich and I met. When travelling around Ireland, almost 2 years ago, a friend of mine was good friends with Rich, and I met him in my travels, but since then I hadn't seen him. Then in February this year, when I briefly visited Ireland to see a very close person to me, Rich helped me out. He wasn't actually in the city I arrived in (Cork) - however he organised a friend of his to pick me up and take me to where I needed to go. He helped me out in a tight situation, and I was - and still am - always thankful for that. Then a week or so ago he told me he was also in New York, and we immediately made plans to meet up, as he hadn't been into NYC yet. Unfortunately, I don't own a car in the US, so now it was my turn to organise with one of my friends to pick him up from the bus station, and in turn get him to where he needed to be (my place). If there is a god, then he surely is sniggering at the series of coincidences. Or perhaps it's just karma. Guess I'll never know.

We did everything we could in the limited time we had. I presented to Rich the experience that is Starbucks. We both were fortunate enough to witness the underground subway for the first time. We went way to the "Top of the Rock" (aka the Rockefeller building) and saw the city 70 floors up. We went to enjoy the broadway show entitled "Harvey", which blew both of us away. It was the first time either of us had experienced anything like that. The lead actor - Jim Parsons (also known as Sheldon Cooper by many from "The Big Bang Theory") was truly amazing, however all of the actors were exceptionally marvelous. I recommend this show to anyone from all avenues of life. Neither Rich nor myself are particularly art/theater inclined, however the show is so funny you won't stop laughing from start to finish. Central Park was amazing too, as expected. All in all, it was a great - albeit exhausting - day. To finish it off, we ended up having a pizza in Little Italy as the sun was setting (I know right - we're practically two walking cliches).

Here are some of the better pictures from the day:

Outside the David Letterman building - I'm a big fan of his show

Rich in Times Square for the first time

Epic "Top of the Rock" shot

THIS GUY - is EPIC

A cool Central Park shot - contrasting the bustling city and the thriving park

Other than Rich arriving, I've made several new friends, and developed quite a few new relationships. We (me and some of my new buddies) went to see "Prometheus" in the cinema about a week back. I wasn't amazingly impressed to be honest. It wasn't exactly what I expected when I saw the trailer (I'll link it here for you).

It is definitely a film that everyone has to see and make their mind up about though. Don't allow my despondency to influence your decision on whether or not you'll go watch it.

On a relatively similar note, I've discovered another director/producer who seems to have done quite a few films that have inspired me - even more than I originally thought possible. His name is Lewis Bennet.

Now - unfortunately - I cannot link you directly to his videos as they aren't uploaded on youtube. But I would encourage anyone and everyone to check out his profile on Vimeo, located over HERE.

Some of his short films that I thoroughly enjoyed include the Sandwich Nazi (https://vimeo.com/43312066), Feet (https://vimeo.com/36318497), Parrot Island (https://vimeo.com/37871771) and Asian Gangs (https://vimeo.com/41227051). The rest of his short films are very good too, and you can view all of them via his profile.

Everyone loves Adele, right? I can't get over her live performance ability. I recently watched her live dvd (Royal Albert Hall), and was so impressed that I felt inclined to actually purchase it (yes I spent real $$ on something that I could easily acquire online for free, unbelievable - right?!). Although it wasn't for me, I sent it to someone else who might appreciate it as much as I did.

There are many points in the DVD that move me, especially when Adele talks in between songs. Here is an example of how she really is a such a pure and good person (at least in my mind). To quote her little speech "I'm not bitter anymore. I'm proud of him". I can relate to her words, as I'm sure many of you can.

On that musical note, I downloaded the new Linkin Park album recently.

I've been trying to analyse it, playing through the whole album, deciding whether or not I like certain songs, etc. It is similar to some of their new stuff, but also similar to some of their older stuff, which makes it quite unique in my mind. I would recommend all LP fans to go out and buy it (or be cheap like me and download it [I will later buy it - when I see it in a store, I always do that with good musicians]) even if just to make their own minds up over the album. My favourite song so far has to be "Powerless". It resonates with me - for what reason I am uncertain of.

Another song that I simply CANNOT get out of my head is Drive By - Train. I won't say anything else other than - you try listening to it and not singing along. It's impossible. I myself, tend to both sing AND dance.

Last but not least, the University of Cape Town application process is slowly but surely progressing. Within the next few days I'll be submitting some documents that will allow me to write the "National Benchmark Tests" (NBT's) in a country outside of South Africa. Thus allowing UCT to have some form of an idea of my current capabilities, being out of school for three or so years now. My boss is going to invigilate the exam, haha. Poor him, he has to sit there and watch me write for 2-3 hours. At least once it's over I will be able to continue the application and hopefully within the next month or so I'll know whether I will be studying at the University of Cape Town in 2013. Fingers crossed, holding thumbs.

I realise this was quite a lengthy entry, I probably should write more consistently, but I need the motivation to do it, sorry folks.

Till next time.

Mike