The girl upstairs wears ski boots!
At least it sounds like she does and she also enjoys rearranging furniture on her spare time, which she seems to have plenty of. Another hobby of hers is to invite lots of friends over, talk in the hallways and carry an antique bicycle up and down the stairs while laughing.

My sleuthing has uncovered that she's twenty-something like me, but I think she's on the older part of the spectrum. She definitely does not have a 9 to 5 job, given the fact that she never wakes up before 9 a.m. I think she might work somewhere in the fashion or music industry, because her outfits are very tutu-like, not corporate, and she constantly plays instruments and her radio at all hours. She also gets fashion magazines that always seem to end up in my mailbox. She could also be a trust fund baby, because her apartment is newly renovated and packed with high end technology and furniture and I never see her doing any real work of any sort. She seems to use the apartment as a place to party and crash. Luckily for me, I think she has a boyfriend and spends most of her time at his place.

Apparently she doesn't think it's rude to play her electric guitar or keyboard at 1:20 in the morning on a weekday, it's not like anyone in our building has to get up early for work or anything. Urghh, I can't imagine being so inconsiderate to my neighbors.

The base from her sound system vibrates my walls and can be heard even through my ear plugs. I think I'd die laughing if "These Boots Are Made For Walking" ever played. I've only banged on the ceiling twice, when it was past 1 a.m. and the female dog had the nerve to pound back with her ski boot laden feet. I feel like I'm back in a college dorm room.

Last night she kept time with the music by tapping her foot on the floor. I was even able to guess a few of the songs from the tapping beat. Keep in mind, when I'm sleeping my head is only a foot below the cieling.

When I do finally end up falling asleep I dream of schemes for REVENGE! They are as followed:

1. The instant gratification plan: When leaving the building in the morning on my way to work, usually around 8ish, I could ring her buzzer, waking her up since she is never up before 10 a.m., and then quickly walk to the subway station.

2. The It's mine I keep it now plan: The next time I get her mail, I will not go upstairs and put it on her door mat. As the SNL sketch goes, "It's mine, I keep it now!"

3. The I could go to jail plan: Climb up the fire escape that we both share with a pair of scissors, hope her window is open, sneak in and cut the strings of her guitar.

4. The if I had a lot of money plan: While ski boot girl is out of her apartment, pay a carpet company to lay carpet all throughout her place to act as a sound buffer, even in her kitchen. I'd order white carpet to go with her sterile hospital-white walls that are so bright they hurt my eyes whenever she opens the door. But then again if I had enough extra money to lay down carpet in her place, I could simply use the money to move elsewhere, on the top floor with nobody above me. My luck though, the roof would also be used as some rich guys helicopter pad.

5. The Apartment Building Secret Santa Plan:
I buy a one size fits all slippers and leave them at her door like a little apartment building gift exchange. Then she can start wearing the slippers when stomping around her apartment, since for some reason she needs to have shoes on at all times at all hours. She even wears heels after midnight when just chilling around her apartment. I just don't get it, the first thing I do when I come home is to ditch my heels and pad around barefoot or with socks.

Note: I have not acted on any of these plans and no I'm not a psycho, but a couple more sleepless nights and I could come close to being one...

Blogging In America
(From the BBC, thanks to my new blog friend Trev in Ireland)

* Blog readership has shot up by 58% in 2004
* Eight million have created a blog
* 27% of online Americans have read a blog
* BUT Only 38% of online Americans have heard about blogs
* Blog creators are likely to be young, well-educated, net-savvy males with good incomes and college educations, the survey found. (Minus the male and the good income part and you got me, lol)
The complete online article: Blog reading explodes in America

The PR office I work at just got one of our clients, Sierra Atlantic, in Forbes magazine!
To Hire A Son, Woo His Parents

Finally It Has Happened to Me... (shoot now that song is in my head)
I won 100 credets on Blog Explosion! Before I had never won more than 25 credits and was getting envious of those who had. Now BE visitors you can hate me ;)

Damn the Special Edition 2 Disc DVD's
Urghh I hate that the minute I buy a DVD the studio comes out with a special 2 disc special edition with bonus features that the DVD I just bought does not have.

It happened first with Unforgiven:

And then Singing in the Rain and now one of my favorite movies, The Philadelphia Story.


Now, Meet the Parents and Mulan too! I wish they would just get it right the first time, so I don't have to go out and buy two versions of the same DVD like a sucker.

Has this happened to you?

I sleep above my kitchen
And I pay an extravagant amount every month to do so--that's a New York City apartment for you!





My friend from Toronto calls the space a "bitchen" meaning a bed in the kitchen, lol.

It's actually kind of fun going up and down the ladder each morning and night. I feel like Belle in Beauty & the Beast when she's in the library searching for a book, or like a fireman. I always wanted a fun bed when I was younger, like a tent bed or a water bed and now I got a loft with ladder, so I guess dreams really do come true. ;)

It does get annoying when you had tea right before going to bed and need to scramble down the ladder in the dark at 3 in the morning.

When sleeping my head is less than a foot away from the ceiling. Luckily I have avoided hitting my head frequently, but I have scratched my knuckles several times when grabbing my sheets and turning over in my sleep. Right now as I type I have two little scabs on my right hand, which look like a cat might have scratched me or as if I decided to punch a wall in a fit of rage.

For some more pictures of my little apartment go to my Dec. 20th post.

"They make the apartments in New York as hard to get into as Tylenol bottles and almost as big." Caren Lissner's Carrie Pilby.
---
News: Cost of Necessities Rises in New York

How YOU doin?
Me, not so hot. (sniffle) *cough* I feel like shit, and this is the part where my dad would say: "you look like it too." :-\

My cold started this weekend and I'm sure the Champagne hangover didn't do much to help things.

Despite feeling like death today, I still had to go to work. I have to compile an Editorial Calendar on Excel for my boss by 11 a.m., because she is leaving on vacation soon and needs this done for one of our clients. It's pretty elaborate and her instructions are never really clear. Luckily I don't work with her too often, but with the more conscise account managers.

To make matters worse, everyone keeps coming up to my cubicle to say hello and then taking a quick step backwards upon seeing my red eyes and puffy nose. I got a "whoa, you don't look so good." Thanks, I needed to be told that.
---
FREE MP3 for you! I finally found the song that I was looking for, the one they kept playing on the radio but I couldn't find. Turns out they didn't release it yet, but I found it on the internet. It goes "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Don't cha, Don't cha?" Well, you have to hear it and not just read it. I uploaded it onto my FTP site, just click on the link and save it to your compuer. For some browsers the song should play automatically once you click on the link. Let me know what you think Tori Alamaze - Dont Ya.mp3

News:
Bullock Donates $1M for Tsunami Relief

Shirley Chrisholm, 80, the first black woman to serve in Congress died Saturday night.