http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hFkYRN0Lwc

Nothing too exciting has happened, hostel-wise so far.

Around 7:45 yesterday morning, I kept hearing this vibrating pulse, and thinking "some douche really needs to answer his phone." Then out of curiosity, I looked down to from my bunk... and yeah, it was my phone. The alarm had been going off since 7:00. At least it was on vibrate only.

As for the status of my roomates, Gay, Guy Below Me, Mystery Bald, Mystery Asian Girl, German Giant, and Other Asian Girl are all gone. The only people left are Jewy Jew and the Brazilian Couple.

Here is a picture of my accomidations.



For more pictures and stories of my trip, you can visit this thread here:

Keith and the Girl New York Pics

Roomate Update!

------Jewy Jew and I conversed. He is in town visiting his children. Yesterday was daughter day, and today, his son ran a 5k marathon at JFK, and placed 2nd.-----

I'm in NYC staying at the Chelsea Star Hostel. It's somewhat different than i expected, but somehow exactly like I expected.

When I checked in yesterday afternoon (2ish), they showed me to my room where they just opened the door, with no kind of regard for privacy, which let me know that there IS no privacy here. There was a guy in there sleeping, and it already seemed like he was tossing and turning, so I took my laptop out on the terrace.

Later on that night when I got in, what could have taken me all of 3 mins to do, ended up taking 10 mins, because I was trying to be super slow and quiet: plugging in my cell phone, packing up my laptop, and taking off my clothes to go to bed. I have the top bunk, so I lined up one side of it with my belongings, so I could try and sleep on my side, thus not snore. I'm pretty sure it didn't work.

Funny thing though, I don't know why I bothered trying to be all quiet n shit, because the streets of NYC were louder than I was. Bitches halling (hollering) n shit, cars honking (oy vey, the cars honking), cop cars driving by (niggas was stabbin and stealin!)

In the end, I had no problem falling asleep. It was slightly warmer that I would have preferred though. And yay, I was not the only snorer. I guess I should introduce the cast of roomates in 201.

1. German chick - that's like 6'8". She snores. That made me feel better.

2. Brazilian Couple - very flirty and affectionate. When I woke up, the male was snoring. (Woo hoo! I'm not the only asshole!)

3. Asian chick 1 - somewhat young, was on her laptop for a little bit before I went to sleep, gone before I got up this morning.

4. The Gay - Young hip trendy feg. He came in, made up his bed, dropped off his luggage and hasn't come back. Probably ended up in some dude's bed he met at a club last night.

5. Sleeping Jew - That's all I got. He's very sleepy and very jewy.

6. Mystery Balding white man - He's kinda cute, and he sleeps on the top bunk next to mine.

7. Mystery Asian man/woman - I don't know if it's a woman or a man. It sleeps under the balding white man. I assume they're together.

So that's it. Oh

8. Guy that sleeps under me - Know nothing about him, except that I woke him up when I was putting my suitcase back.

So 10 people all together (remember, I grouped the brazilian couple together.) I woke up this morning, threw something on, and came out here to the internet lounge, mainly to charge my ipod before hitting the streets in exploration. Brunch at 12. Fuckin excited.

So 2008 is not all I thought it was going to be.

Didn't get the awesome job I was supposed to get.
Have to go back to a job I don't enjoy.

So that was the first thing. Today, I got my security deposit check!
Original deposit: $1,470
(Blah blah, crappy list of things they deducted)
Check issued: $1,009

Doesn't seem so bad, right? Well, here's the deal.

When Rainy moved out, she wanted to make sure that she got back, what she put into the deposit when we moved in, which is half, which comes to $735. In addition to that, she wanted what she put in for the deposit for the gas, electric, and cable.

So when Adam moved in, he paid her that, under the agreement that when the deposit came back, I would give him exactly what he paid, under the assumption that we would be getting it all back.

So I don't remember how much Adam gave Rainy, but I remember it being somewhere around $8-900, maybe more. So that leaves me, with $100, maybe less.

And to top it off, it's in her name. So I have to go and get that straightened out.

I have roughly $680 due to Scarface by the end of April for my laptop, $450 for the KATG cruise, $520 a month rent, and other various payments due.

So I won't be going to dinners, the movies, or doing anything that costs me money I can't afford to spend. I'm fully on broke mode. I'm not even putting faith into the tax recession shit until I see the check in the mail.

2008 aint so great.

 I just went to the movies by myself, to see Juno. Was it necessary to mention that I went alone? Not so much.

That was really a good movie. I was wondering if it was going to have one of those points in the movie when it all seems like it can't get any worse, and I'd want to leave, but that part wasn't even that bad! Like I told Darryl, this could easily become a favorite movie.

I gave in to temptation the other day, and well... spent the night at Allen's house. He's been texting me for some time now, and I have always declined his offers. I didn't think it would be a good idea. But low and behold, my libido had other plans. I won't go into details (it's tacky to kiss and tell... unless someone asks), but I will say, that I didn't feel the spark, that I used to feel when we were "seeing" each other before. I really trust that spark inside me. I depend on it.  So I don't know if I'll be going over there again. Next time libby starts talkin, I start jerkin.

I hung out with Justin again for the first time, since the first day we hung out after we got back from Vegas. The Vegas trip was kind of a deal breaker for me. It's when I decided whether or not I was going to invest in our friendship anymore. It wasn't a bad trip, per say, but it didn't really give me anything to look forward to. Not to mention his relationship status changed, the first day we hung out after we got back.

So months have gone by, and I have gotten over my feelings for him, and felt that I was finally at the point where we could hang out, and I would be alright during and after. And I was. I was pleasantly surprised, that it almost felt like we just picked up where we left off, minus his girlthing and my feelings. However, as good as things were going, I wanted to keep our first re-hangout short and simple. It just felt like the right thing to do.

It's hard to believe that last year around this time, we were thick as thieves (at least I thought so), and now, we're almost like aquaintences, although I still consider him to be one of my closest friends.

John Conner and I have been becoming good friends lately. It's really cool to have someone else into photography, on the level that I am. I almost see him as a business partner. He's very techy though... he jerks it to new lenses and megapixels n junk. He likes to harp on my... imperfections? "confidence, umm weird random urges. I think it all stems from confidence. not eating free food. judging everyone. thinking that everyone is judging you. I think thats it." I guess not harp, but he does point them out.

So that's that. If anything else blogworthy comes up, you know where I'll come first.

ok jeez, now that i want to, i don't know where to begin! i guess i'll start off saying somethig i told myself i would say if i did blog tonight.

ramos came over tonight and hung out with me! which is nice, because i don't see many of my friends anymore. (with the exception of jessica!)

tomorrow is thanksgiving, and i will be spending it alone. which i'm okay with, because i'm not big on food and big dinners. it's really all much ado about nothing. which kinda makes me glad that i'm not really hanging out with anyone, because i didn't get the whole "you can eat with my family and i!". i mean, it's nice and all, but it's akward for me.

so canada is still pretty much on my mind. i'm moving to warrenton when my lease is up.

money is super tight right now. my season at lifetouch is coming to a dead halt at the beginning of december. so i'll be applying for unemployment, no bout a dout it.

ugly betty, samantha who, and pushing daisies are my 3 new favorite shows this season.

last night, after the keith and the girl life show was over, their guest Michael Mattera hung around and they had an after show. i called in and we talked and i learned a lot about him and he learned a lot about me. and so did anyone who was listening. and the on tonight's live show, one of my comments made it onto the show, and part of last night's after show featuring me talking was at the end of it.

i think if i had to label this chapter in my life, it would be KATG. this podcast couldn't have come to me at a better time. here are pics from the aftershow.



and then things got a little bit more hot.



so that aside, i've taken a few pics lately.







okay that's it! night night!

it's 6:30. the fire alarm in my building has been going off since 6 am.

when it started going off, i actually lifted my head, and started chuckeling for a few seconds, denying anything could possibly happen, and just laid there. i heard my neighbors upstairs falling and dropping a bunch of stuff. at that point i put on some shorts and started to check my apartment. no fire in mine.

i went on the balcony, and everyone else had gathered downstairs, so i went down there too. it was nothing. so i went back inside, and now i'm going to sleep. at least we know the alarms work if there ever was a fire.

i'm not really one for life goals and things. i usually kind of like to take life a few months at a time, it keeps things simple for me.

which brings me to my canada obsession.

i am trying to go. it's something i want to do. i hope i make it there, and i hope it turns out well.

it's really uncool how unsupportive everyone is being about it. i understand that people don't really want me to go, that's fine, but i don't need all of the negativity.

if i go, i'm sure i won't be gone forever. and really, let's be honest. i've been a bit of a recluse over the past month or so. no one's seen much of me, and no one's been falling over themselves to do so either. people will have as much contact with me if i do go, as they do now.

so please, if you don't have anything nice to say...

Shit.. I don't even know where to begin.

There's so many things I want to say about the kids I take pictures of, but I think there was some sort of thing about blogging in my training book for Lifetouch, I don't remember, so I'll just not. If you've hung out with me before, you've heard the stories. But I will say this: no arms, forks in sockets, peeing on selves, autistic kids are adorable (but it doesn't mean I want an autistic kid, should I ever have a child, God). Parents and teachers are cunts.

As for life outside of work, I've got a new obsession. Keith and the Girl. It's a podcast that one of my customers from Ritz turned me on to. It really is great that I've found it. The show is hilarious, I won't go into details trying to explain it. If you go there and check it out, I would suggest listening to Fat Enabler first. In addititon to the show, they have a shit to of listeners, who are all about forums and chats, so inevitably, so am I. So I spend all of my time now catching up on past shows, browsing the forums, and hanging out in the chats. I've made a ton of friends there. Every so often, they all get together and hang out, but it has to be well planned, since they're from all over the US, as well as Canada and all over the world. There's going to be a live show in May in NY that I'm going to, and then a cruise next August (I think the one that my friend Justin went on), which I'm still considering going to. There's 3 chats. The main one from the site, the PalTalk chat where people can watch each other on webcams, and the Skype chat, where everyone can talk with mics. I prefer the PalTalk one because....

Scarface provided me with the fundage for a laptop! With his awesome credit, he paid for it up front, and I am making monthly payments on it. It should (better) be paid off in 6 months. This thing has consumed my life. I don't take it to work with me, because it's almost pointless, and I don't want to have to carry one more thing with me, that will just sit there. But it is the first thing I run to when I come in the house. And then I jump in the webcam chat, since it's got a built in webcam in it. So my other computer just sits there, only used for downloading and uploading. I'm not gonna DL stuff to this computer, except Keith and the Girl shows, and pictures.

Then there was last night. Oh man... Thursday night I was in the PalTalk chat, listening to a live broadcast of KATG when I got a phone call from the photographer guy I know. His name is Michael Dumlao, so I will stop calling him "the photographer guy I know". He asked me if I was still going to work the fashion show on Friday. I was stunned, becasue I didn't really think he was serious when he asked me to do it months ago. Long story short, I told him yes, and he told me a quick rundown. I went there after work yesterday, it was held at some "library" in DC. He told me that I was going to be his head photgrapher, meaning I was essentially going to babysit the other photographers. I agreed, not knowing how difficult exactly it was.

As much as I wanted to be a personal assistant, i don't follow 100 directions at once being given to me, so I might not be cut out for that kind of thing. He was telling me all of these thigns at once that he wanted me to make sure the other photographers were doing, making sure they were here at a certain time, that they were checking in, blah blah. I thought I was doing alright, but about 30 mins into it, he pulls me over and is like "What's going on Jerome? I have photographers here that don't know what they're supposed to be doing." which sucks, because I was telling them as much as I could remember him telling me. So that, added already to my nerves as I was going to be the House Photographer. Which ment that I was right at the end of the runway as the models came down. Whoa, right?!

I was SHAKING while we waited for the show to begin. Minutes before, I started talking to this other photographer named Lara. I was just telling her about how nervous I was, and she was reassuring me that everything was going to be okay, which it was. Oh man, was it so much easier than I thought it was going to be. I, was at a fashion show, taking pictures of models on the runway! I was geeking out, while everyone else there was so "been here done it before". I had a blast doing it, until the backup batteries in my flash had taken a beating, so I could only take about 1 picture per model that came down. Whoops.

After the show was over, Michael had asked me earlier in the day to shoot the after show as well, which at the time I agreed to, but at that moment I was ready to go home. Too bad. Long story short, I told them I would meet them at the lounge in a few mins after I got batteries. I got pulled over for making an illegal u-turn, but he let me go, one CVS that I went to was closed, so I had to park about 4 blocks from the lounge, and run to another to get more batteries.

Once I got there, it was fucking easy. The JIBBIE all over again, except this time I encouraged posed pictures. Lemme tell you, models know how to party. They were drunk and wild. I could easily get used to tending those kinds of events.

Sooooo that's about it. I got a text earlier from Mike saying that he tried but could only find a 2br place, so we won't be doing the townhouse thing. Eh, oh well. It was just an idea after all, nothing was set in stone. So now I have to restart the brainstorming process. I called EJ, because he mentioned some friends of his that needed roomates a while back. One already has a place, but is looking for too much until she can get one other roomate (700 PLUS utilities), and the other friend of his still hasn't even found a place to live, let alone renting it out to someone. While texting Bo (one of my KATG friends), I joked about moving up to Canada where he lives. But we kinda tooled around with the idea for a bit, and it's not entirely out of the question. There's nothing holding me in Gainesville anymore, especially since I got over my illusion d'amour. The only 2 things in the way of that now, is the fact that he's not looking to move out until March, and my lease is up at the end of December, and the cost of moving to another country, not to mention actually moving to another country. I've just spend the last hour or so looking up info about moving up there. Everything seems okay, except for the having enough money to show you can support yourself when you get there. I guess no one wants any bums moving there. And my friend Jon says that apparently it's really hard to move there. Errg.

Alrighty! Now on to the pics! Mixed in there will be pictures of people I've taken, but don't necessarily need introductons or anything.


Dan Lama


Casey McDonagh


and I found a marrow bird



Kevin Morris



My co-workers son Aspen






and there's toooons more here at  http://public.fotki.com/Potaeto/ffpshow/

and then the after party







http://public.fotki.com/Potaeto/ffpafterparty/


and last but not least, da girl dat I had a gay crush on. I told her my friend (I was referring to Darryl) would love her.


she was amazing <3

Commercial Director: [in Japanese] Mr. Bob-san, you are relaxing in your study. On the table is a bottle of Suntory whiskey. Got it? Look slowly, with feeling, at the camera, and say it gently - say it as if you were speaking to an old friend. Just like Bogie in Casablanca, "Here's looking at you, kid" - Suntory time.
Ms. Kawasaki: Umm. He want you to turn, looking at camera. OK?
Bob: That's all he said?
Ms. Kawasaki: Yes. Turn to camera.
Bob: All right. Does he want me to turn from the right, or turn from the left?
Ms. Kawasaki: [to director, in Japanese] Uh, umm. He's ready now. He just wants to know if he's supposed to turn from the left or turn from the right when the camera rolls. What should I tell him?
Commercial Director: [in Japanese] What difference does it make! Makes no difference! Don't have time for that! Got it, Bob-san? Just psych yourself up, and quick! Look straight at the camera. At the camera. And slowly. With passion. Straight at the camera. And in your eyes there's... passion. Got it?
Ms. Kawasaki: [to Bob] Right side. And with intensity. OK?
Bob: Is that everything? It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.
Commercial Director: [to Bob, in Japanese] Listen, listen. This isn't just about whiskey. Understand? Imagine you're talking to an old friend. Gently. The emotions bubble up from the bottom of your heart. And don't forget, psych yourself up!
Ms. Kawasaki: Like an old friend. And, into the camera.
Bob: OK.
Commercial Director: [in Japanese] Got it? You *love* whiskey. It's *Suntory* time. OK?
Bob: OK.
Commercial Director: OK?
Bob: [nods]
Commercial Director: [to crew] OK!

photos of casey (they rock!)


fashion fights poverty at the lotus lounge

night number 2 (not in a row) of jogging. my total distance tonight was 4.5 miles.