Ojai California

Greetings from California! I'm currently in Ojai, which is a small town outside of Santa Barbara. I'm staying at my cousin in-laws aunts house haha, and it's super super super big. It's so bright and green and beautiful and sooooo unlike New York City, but getting here was kind of a pain in the ass; we ended up missing our first flight to LA (because they changed our gate the last minute without making an announcement), so they ended up putting us on another flight to San Fran 3 hours later, with a connecting flight to Santa Barbara. Anyway, I wanted to show you all some pics of where I stayed for the past 2 days, because later today, I'm heading to Long Beach to stay with my cousin. 

Catch you all later, and if you have any suggestions on what I should visit in Long Beach/L.A. please let me know. 

Midtown

Wow, I haven't updated in almost 2 weeks, not acceptable! I've been so busy, with the same old same old, nothing exciting so I didn't think to publish anything, BUT I'll be flying to Los Angeles this Saturday! I'll be there for a week exploring, visiting, and hanging out with my mom, aunt, cousin, and his fiance haha. Anyway, in case you're wondering these photos are of some buildings in Midtown Manhattan, the photo in the middle is of Carnegie Hall. 

Gonna keep this short, but hope you all are doing ok, check ya later. 

St. John's Cathedral

St. John's Cathedral is one of the biggest and oldest cathedrals in New York City. It's super huge, and the architecture is incredible. I've never been inside, and unfortunately I was unable to go inside while I was there, but I took some pictures around the premises. It also has an attached park, and a couple of walkways, which are also very beautiful. It's on top of a big big hill that overlooks Morningside Park, and part of Central Park (wish I took pics of that but I had no time). I'm not sure if it's bigger than St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is in Midtown but they're both crazy beautiful. NYC has a lot of really nice churches, and I've been meaning to explore some of them.

I spent my morning playing for a Lutheran Church Service, and now I'm home, relaxing for the rest of the day. I'm not much of an early riser, so getting to the church early with the 2 hour commute isn't easy, but I'm definitely super grateful. Many musicians unfortunately do not get the opportunity to play as regularly as they would like to. They start falling out of the routine, and then after a while, it becomes super difficult to pick it up and start playing again. When I had my terrible job for 6 months, I did not have the time, nor the motivation to play music, because I was so stressed out. Every time I sat at the piano or organ, I felt stiff all over, like I had a cement block in my brain. It's been about 6 months since I quit, and I finally feel like I'm back to normal, thankfully.

Anyway, so are there any cool churches around where you live?

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Brownstones are so cool (seen in photos 1 & 3). If I had to live in nyc for the rest of my life, I would want to live in a brownstone. They're usually about 3 stories, they're surprisingly spacious, have a backyard, and unfortunately cost a fortune haha. But for the price, they're a steal in comparison to those overly-priced high-rise apartments down in Wall Street or on Park Avenue. I've been to a couple of brownstones that were completely refurbished, and dayuuumm, were they beautiful. A brownstone is not necessarily my dream home, but it's wayyy up there. 

My ultimate dream home is a medium sized 3-story English Tudor-style house in a neighborhood with lots of trees. It would be located preferably somewhere close to nyc because let's face it, I can't quit nyc cold turkey, despite my love/hate relationship with it hahaha.  

What does your dream home look like, and where would you want it to be located?

My Phone Broke

It's been kind of cloudy lately in nyc. Lots of rain, sorta cold, reminds me of London. People are starting to complain about the lack of blue skies, but I don't really mind too much. I feel like the black and white photos match with the weather. 

Anyway, to more important news, my phone broke last Monday, no not this Monday, I'm talking about last Monday like April 25th. And while I honestly don't text or call people very much, these past (almost two) weeks have been extremely annoying. I give piano lessons, and it took me literally a week to get into contact with one of my students, because I had to get through a chain of 3 people. I play for church services at Hillsong and at a few other places, and sometimes they need musicians last minute, so who knows how many texts I've missed from people who needed me. To all my non-facebook using friends, please don't think that I'm ignoring you!! My phone is currently somewhere in Indiana getting fixed, because the stupid company doesn't have repair centers closer to NYC, and I don't think I will get it back until the end of next week *groannn*. I just hope to God that they don't wipe out my hard-drive, because that would be VERY inconvenient.  

BUTTTTT, I noticed/realized a lot of things about the world while not having my phone: 

1.  I wasted a lot of damn time on my phone, and downloaded so many stupid apps.
2. People use their phones to make it appear as if they have a constant stream of people to talk to. Fear of not appearing popular. FOMO. Idk
3. Meeting up with people without a phone is a game of chance. Will they show up? Did they decide to cancel last minute? How long do I wait for them? 
4. You can't talk to people without having them pick up their phones after at most 5 minutes into a conversation. Do people really like texting that much? *I'm exaggerating but it felt that way sometimes* 
5. Whether we'd like to admit it or not, a phone with internet connection is a necessity in this day and age. Things move much faster, communication is more immediate, plans change more often, and if you don't have a phone, you're going to find yourself lagging behind, or stranded. 

Ok I admit, I sound kind of harsh, but I'm not innocent either. I guess this is a good lesson for me, to knock it off with the unnecessary technology use, and be more present in my day-to-day life. I still use my computer a whole lot, but it's interesting not having my phone with me all the time to fill in the gaps. 

Are you addicted to your phone? Have you ever voluntarily (or involuntarily) cut back on your phone use?

Walking Home

I walk home from work every day for two reasons: 1. It saves money, and 2. it's good exercise. I'm kind of a lazy bum so I thought that if I at least instill this sort of 30-60 minute routine everyday, I won't feel as bad about sitting on my butt all day. NYC also has cool parks and avenues to explore so everytime I walk home, I always discover something new. I especially like walking by Riverside Park, which sits right across from New Jersey. If I'm out late enough, sometimes I watch the sunsets there, and they're always crazy beautiful.

I think I'm going to keep it short and sweet today. Have a good week you guys!