Lily Allen

A common interview question is something along the lines of "If you could have dinner anybody in the world, who would it be?" While I would like to come across as knowledgeable and cultured by answering with Madeleine Albright or Nelson Mandela, I would not. If I could share a meal with anyone on Earth, it would probably have to be Lily Allen.

But I'm not ashamed of that. While it would be absolutely amazing to meet the first female Secretary of State of the US or the man responsible for the end of Apartheid in South Africa, I would instead choose to dine with a British pop star.

Of course, I do have my reasons for feeling this way; I wouldn't say Lily Allen unless I meant it. First of all, I'm a huge fan of her work, which I think is a prerequisite for anyone being the answer to this question. Second, she's a good person. Despite her having the mouth of a sailor, Lily Allen never uses her language to rip on anyone, and she even attempted to remove a guy who made racist remarks off Twitter. But lastly, and the more important of the three reasons, I love her attitude. I'll extend point number 3 into a new paragraph.

Lily Allen's attitude is one of the best out there. I admire her for trying to ban the guy from Twitter who made racist remarks, because I don't think a lot of people would want to take a stand on something like that. She clearly doesn't take shit from anybody, and I'm incapable of saying that I can do the same. I've lived my life afraid of what other people thought about me, even if I didn't know at all: My mood can quickly turn sour if someone is giving me a strange look on the street because I think something's wrong with me. I worry that people make fun of me for something that I said or did once I leave the room. But I don't think Lily Allen gives a crap about what people think about her. I think Lily Allen lives her life the way she sees fit and tells everyone who tells her otherwise to go fuck themselves. That's the kind of attitude that I want for myself. I often feel held back because of my insecurities and self-consciousness, but I know that I could be a lot happier if I just let loose and stopped caring about what people thought about me.

And Lily Allen's music helps me do just that. When I listen to her, I think a bit of her attitude rubs off on me. I start seeing the world through her point of view, and it's a lot more enjoyable than my perspective. My lens is clouded by the outside world and my own inhibitions, while hers is clear and focused on whatever she wants to achieve. While millions of others have had this same perspective of the world and way of thinking, Lily Allen's has the biggest direct impact on me because I get to listen to her every day through her music. She is unknowingly helping me to become the person I want to be.

So that's why Lily Allen is one of the coolest people on Earth, and why I would probably prefer to have dinner with her than with Barack Obama.

16 should be the new 17

I guess you can call me a thrill-seeker now, considering I tried to sneak into a rated R movie.

Last week, I attempted to go see the The Bling Ring with one of my friends. Since we're both 16, we knew we technically should not have been allowed to go inside (you have to be 17 to see a rated R movie), but often enough the ticket venders actually don't give a crap and will let you go inside anyway without asking for ID. But, of course, this time the ticket vender actually did give a crap. After starting to tear one of our ticket stubs and directing us to our theater, she stopped saying, "oh wait. I need to see your IDs."

Since I am not 17, none of my ID would allow me to see the movie, and since I don't have a fake ID to use either, I realized there was no hope. So, I tried to play it cool: "Does an expired Barnes and Noble membership card count?"

"No. I'm sorry but I can't let you enter the theater"

While I was upset that I got stuck with the one ticket vender in the world who actually gives a shit about her job, I could tell that she felt bad about turning us away, which made me dislike her less. I was able to get a refund, so I guess it's ok.

I promise I'm not a Gangsta...

I've recently re-examined my reasons for wanting to start a blog in the first place: I hoped to become more adventurous and open my eyes up to the city by exploring new neighborhoods just for the hell of it; however, my blog has so far only been an account of things I would have normally done or experienced, rather than experiences that would make me step out of my comfort zone or known territory.

So today I tried to change that. I decided to go to Soho, Little Italy, and Chinatown with one of my friends. While I visit all of these places on a somewhat-regular basis, what I did today is what I hope to accomplish more of in the future: walking around and trying to uncover hidden gems in the city to increasing my knowledge of the place I call home.

I spent the entire morning on the Upper West Side at a friend's house and finally went downtown at 5ish. I went to a place called Macbar for dinner. I don't know whether to call it a restaurant or not, but it's basically a tiny little shop that only sells macaroni and cheese. Of course, there are a myriad of different types to choose from, so you can never feel bored of mac & cheese. I got margarita macaroni and was given a noodle-shaped container to hold it in, which I still have. I've noticed that more and more places in New York are coming up with fancy containers for their food, probably just to charge more money for their dishes. However, the macaroni and cheese was reasonably priced ($8 for a medium container, which can serve as two meals for someone with a mild appetite).

After dinner, I went to Rice to Riches (website to come once it's finished), one of my favorite stops in all of New York. Just like Macbar, Rice to Riches only serves one type of food, but in this case it's rice pudding. I'm not normally a rice pudding fan, but Rice to Riches hits it out of the ballpark, not to mention all the funny signs that hang on the walls of the restaurant. It's always hard to choose from the variety of different flavors, but the butterscotch, cheesecake, and caramel are tough to beat. Rice to Riches also serves it's food in a nice container, which I've now started to collect and can use as tupperware for dishes I eat at home. However, Rice to Riches is very expensive, so I only go once every couple of months as to not go bankrupt.

The exterior of Rice to Riches

After, my friend and I just walked downtown a bit. We passed by a very nice balloon man, and I got my friend to pose for a couple photos with him:

We then went to a sketchy alley, where I took several photos of my friend hoping she would use them for her facebook profile picture, which she did.

 The day was pretty normal until two aspiring rappers came up to me on my way home and shoved a CD in my hands and demanded that I give them a tip for it. After handing it back, I walked for another block until I was approached by the same two men--they had been following me the whole time. I was not put at ease in spite of one of them telling me "Yo son, don't be worried. I promise I'm not a gangsta." They went and harassed some different people after my friend threatened to call the cops. It's useful having friends who actually have balls.

Overall, Soho, Little Italy, and Chinatown are incredibly fun neighborhoods to go and visit, which is why I do it so often. Hopefully I'll walk around Brooklyn sometime soon, as I very frequently go there unless it's to get to the New York Aquarium to volunteer.

Junior Team Tennis Finals!

I had some trouble deciding whether to write about my Junior Team Tennis finals or the choir trip first. Then I realized it's only fitting that I go in chronological order:


SO, throughout the year a select few of kids in my tennis program played on a tennis team (called the "Harlem Treers") that competed on weekends in a lead-up to the regional championships in April. My team was absolutely amazing and I'm extremely grateful that I'm able to train with them on a regular basis. We played well throughout the year and we were ultimately seeded second at the finals, which took place the last Sunday of April (the 24th???).

Since my family doesn't own a car, my dad had to rent one to be able to get to the National Tennis Center out in Queens. We could've taken the train but the subway system was incredibly messed up and it would have taken an extra hour, so we thought driving would be more convenient. My father ended up driving two of my teammates as well, so I guess renting the car was a good choice.

We got to the tennis center at 11, checked in, and then warmed up on an empty court before the contest started. It was extremely windy, but luckily I brought a warm-up suit which did not only save me from the cold but also made me look like an incredibly legitimate tennis player, which I like to think I am. The official competition started at 12, so we then headed over to the courts we were playing on, and we all snapped a few photos on my camera:

Tyra, captain of the team (pictured left), and Sofia (on the right)

Isadora (left), and Dina (right)

Unfortunately, the girls were much more interested in taking photos than the guys, so I have no pictures of Stephen or Justin.

Tyra getting ready to serve (featuring my racket)

We beat the first two teams incredibly easily, losing only one match out of 10 (unfortunately I was the one who lost, but the guy cheated so I'll forgive myself). Each round we would play one boys' singles, girls' singles, boys' doubles, girls' doubles, and mixed doubles match.

Then we played the last team. Out of nowhere we had to play people who were incredibly talented, and we were already tired from the day (our opponents only had to play one team to make it to the finals) and weren't playing well because we had only played crappy teams. We ended up losing, but it was pretty close. Tyra and I were still playing a match from the second round when we started playing the last team, so we weren't able to select who on our team would play who on the other team. We maybe could have won if we were able to choose, but the other team really deserved to win.

I got a nice silver medal and a participation ribbon, but of course it would have been better had we won and gone on to the state finals. But I guess you gotta take what's given to you.

Yay summer!!

I'm finally done with school!

While I'm not only pleased that this means I no longer have to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning and proceed to do strenuous work all day, I'm also happy that summer break is here because it'll give me more time to write. I still have not fulfilled my promise of posting photos and writing about my Junior Team Tennis finals nor my choir's trip to Washington, D.C. Both of those will be coming within the next couple days, I promise. And I really mean it this time.

I would write more/write a post about something else right now, but it's currently 1:35 in New York right now and I don't have the energy to do so. I'm barely able to stay awake to write this.

I will be posting soon. Thanks for tolerating me.

Prelude to DC

I'm currently sitting at my desk at the Sheraton Hotel outside of Washington D.C. while my roommates are practically spooning in bed. After sharing a bed for two nights, this is thankfully my night to have one to myself.

Now why am I in Washington D.C.? On Friday I could have given you a straightforward answer, but after three screaming-children-filled nights, one very shitty meal, and one mental breakdown later, I'm currently re-evaluation my life choices. I'm not even sure why I'm here anymore.

Ok. The truth is my choir decided to come to D.C. to perform a series of shows after we were thrown into the spotlight as a result of our critically-acclaimed Saturday Night Live performance. Realistically, our choir director probably just called some friends up and asked if they would want us to sing, but I like telling myself that we were invited to come so that I feel important.

We were on a bus for 5 hours on Friday. I had to vote to watch August Rush just to avoid Madagascar 3. I hate August Rush. 

I planned to get work done but all I ended up doing was reading a little bit of a book and finishing an English paper I had fallen asleep writing the night before. I guess I couldn't expect much from the bus ride since there were 2000 little kids all screaming/singing songs that are not ok to sing on a bus (i.e. songs we had to sing at our concerts and that I was tired of hearing).

We eventually sang our concerts and I took 500+ photos, but now one of the guys I'm rooming with is leaning over my shoulder, so I'll use this as an appropriate time to sign off. 

Lana Del Rey is a genius

Ok. I can't hide it anymore. I know I sound like a teenage white girl when I say this but Lana Del Rey is absolutely amazing.

Originally, I was convinced that Lana Del Rey was talentless and sang sappy songs knowing that they would sell. However, I've now come to the realization that she's a genius, or at least smart enough to hire people who are geniuses, which means she must be somewhat intelligent, right?

Let me prove my point: Lana Del Rey clearly knows her stuff. She's obviously heavily invested in 50s and 60s Americana, highlighted in several of her music videos. I have to say, her music video for "National Anthem" is probably the best music video I've ever seen. I mean that's not saying much because most artists either jump around with their shirts off or have flashy lights (or most commonly both), probably in an attempt to make everyone watching have a seizure so they can't remember how bad the video was. But seriously, this music video is great. Lana opened with her rendition of Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday" to the President and then recreated home videos of the Kennedy family in order to make the sense of corruption come full circle. I still don't know why A$AP Rocky had to play President Kennedy but it worked.

Now she has a new music video for her lead single "Young and Beautiful" off the "The Great Gatsby" soundtrack (which is pretty solid by the way). The music video is pretty simple but the song fits the mood of "The Great Gatsby" pretty well. I've yet to see the movie but I've heard terrible things about it so I have mixed feelings about seeing it with my English class on Wednesday. Hopefully I don't think it sucks as much as everyone else does.

Ciao.