I'm Just, I'm J. Riley from the Block

I'm moved in! I need to post pictures of my new apartment sometime soon, maybe
this weekend. Thus far, I'm pretty happy with my new situation - with a few
exceptions of course. It seems like every day that I commute (which has been
extended by 15 minutes to a 45 minute commute) I have something interesting to
write. So I'll start now. Well, to kick if off, within 10 minutes of starting
to move in, I heard someone say under their breath "ohh, looks like there's
white folk moving in now". Ha, that should give you an idea of my
neighborhood's demographic. I'm totally out of my comfort zone here and I'm
LOVING it!

First of all, the living situation is great. My room is just big enough for the
items that I moved up there, though I do need to do some closet organizing
(ladies? Any volunteers to help me organize? Mom?) because I'm worse than a
chick when it comes to the amount of shoes and clothes that I have. A think a
trip to the Container Store (a former fetish of mine) for research is a good
idea, though I might just copy Melissa's (one of my roommates) arrangement in
her closet. One of my roommates? Yes, apparently her boyfriend is moving in at
the same time. Good thing we get along and he's really into bluegrass and
hipster folk music, tatoos, and works crazy work hours like Melissa (same
employer), so he's gone before I wake up usually.

My apartment is stocked with every cooking utensil, tons of different sized
pots, pans, accessories, tupperware, DISHWASHER(!), all with more cabinet space
to spare in her recently remodeled kitchen. Melissa is an OCD organized, cleaner
which I find somewhat comforting because when a roommate is very clean, it makes
keep things organized and clean as well. As far as food sharing, it's not a
problem yet and we're just going to buy and share stuff for each other (except
big items like meats). Which brings up my first story: the grocery store across
the street literally has NO organic/luxury items that I typically purchase. I
can almost taste the hormones in the non-BSE-free milk. I did manage to buy
cage-free eggs, however!

My morning routine has been forced into Magnitude 7.9 changes due to the lack of
TIVO. But that's not a bad thing since I can download all the Daily Shows. I am
trying to refrain from TV watching in the mornings though because it just takes
too much time, but at least I can get caught up on my news when I have some free
time. Without my cheap natural food store nearby, I've pretty much stopped
eating cereal in the morning, so I'm looking for interesting combinations to
eat in the morning, prefferably stuff that I can take with me and eat on the
subway. Yogurt with fresh fruit, string cheese, whole wheat bread, bananas,
cottage cheese, and other stuff is all considered, depending on the amount of
time I have before I need to leave the house. There's also the
bagel/doughnut/muffin guy in a food cart right outside the subway for a last
minute purchase before boarding.

Speaking of my commute, an interesting event happened yesterday. The conductor
made an announcement that all men who are sitting down should do the "right"
thing and stand so that all ladies can have a seat. Where am I, in the south
now? Hey, I got to the seat first, it's not my problem! Actually I was standing
anyway, but I didn't see any men jumping out of their seat to let any ladies
sit, but hopefully gave some of them something to think about.

With my additional commute time, I need to start bringing reading material with
me to keep myself entertained. There isn't a proliferation of free newspapers
like there is in Manhattan, but today I did find an AM New York stand on my way
to the subway so I can read something. I was a die-hard Metro newspaper reader,
but AM New York is okay I guess. Just a little more ghetto (not a bad thing I
guess).

I am actually considering apartment shopping in this area. For some reason, the
Bronx doesn't have the Harlem/Brooklyn/Queens hipster draw yet, but with
rock-bottom prices and the Manhattan-growth north, I can't imagine it lasting
too much longer before prices start to grow. I mean, these prices are like half
the price of ANYWHERE within an hour of Manhattan. Nice two-bedroom apartment
like Melissa's for $150k, it's actually affordable. Might be worth a long-term
real estate investment.

J. Riley, I guess I need to change my blog title and details soon!