Patriots' Day photography reception at Hi-Fi

Just a reminder to come out tomorrow night for the Patriots' Day photography reception. Come, enjoy the photos, pancakes and drinks specials. The (vodka) Shot Heard Round the World comes highly recommended.

Hi-Fi
169 Ave A (btw 10th & 11th Streets), NYC
7-11pm

Francine Daveta is having a party to celebrate the opening of her photographic series, "Patriots' Day" at Hi-Fi. The project is based on photo-journalistic portraits of Revolutionary War re-enactors and the townspeople of Lexington, MA. This exploration of patriotism and the celebration of war in liberal, suburban America comes at an important time in our living history. The exhibit will be on display at Hi-Fi until January 11, 2009.

In addition to appreciating art, please come to drink, play pool, listen to Hi-Fi's acclaimed jukebox and eat
a traditional Patriots' Day Pancake Breakfast for dinner (while it lasts).

http://francinedaveta.com
http://www.browniesnyc.com/

Patriots' Day

Two days before the presidential election, photographer Francine Daveta will be showing a preview of her series "Patriots' Day" at ABC Wine Co. The project is based on photo-journalistic portraits of Revolutionary War re-enactors and the townspeople of Lexington, MA. This exploration of patriotism and the celebration of war in liberal, suburban America comes at an important time in our living history.

Opening reception will be on Sunday, November 2, 2008 at Alphabet City Wine Co., 100 Avenue C, NYC, from 6 to 9pm.Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Patriotic costumes are welcome.

Rubber Ducky, You're the One

As it turns out, baking soda and vinegar doesn't always help with a clogged drain. Neither does Draino or Liquid Plumbr. In some cases the only thing that works is your building superintendent and a plunger.

Klondike Bar commercial

Umbrella

Check out this 10 minute synopsis of ORG, the event in Boston where I exhibited my Patriot's Day photos. If you can't watch all the performances in the beginning at least watch the last few minutes or so when Amanda Palmer's performs Rihanna's "Umbrella". I comes complete with a man in scary clown make-up hosing down the crowd and, if you look carefully, me in the background shielding my camera by shoving it under my dress (not once did I stop dancing though).

The children running back to their housing projects across the street is priceless too!

So Long, Sophia.

Cat in Window

Pretty Girl

Living Life on Wheels

I just happened to be walking by Astor place today while a press conference with Mayor Bloomberg was underway. I was excited that he was announcing weekend street closings to allow more room for bikers! David Byrne and Lance Armstrong were also there to support the announcement. You can read more about this at:
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=8&aid=82728

Vampire Weekend

It was pouring outside at Summerstage yesterday while Vampire Weekend was playing. Sadly, I looked outside and the raincoats were NOT coming - say OH!

I ended up wearing a black trashbag as a dress just in an attempt to keep my camera dry. Six people ducking under a table umbrella had to cling onto the pole just to keep it from tipping over. With monsoon-like rains drenching us and the winds picking up, we felt as though we were on a boat about to be thrown overboard!
I took some pictures when the rain ease up a little bit but it was so overwhelming that I didn't even notice Ezra from Vampire Weekend walk by through my frame in this shot. The rain didn't stop the crowd from getting crazy once they finally squeegeed enough water off the stage for them to perform.

My day ended with me walking home in my garbage bag. I didn't care and I was even smiling at people who were desperately trying to stay dry with their little, $3 umbrellas. I had vendors on St. Mark's waving me over, saying, "Miss, miss! Umbrella! Umbrella!" I laughed and said, "Thank you, (as my hair is so wet it can't absorb anymore rainwater) but I think its too late for an umbrella".

A bleach-blonde punk girl was standing next to me at a crosswalk and looked over at me. I sheepishly smiled and her and she asked me if she had met me last night. Seeing as we probably don't hang in the same circles I told her probably not. Then she told me how she makes $5 per hour handing out tattoo flyers but it was too rainy to hand them out anymore cause they all stick together. Then she asked me if I was homeless.

I said, "No, I'm just wearing a trash bag today", as the rain continued to dump down on my head. I was kind of enjoying talking to her so I kept walking by her side. All of a sudden she sped up, said "take care" and basically ran away from me. I don't know if it was the lull in conversation or the fact that I wasn't homeless that bothered her but it appeared that I was the one to scare her away.

Summerstage

Sunshine breaking through the clouds after the thunderstorm in Central Park. June 14, 2008 © Francine Daveta

Kickin' It... Soft Rock?

Gentrification in this city is a complicated thing. Despite the decrease in violent crime over the past decade, most noticeably to me in Alphabet City, it comes at a cost. The obvious cost is in rent but what bothers me more than anything is the loss of character and grit that so many people moved to this city for in the first place.

I live snugly in between a large row of project buildings and old tenement buildings with a handful of luxury condos springing up on various blocks. A couple squatted buildings still linger but I've been told there are "legal" squatters living in them. Among these buildings tonight I saw two, large, black men carrying a proportionately large, old-school boombox. Blasting music on the streets, especially in the early part of summer in this neighborhood is not unusual but I found the choice in music interesting:

"I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt. (Let that sit for a moment. Hear it in your head. Picture the graffiti on the walls and the trash on the streets. Do you understand what I was feeling?)

The only way I feel I can remedy this is by watching 90's pulp films on IFC tonight. God, I miss the old East Village. Come back whores and junkies!!!

Pizza Prices on the Rise

I was horrified to find out that a slice of cheese pizza at Ben's Pizza on Spring Street costs $2.75!!! Is the price of wheat really skyrocketing that much? Well I'll tell you this: that $2.75 was totally worth it because the pizza was DELISH. It was worth it despite having to deal with the drunk, post-college fratboys (who I can only assume were visiting from Hoboken or the Upper East Side) who insulted my friend and who actually tried to wrestle the Mario-esque pizza-man statue outside the pizzeria. I guess this is why they lock their doors and only serve through a window after a certain hour.

The $2.35 at Ray's Pizza on Houston (which one, you ask? The one closest to Ludlow.) seemed more reasonable but really couldn't compare in flavor. At least we were allowed to sit down and avoid more drunken harassment from entry-level finance guys!

NYC

May 29, 2008 © Francine Daveta

Pistachio-Chocolate

My favorite place for frozen yogurt is this little hole in the wall on Avenue A in NYC. Its usually served to you by this nice fellah in the photo and you can get pistachio-chocolate SWIRL.

Heavenly.

Brunch. Eat it.

Fun Betty

Today I noticed a new product in Bed, Bath & Beyond: Betty - a hair coloring product for your....

pubes!

There is an assortment of colors for all different shades of "hair down there": black, brown, auburn, blonde and (my personal favorite) hot pink! I suppose now that the trend of getting Brazilian waxes is coming under some criticism companies are trying to give woman a new way to get creative with their bush. (See this month's Glamour Magazine, p. 237; also remember Amy Poehler addressing Britney's clam on SNL: "There was a time when a lady garden was as big as a slice of New York pizza. Then it turned into an upside down John Waters mustache!")?

If only this product had been around years ago - maybe Samantha on Sex and the City and other woman experiencing grey hair down there wouldn't have had such tramatic "Ronald McDonald" experiences. Unless, of course, that was the look they were going for.

The Bird

Have you ever noticed that sometimes, in springtime, the evergreen trees seem to be flipping you the bird. I find it very offensive and give the finger right back.

When Franny met Sally

No, that's not Meg Ryan's little sister on the left there, that's me, Francine. Of course you wouldn't recognize me since that's the back of my bleach-blonde head but this is the only picture I have of me working with her in Austin, TX in 2004. Here we are at the Las Manitas diner on Congress Ave with the late, great Ann Richards.

I'm not sure what I miss the most from Austin: Meg, Ann, the music or migas...

Blue, Lime-Straw Face Baby

This is my friend's pregnant belly. I hope the baby comes out looking exactly like this.

Sticky Scouring Pads

I took great pride today in making one woman laugh out loud at Trader Joe's. I stuck these bright-colored nylon scouring pads to my sweater to see if anyone would notice. Of course, most people were frantically rushing around with their heads down so that they could finish their shopping before the lunchtime rush came in. I finally realized that I looked kind of crazy and no one was even paying attention anyways so I took it off. Right as I did this one woman noticed me and burst out laughing!

Mission accomplished.

Paterson High Dance Club

Bitches in this video are FINE, yo!


30 Something from Paterson High dance club on Vimeo.

Robin Byrd

This is a photo taken of one of the best celebrity sightings I've ever had. I usually resist asking celebrities for photos while they are enjoying personal time but I couldn't help myself when I saw Robin Byrd with her dog in Central Park. She was so gracious!

She's helped me through many nights of boredom with her sexy cable-access show. Her strippers always have the best outfits! Rock on, Robin!

The Price of a Slice

I remember when a slice of cheese pizza in New York City, unless it was of the gourmet variety, never exceeded $2.00. You could easily go into any Ray's and get yourself a meal or a snack for under $3.00. Now it seems that more and more places are raising their prices!

Here's the sign at the "new" Sal's on Avenue A. $2.50 for a regular slice? Outrageous! The Pizza Shop, where the old Sal's used to be, charges $2.25 a pop - this is more than a ride on the subway!

Pizza used to be a staple for me when I needed a good, filling, cheap meal on the run. Now, with prices exceeding even the regular taxi surcharge, I am going to rethink my meal plans. I understand, with the price of gas and everything going up that people need to make adjustments but can rent be going up so much that they can't have one low-end item on the menu? I mean, go ahead and charge $4.50 for your fancy, gorgonzola-basil-pine nut slice but keep a low-budget option available to the homeless, college kids and me.

Personally, I don't think that the price of a slice of NYC, plain, cheese pizza should every exceed the cost of a subway ride. I say we encourage Bloomberg to enforce these standards for us!

VIVA LA PIZZALUCION!

1st Ave at 6:30am Sunday

Facebook Withdrawal

Failing. Failing miserably...

I was fine until people started sending me messages via Facebook which then get forwarded to my email account. I had to sign on just to find their email addresses and then I get sucked in....

I did have a pretty awesome workout at the gym today though. Discovered lots of new machines hiding in the corner...

Facebook Addiction

Today at the gym I decided that I was going to give up Facebook. Not permanently, of course, but I felt that my compulsive status updating was becoming a problem that I needed to get a handle on. I figured if I couldn't stay away from Facebook until 5pm this Friday then I really do have a serious internet problem.

Of course, here I am sitting at my computer, blogging away. It's like morphine to ease the pain.

I thought it would be easy to avoid after a couple of hours but then I realized it was a friends birthday today... I thought. I wasn't sure if April 1st was really her birthday but I remember it being posted on Facebook. I could go on and check but I stopped myself. I ended up emailing her and asked if my birthday wishes were on time (which they were). On a side note, she is one of two people I know who were born on April Fool's Day - how unfortunate.

I was working today, editing at home. This can get tedious and boring at times so mid-afternoon was feeling pretty lonely in my little, home office. Emails were not being responded to and I wasn't getting the response text messages that I have been waiting for. Then, a friend wrote and asked if I was on Gmail chat. Wha? I had seen that little box in the corner of my screen but I never paid much attention to it. Wow, this could SAVE me! Within minutes I had 4 separate chats going with friends also bored or stressed with work!

Clearly, there are plenty of ways to waste time online. I had also decided to give up MySpace (which is not difficult because the userface SUCKS!), and Googling my own name. I wish there was a way to find out who is Googling my name because apparently various people have found pictures of me that I was not even aware of... scary. I would go and find these images myself but, again, I banned myself from doing this until Friday.

I was tempted a few times to go on Facebook again. I even typed in FlickR.com but immediately closed that window as I realized its power as a gateway social website.

Things were okay until now. I came home after a shoot to edit and I discovered that, like snacking, going on Facebook is particularly tempting late at night when you're tired. There's no one left on Gmail chat, everyone's gone to bed and I've even lost hope for that late-night, drunken text message.

So here I am, waiting for my images to process so I can burn them to disc, wishing for some entertainment other than another Friends rerun. I think I am going to have to have an extra long session at the gym tomorrow...

March in Summary

March started off a bit slow and dull. I came back from Zihutanejo somewhat refreshed and very tan. Things seems good but boring and then....

My friend died, a loved one got diabetes, I was assigned to shoot a musician for a magazine which then declared bankruptcy, I met a ton of people at a photo reception where I got hired to shoot a party at SXSW, I went home to Boston for the funeral and met with old friends, I flew to Austin where I worked and partied hard, got some pictures published on rollingstone.com
http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/19395688/sxsw_2008_bands_and_fans_descend/photo/17/large/
and elsewhere, met some rockstars (who I didn't know at the time), stayed up all night at the Blender party before my flight back (via Denver!) at 7am, slept in a really awkward position the whole time, slept, slept some more.... then I went out with some Massholes to drink hard liquor before, on and after St. Patty's Day, met a real Irish drunk who kept saying "fer FUCK's SAKE!", had a slumber party with my friend passing through from London, saw another friend pull off some fantastic standup comedy with a big high school reunion to follow...

(inhale)

...then I came back to New York and got hooked up at a Knitting Factory show where I picked up the hard drive that I had WON at SXSW (!), shot a casting, had a rockin' night at the Crystal Castles show at Studio B, hung out with a hot basketball team and looked at local celebrities at Todd Barry's birthday party, went to an AA meeting with a friend just for fun, had a college reunion brunch, went to Queens and danced with an inflatable man which led into dancing at a UCB dance party which turned out to be yet another acquaintance's gigantic birthday party, had a kick-ass photo shoot with the Orion Experience and then shot the Diffa event where I ran into another photographer that I worked with years ago.

Oh, and my high school's drama teacher found me on Facebook. No, its not like THAT. He was always buds with the kids and we now have 14 friends in common - he was a COOL teacher. I love Facebook.

Now I am home editing and wondering what April will be like. I wonder...

Now I have to ask, those of you who found this blog by Googling, "white girl, fat ass", is this really what you wanted to find? My post titled, "White Girl with a Fat Ass", is a reference to my friend's blog of the same name which is geared towards weight loss and charity fund-raising. Just curious. Let me know if you came here looking for porn and still found this entertaining.

SXSW/St. Patty's Day

This is what a series of all nighters in Austin at SXSW followed up by St. Patrick's Day in Boston can do to an otherwise nice girl.

Happy Belated St. Patty's Day!

SXSW - Day 4

Blender Party in Austin. Flight in the morning. Too late to sleep. Might as well stay up....

SXSW - Day 2

I'm trapped at the front of the stage at Emo's. Great spot for photos but I can't get a damn beer!

SXSW - Day 3

I still haven't gone to sleep since day 2. Good morning, Texas sunshine!

SXSW Day 1 - Bond. Jane Bond.

After more than a decade I finally got to see Jane Bond live, in person. Here's a picture of us at the gate at Beauty Bar. The line was too long but she gave me a kiss on the cheek before she ran off to Beerland. I hope its not another decade before our paths cross again. I'll have to catch her at one of her next shows here in Austin.

Golden Bear show was great...
Its way past my bedtime.

Zihua Blue!

Post wedding celebration at Zihua Blue in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. We danced all night! Okay, well at least until we looked around and realized no one else was there anymore...

Blinky-thing

Singles Seating

I'm on my way to Mexico in a Houston airport Chili's drinking my first cup of coffee of the day. I am always amazed that, when walking into a restaurant as an individual woman, I am always seated tucked away in some quiet corner. The bar area seemed fun but they stuck me in the area with the kids throwing tantrums! Are they trying to tell me that I am just as embarassing as a 5 year old who won't keep his voice down when mommy threatens to take him 'for a walk'?

And the veggie burger is not so great...

Beer, Burgers and B$%@#$'s!

No amount of work, fun or minor celebrity sightings could keep me from staying up late on Valentine's Day watching reruns and munching on veggie sausages.

I started off the evening at the Helmsley Hotel to photograph the Anti-Valentine's Day Ball. The set up was cool: a celebrity-breakup-gossip-magazine themed bar, a paper shredder for pictures of your exes, take home voodoo dolls and an old school photo booth!

It would have been fun had it not been for the lame crowd: old men in suits making stupid photography jokes - go home to your wives, Lame-o's! It was so depressing (I realized after the fact) that after I bumped into Julia Allison in the bathroom, I ended up blurting out all my of past Valentine's Day misery stories to her. I mean, she probably gets it all the time being a dating columnist but all of a sudden, I became THAT PERSON. She was very friendly and and a good listener though!

I even told her about my plan, two years ago, to convince my then-boyfriend that V-Day is not just about doing girly things and spending money on flowers, candy & dinner. He was very "ANTI" everything and couldn't just suck it up for the sake of romance. I decided to take him out and give him every man's dream: a night of Beer, Burgers & B@%j#bs! I even threw in a jazz show which I knew he'd be into. It was great! He was happy, so impressed with his girl and ready to brag to his friends the next day. Job well done, Francine!

Except he didn't get the message. I thought that since 2006 was the year that I planned a big extravaganza that he would put a little thought or effort into something fun in 2007. I would have been fine with something we BOTH could enjoy like a rock show or a burlesque performance. But nothing was planned. So now I am single this year and bitter. Julia could relate.

The best V-day I've ever had was back in 2000. I went out with 3 of my best girlfriends for dinner at Patsy's and a night out drinking. We were each other's dates - it was Sex in the City before I even had cable! Girls are so much fun on V-day - somehow guys always seem to screw it up.

Back to V-Day 2008. We finally left after the open bar closed and we couldn't stick anymore pins into our voodoo-EX dolls. Off to a late night of editing and watching reruns of Sex in the City that I've seen a DOZEN times! I have cable now but not premium - its too damn expensive in this city! If I seen those Hampton party episodes one more time...

But the worst part of this evening was the food. I just couldn't stop eating! I should have started blogging hours ago to avoid it but I just didn't have the strength! I know its so cliche but I was feeding my ego and my loneliness with brie and fake Italian sausages. This is only because the dark chocolate had already disappeared. It was very unlike me - at the least the recent, responsible me. I guess its alright to do that every once in a while especially on a night like Valentine's Day.

Well, its way past my bedtime so I will bid you ado. But first let me say, I know that Valentine's Day is not about fancy gifts or dinners. Its not about flowers or burgers. Its about people showing that they love each other. It can involve material objects or not. I've learned recently that an extravagant night out in itself doesn't mean anything in the long run (but it IS nice if you have the means!)

Baddest Blogger in NYC

I know I haven't been contributing to this site much lately. I am a bad blogger ("bad, BAD blogger!!!") But I know someone who is really good at it and she is now up for a SXSW Interactive award. If you have a sec, check out her site:

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com

and vote for her site at:

https://secure.sxsw.com/peoples_choice/

Thanks!
Francine

Black or White

All the fun seems to happen upstairs at Whole Foods! Just now I went to grab a cup of coffee before my pre-Valentine's Day, single-woman chocolate-fest. The African- American gentleman asked me if I preferred black or white to which I replied 'black'.

He nodded in recognition and then asked me if I wanted room for milk.

I'm not kidding you! Off to get my chocolate now (no pun intended - well maybe a little...)

Pete's Candy Store tonight!

Come for the music, stay to by me a pre-birthday drink.

Pete's Candy Store
709 Lorimer Street
8:30pm
FREE!!!

Miami

Man-O-War

Miami

Best Karaoke in Miami

"U.K".

And to further confuse your quotation/punctuation dilemma. They do it differently in the UK. Punctuation always falls outside of the quotation marks there.

-Dan

"Quotes."!!!?

It amazes me that, in the months that I have been blogging, the most comments I have received so far have been in response to a post in which I mentioned placement of a period when using quotation marks. Apparently, my ex even informed me that I misquoted him and corrected me:

"I always put the period inside the quotes. Commas also go inside. But question marks and exclamation marks go outside (unless part of the quote itself)."

I find this all especially amusing because the post was about Tom Cruise and Scientology - not one person contacted me regarding that subject! I fully expect to get an email now regarding my misuse of commas and my overuse of exclamation marks!!!

NYC Rats!

Walking home late last night I heard some rustling amongst garbage bags on East 9th Street. At first I thought it was the wind but then I noticed that the movements in the plastic were those created by slithering - not gusting winds. All I could say was, "Gross"!

Way Cool

Tom Crrr...azy!

A friend of mine in Los Angeles told me to watch the leaked video of Tom Cruise giving an acceptance speech at a Scientology award ceremony. Apparently, he sounds crazier than ever in this video but, much to my disappointment, when I searched for the uncut version on YouTube, I got this message:

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Church of Scientology International".

Okay, do I even have to go into why this is so fucked up? I feel like I need to see the whole thing before I judge for myself. The only thing I learned from this whole experience is that my ex was right when he told me that closing quotations come before the period. (".) Oh, and also that its still fun to watch clips of Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear. That shit is timeless.

LHS Rock Paper Scissors

Its amazing what you can find in a simple Facebook search...

Unless you went to Lexington High School in Massachusetts, are an UBER acapella (or Justin Timberlake) fan, or are just a pedophile - you probably won't appreciate this video. There's not much more to say except that the redhead singing Timberland's part at the end can really hit a low note. Watch if you're bored:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_m5mbbfDg&feature=related

Nice job, guys and gals. Glad to know LHS is still supporting the arts.

Alphabet City Wino

With all that's been going on in my life lately I wasn't sure if a wine shop opening around the corner from me was a good thing. Of course I was excited to find a cool little place that is open late on my way home! The problem is that I really, really like wine and I have no problem drinking lots of it.

But there was nothing I could do to stop Alphabet City Wines from opening and having such delicious offerings. Turns out the owners are really cool and know their shit about vino. They are always very willing to talk at length about all the varieties out there! Buying two cases of Nero D'Avola for client gifts this year turned out to be a good thing because I really needed a last minute location for a portrait shoot last week. I didn't think the owners would go for it but I asked if we could do a shoot in their cool, little lounge area and they were down with it!

So here is one of the lovely pictures I took of David Tucker (Nailbiters) and myself. I am going to be singing with him on Jan 29th at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn! Come check it out and buy me a glass of wine (or a Makers) - its my birthday EVE celebration as well!

Adorable!

I See Famous People

After a hard day of shopping today, I decided to stop off in Whole Foods for a little snack. While I was upstairs reading the Rustica menu, trying to find something under $5 and less filling than pasta, I noticed a man nudging up against me. He got uncomfortably close to the point that I really hoped that it was a friend of mine. He said, "hi there" and I looked up to discover that it was Horatio Sanz from Saturday Night Live!

I guess he remembered me from a couple shoots that I did for Upright Citizens Brigade - but I was shocked! He told me that the ravioli was great and introduced me to his girlfriend. He told me that he had seen me earlier in the day walking down St. Marks. I said, "Oh, that's funny! I didn't see you." He pulled up his collar in a mock-incognito sort of way, smiled and said he had been "hiding".

Now I find this whole experience really amusing because I've been on the other end of celebrity /non-celebrity encounters where I, of course, recognized a person and said hello. This is the first time that a celeb has approached me (well, other than that time in an elevator in LA when Jamie Foxx and his friend talked to me - this was pre-Ray). He probably thought, "hey, this is weird. I recognize this girl from somewhere. I even saw her walking down the street today. I wonder how the universe allowed our paths to cross so many times - there must be meaning to this. I am going to say hello because there is something cosmic about all of this."

This is the same way people think when they see famous people: "OMG! I've seen this person, like, a hundred times before on various programs/movies/commercials/music videos and he/she has made me laugh/cry/drool in the most real, meaningful way! The universe is putting me in the same location with this person for a reason! I must say hello to them."

People in NYC and LA are always saying I saw this celebrity or that celebrity but no one really thinks or cares about the fact that sometimes celebrities are seeing YOU. In a way, BEING seen is far cooler. Especially when the celeb lets you know it.

And, BTW, after he left, I scrapped the snack idea and sat down for a nice plate of ravioli!

Happy New Year... in a hole!

My New Year's Eve started off on the wrong foot and in the wrong borough. I'll get to that later on today after I finish my coffee but I just need to point out something I noticed as I soberly walked amongst the drunkards at 1:30am last night. ConEd must have decided that work on the streets could cease due to the holiday because they left these gaping holes open in the street right next to a bar called 7B! There were about a dozen hammered party-goers stumbling around on the street and sidewalk next to them.

All they did was throw a few saw horses over them to create awareness of them but don't you think they could have at least made an attempt to cover up the holes? Part of me hoped that some drunk asshole tripped over her heels and fell in - just to prove a point, that is.

And then there were the other drunks that were trying desperately to GET IN a hole - a different kind of hole... I haven't decided if its fun or not to be the only sober person in an entire neighborhood but it certainly helps when you're trying to avoid certain gentlemen callers. I have found that I have a knack, perhaps even a talent, for beating men off with a stick or, as I have been told, with my wit.

One drunk guy who sat down next to me in Sal's looked at me and said, "You are so beautiful. You're so beautiful that... that...". I said, "What?! So beautiful that you can't even finish your sentence?!" He seemed surprised by my response but immediately recognized how hammered he was and left me alone. A wasted finance guy at Zum Schneider insisted that he was 28 but I didn't believe him because he was acting like he was 22 (then again, he is in finance). I told him to show me his ID and the wheels started turning in his head. After a moment of staring into space he said, okay, if I would show him my boobs. They must teach these thing on Wall Street or something! I told him that I was grateful for him saying that because now I could tell my friends something funny about my New Year's: a drunk, finance guy asked to see my boobs. Happy Freakin' New Year!

But let me tell you how I got here to Zum Schneider, by myself on New Years. I originally had plans to go see the Dresden Dolls with a guy from high school who bailed on me at 4pm New Year's Eve. Needless to say, I was a bit upset but I figured I could pull my night together with all of the other options that I had. I had invites to 4 parties in Brooklyn and, while I am not a fan of leaving my neighborhood when I don't have to, I figured the numbers were against me and all my friends were staying east of the river this night. I got all dolled up and got in a cab to Rubulad just before midnight. I made it just in time to blow $25 for the champagne toast and to have my dry clean-only outfit soak up the smell of cigarettes and hippies. At midnight when all cell phone service seemed to die in NYC, I stepped outside and realized how great this dingy part of Brooklyn smelled compared to the inside of the warehouse. I stood outside for about a half hour trying to get a cab. A gentleman wearing a full suit, a hat and a bottle of glitter on his face approached me and asked if we were in Brooklyn (is there an emoticon that rolls its eyes?) He offered to flag down a gypsy cab and asked if I was willing to pay $30. Fuck no! Are you kidding? I spent $19 getting here with a wrong turn - there's no way in hell I'm paying $30! I think I then scared the tourist away...

I finally found a local Brooklynite who spotted me a gypsy for $20. On the way back to the East Village I saw a guy viciously head-butting an old drunk (it seemed) in the doorway of a deli. It was probably one of the most violent scenes I've seen in NYC other than a street fight in 2000 that ended in murder. I couldn't stop looking but the driver turned his head away and I got the sense that it wasn't because he couldn't stand it but more because he didn't want to have to be a witness to whatever it might lead to. All I wanted at this point was a beer and a veggie dog. I ended up feeling bad and giving the driver $25 since it was New Year's and I felt that I needed to change my karma in some way. At this point the night seemed to be getting worse and worse. To my dismay Crif Dogs was closed for a private party! I know it sounds silly but this was the point where I almost started crying. I actually did get a little teary when I found that Two Boots was also closed. So I ended up getting a slice at Sal's where I realized how painfully sober I was. I decided I needed to salvage this night in some way or I would live to regret it.

So I went to Zum Schneider for a beer and, as I looked around the room, I wondered why everyone felt the need to go to some crazy party with a high cover charge when there were these great places right in the city that weren't too packed and had great music! A young man asked me how close to 42nd Street we were (insert eye-roll emotion here). But everyone was having a great time. There were even girls dancing on the bar! I was a wall flower until some lovely German woman saw my pout and introduced me to all of her friends. It was my luck that she insisted I have another beer before leaving - turns out that she used to work there and she hooked me up at he bar! Anyway, I ended up dancing with her, her friends and the bar back, Miguel. The finance guy showed up and, as amusing as he was, he scared me when he wouldn't leave me alone. After multiple attempts at kissing me, I decided to go home. ALONE. I specified this multiple times yet the guy followed me out the door after I said my thanks and goodbyes to the fantastic Germans. I kind of felt bad for the guy cause he was hammered so I offered to get him in a cab. He said it would be better if I took him home. At this point I was planning on walking to someone else's apartment building so he wouldn't know where I lived but then luckily a friend called! The drunk dude asked if it was my boyfriend so I lied and said YES! That didn't stop him from stumbling after me but at this point I just decided to bolt. I ran across the street with traffic coming from both directions so he couldn't following me without getting hit! I hope he did get in a cab and not go to another bar to hit on other girls. Though maybe if they were as wasted as he was they would be happy to have the attention!

I spent the next 4 hours iChatting with friends celebrating in LA. I was proud of myself for going out and having a good time on my own but its always better to be with friends. Next year I'll make sure I stay in Manhattan though!