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Sep 8, 2007 - 12:51 PM |
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ITE: NY City, Week 2 - Of Classes & Apartments |
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Hey guys! Week two of me being in NYC has finally come upon me. Technically this is week three but I condensed the first one and a half weeks - Travel VS Arrival - into my previous entry. Today I am typing my entry from the public library in Harrison, New Jersey (Just southeast of Newark about 15-20 minutes or so from my older brother Pete's house).
So far things have been transitioning smoothly in terms of school but very bumpy in terms of apartments. I couldn't be happier having an established group of friends and acquaintances that I can talk to already up here. It's weird being in school again - sitting at a desk, taking lecture courses, sitting in the labs and meeting other like-minded people - but this is a good weird. So far I've met a good amount of companions and we've formed something of a clique already, all of them in the masters program. One awesome cat in particular is named Tom - a cartooning major and currently in the same grad program that I am. He's got a brother named Mike and when they stand together they look like an inverted Mario and Luigi (Tom, stocky and wearing green, Mike, slim and wearing red). XD There's only two other black guys in the class besides me - a cat named Jelani from Florida and another whose name I cannot spell and don't want to risk butchering from Maryland. They both seem really cool also. I'm not surprised that there are so few black people in the Computer Arts program in general though. I learned at SCAD that we seem to be a very rare breed as opposed to the graphic arts focus. My classes seem to be a mix of 3D animation and programming, meaning that for the first time in 10 years I am almost on totally foreign territory. This both excites and terrifies me. Due to Labor Day weekend, I won't have my first Monday class until next week, which I'm pretty sure worked in my favor. My schedule goes something like this:
-Digital Compositing: haven't had this class yet
- Unix: Programming, seems a little complicated - like a more complex DOS - but feels like its very easy to learn once you get the hang of the commands
- Computer Systems: Easy class where we learn Windows, Mac, Linux and a lot of hardware based stuff. This would seem like an Easy A but we started out learning binary numbers and how to add multiply, subtract, and divide them. HOLY GAWD. Lots of work but easy if I keep up with it - plus, the teacher is young, loud/talky/forceful, and a little but bonkers, so that's a plus. ^_^
- Digital Arts Seminar: No credits here, but a mandatory lecture series from digital artists/animators all over NYC. We started with the head of the department and it was actually kinda interesting.
- Animation Culture: Think animation history but a little bit more involved
- 3D Modeling/Animation: My final class for the week will wind up being my hardest for sure. This one will be learning the basics of Maya. I avoided it like the plague while I was at SCAD because it was bulky, complicated, and I couldnt make any sense of it. Now I cannot do that because this is the path that I chose. I'm going to purchase a manual, probably bootleg it as soon as I can seeing as how I just cannot afford it (OH GAWD SON OF THE RETURN OF THE COLLEGE BUDGET), and study that shit over and over until it is RAW. So far it seems learnable, just takes a lot of dedication.
I'm 99.9% positive that I am going to buy a laptop. I wasn't going to at first but I see now that this is a necessity. Since I have a PC at home and its tricked out the way I want it, I've decided that it would probably be in my best interest to get a Mac. I've never had a Mac before or really used one in detai - the computer labs however are LOADED with them. I need to learn how to use them anyway for graphics purposes so I figure, what the hell, why not? This one guy had a Toshiba that had a swivel monitor that doubled as a wacom. I was in awe of it as he pulled out his light pen and drew on the monitor. It wasn't a Mac but he said it ran him about $1300. Pricey but somewhat ideal seeing as how one of the things I had planned on buying in B'ham was a wacom (I'm glad I waited). I dunno if I can do the swivel thing (sure is neat), but if I can get a mac laptop with a wacom style monitor and the light pen, that basically kills two birds with one stone. The SVA computer store opens on the 14th I think. I'm going to price there and at the apple store to see what I can find. If you guys have any ideas or know of anything that could be of help, don't hesitate to point me in some good directions.
Speaking of SVA, it feels smaller than SCAD which surprised me. SCAD is spread out/laid back but SVA feels more compact/focused. Perhaps it is the fact that this is graduate school and I am allowed to take branching paths in what suits my career goals, but I feel a lot of focus in what we need to do here. I don't know what else it is but I get the feeling that it was intense trying to choose people for the program. There are only 80 students that were chosen (I don't know if thats for the CA program or for a whole). I know SVA is supposed to be one of the big three art schools in the US, but I get the idea that I kind of accomplished something that I will never quite be sure of the scope of given how many of our teachers tell us congratulations for passing the portfolio requirements and getting in. There seems to be a real sense of "Congrats, you made it, now prepare to buckle down..." that I get off of a lot of faculty, and it gives me something resembling a very odd buzz of which I am not quite sure about how I feel.
New York is so big...the only two burroughs I have not been to are Queens and Staten Island, but they will have to wait. I think I could explore this place for years and never see or experience all of it. It and the surrounding burroughs and states feel like Atlanta quintupled and put on crack. Manhattan in particular is just so busy. It never stops moving and never shuts down like a constantly-in-construction machine. Some places are quiet, some places are rowdy, some places are rough looking on the outside but worm on the inside, and there's just so many people. I neither lie or exaggerate when I say that I've encountered more people and cultures and languages than I ever have in my life. It's like a modern day urban style Mecca. It's intimidating and busy and always changing. I understand why NYC and its surrounding areas have the many repuations they have earned, both good and bad. (SIDENOTE: Taxicab drivers *WILL MOW YOU DOWN* if you let them. Considering that I've nearly been hit by one 3 times by guys that don't talk like they can speak the queens english, I am never going to get in one of those asinine things. XD)
I'm in awe of my brother. He's been great in helping me to get acclimated and find a place VS keeping on me/keeping an eye on me about all this. I drove by his firehouse (he wants me to try and spend the night there and meet his battallion after I get settled) the other day while looking for apartments and happened to pass by there when the firetruck was being pulled into the station. Pete wasn't on duty and I was by myself, but still. I listen to him tell me of what its like to fight fires and how intense and incredibly dangerous it is. It makes me worry also but that's what little brothers do. Imagine what it's like to ride that giant truck or rush into a burning building where the fire is white hot and roars with the intensity of a malevolent living beast. Pete is getting ready to take the captain's exam. He doesn't think he will pass but he was offered it amazingly early. Both I and Daddy have said that it will be good to take it to at least show that he eventually wants it and he thinks so too. I was over his house before we got ready to go out for the day and I looked through his textbooks. The stuff they have to know, scientific, physical, and mental. You always have to be at the top of your game and know so much. He showed me the construction of a house and how lots of urban buildings are made so cheap and how its detrimental to firefighters. Then I think of his family: his wife and kids and how gentle he is with them but rowdy and takes no shit on the outside and I can't help but have mad respect for him. I really appreciate having an older brother. 
When I get settled I need to buy the laptop, an earpiece for my cellphone, and get the plates changed on my car. Driving around NY and NJ with Alabama license tags makes me a definite target. I've already got one parking ticket (hydrant parking does not work the same up here as it does down south. That was an ouchie...) - I do not seek to accumulate more.
Finding an apartment has been my only hassle. This shit is HARD. I'm in my third week and still havent found anything decent or come VERY close to getting something and lost it (part of why I'm in the library now is to look for more places today and tomorrow as I exhausted my resources yesterday). It didnt help that the bulk of my searching began on Labor Day weekend and was hindered by school. Thankfully I have all evening classes with the exception of Wednesdays and Thursdays. Fridays are off. One day I had 6 apartments lined up to see. The next morning, I called to confirm a time to come out there and 4 of the 6 had already been sold out. Yesterday I went to look at about 5 apartments. For one the super never even showed up, the other two were being renovated, kind of looked like they had bug problems and massive cleaning that needed to be done and wouldnt even be ready till early october, another was ratty and kind of expensive, but bar none the worst was this little hole in the wall in an area that Pete told me to avoid, but I had to be stupid and see it anyway. I waited 15 minutes for this aged super to get there (apparently the supers don't live on the premesis unlike down south), then I walk into this building that looks like something out of those ratty coming of age movies where someone moves to NYC and moves into the shittiest apartment they can find (Think Peter Parkers apartment in the Spiderman movies but skankier and ickier). We walk up this claustrophobic staircase and the super rattles the door lock. It doesn't open. So this old guy is like "Hold on a minute."
He opens the window, crawls out onto the fire escape, pulls out a screwdriver, JIMMIES THE LOCK ON THE FUCKING WINDOW SO HE CAN BREAK INTO THE PLACE, then busts the lock out from the inside of the apartment so he can open it up. I'm standing there with my mouth gaped open in awe like "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?" right? So he hobbles out and is all "Don't worry about that lock, if you're interested in the place I'll fix it before you move in, you betchy!" and I'm just like "Holy freaking damn." So we walk into the apartment (it's a studio) and out of nowhere this smell that's akin to centuries old cat piss overwhelms me. Like the place had not been cleaned since the dawn of fucking time. I look at the bathroom and ironically it's the only nice thing about the apartment (why there was Poohbear and Eeyore wallpaper though, I will never know.) The floors look clean but then I get wise and examine the corners. ARE THOSE RAT DROPPINGS?!? I open the cabinets - HELLO CRUSTY LOOKING ROACH MOTEL! 
I tell the guy thank you and I'll let him know. I haven't called him back since. Afterwards I call Pete and he goes "Didn't I tell you to keep the fuck out of that area? I should have gone with you. STAY AWAY FROM OSBORNE TERRACE, JON!" XD
I had one apartment IN MY HANDS and I lost it late last night. Told the guy I was gonna take it, was ready to pay and everything before his roommate said not to make any final decisions just a few hours beforehand because he wanted to show it to a friend. =\ The place was nice, cheap, and within commute lines too. I can't fault the guy for wanting to respect his roommates wishes, its just that our timeframes were different, so what can ya do? I told him to keep me in mind if it doesnt work out and i haven't found anything because we seemed to get along rather well (though the scary bit about that is that this guy has the same name as my very first roommate at TSU - though his last name was Berry and this guys last name was Barry). Today I have two places to look at: two girls looking for a guy roommate over in Jersey City (I have no idea what that will be like). Rent is cheap but I'm looking at it this afternoon. The ideal one though is this place in JC Heights which I cant see until Sunday night. The price will come out to around the cost of the place I just lost yesterday. I'd split utilities with the guy and its just a few minutes walk to the nearest rail. I'm thinking that may be my best bet, but I still want to look between now and then to see what I can find. I don't want to impose on my friends any longer (they've been so nice letting me stay with them and I'd feel wrong to extend that if I have to), so I'll be staying with a distant relative in the Bronx for my third week as my backup if this doesn't work out. I hope and pray that it does because I'm really worried about all this. Jersey is ideal for me to stay at in terms of what I want and what I need, but I *need* a place to get settled very soon and time is ticking. =\
I'm trying to stay out of the city if I can (mostly because of my car, taxes, my brother, and general expenses) so I want to stay in Jersey if I can. Preferably the Newark, Kearny, Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City, Orange areas. I need something cheap to fit my budget. I don't have much so the most I can afford is 650/700 bucks which is what's making this so hard to accomplish (believe it or not you can find places with or without roommates that can fit this but you have to snatch them quick). I've been on craigslist and rent.com which is how I've found about 85% of everything I have looked at. If you know of any other outlets, let me know, but hopefully the apartments I'll look at today and tomorrow will solve the problem. Hopefully... =\
I should get to work. It's 1:44 and I have a lot on my palette between now and tomorrow (I need to apply for jobs today also). Ya'll take care, wish me luck, and I'll check in with everybody next weekend. If you've called me and haven't heard from me, don't worry as I'll get back to you soon. Things have just been busy and erratic so I'm not settled in or may just be occupied is all.
- Dub
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