noise violation.

at this point, i can safely say that i am in danger of losing my f-ing mind due to the non-stop construction that envelops our apartment in a neverending wall of noise. as i write this, i cannot hear the music playing out of a speaker twelve inches away because across the street, at construction site numero dos, there is the mind-numbingly loud sounds of a jackhammer. for the last two hours. on saturday, it was the steady thwack of a sledgehammer, every ten seconds or so. and that's just the construction site out front. around back, we have our apartment building friends, who spend the day backing up their heavy machinery every 4.5 seconds, eliciting that "beep...beep...beep" that we all recognize as the sound of heavy machinery backing up. and let me tell you, after a bunch of hours, that sound will make you want to march right over to that construction site and start swinging a two-by-four around until you can make it stop.

i haven't reached that point quite yet, but it's coming. believe me.

today is a beautiful day- the stifling heat and humidity have relented momentarily and we have 60 degrees and breezy back for a day or two. i am going to have to leave the apartment and the neighborhood to enjoy it though, because the noise level in only going to increase and, as i mentioned, i am liable to go insane.

in other news, i feel terribly unconstructive lately. i think that is new york's fault. or mine, and i just seek to dodge accountability. but the struggle for new york survival gets exhausting sometimes, and not the kind of exhausting that a bit of sleep can remedy. the kind that just drains you to the soul. i think it can be restored by a bit of quality new york city time. a walk across the brooklyn bridge, like cw and i did a few weeks ago. or maybe a ride on the staten ferry. something that will remind me of one of the multitudinous reasons i am here.

one more thing. i have finally started to feel as if i fit in with the people i work with, and it's a nice feeling. i was thinking about it yesterday, and i realized that even in jobs where i made and kept really good friends among my co-workers, it took a good six months or so before i really started to feel at home. and this time, i think i was feeling a bit alienated for the first two months, because i felt like i should feel more comfortable, but now i realize it is just an ajustment period. and i think i will like going to work a lot more now, something i have not really enjoyed since leaving the hill. obviously the other ny job i had totally blew, and no matter how much i liked the people i worked with, the rest was un-overcomeable. but this won't be like that. and at this point, i think it's only a matter of one night of solid alcohol-induced bonding and it will all click.

of course, i am really hoping that i am going to be receiving a phone call or an email very soon that will inform me that my waitressing days are soon to pass and i will instead embroil myself in the quagmire of the american public education system, but no word yet.

oh, one more thing. i had hoped to post on the nba draft and perhaps have some pictures of charles' knicks-induced suffering, but isiah thomas shocked the world and made some improvements(!) to the dire situation that is the ny knicks. i wish i had captured a pic of charles' grill when the news came across of the zach randolph trade... he was positively blissful. but alas, i missed it. i also must note that i am very happy that my phx suns drafted dj strawberry out of maryland. i love that kid.