Half Gone

Hello all, it's that time again!

I come to you from my now seemingly empty room in Brooklyn as my much, much better half has left to return home.  My girlfriend, Amanda, was here on what seemed to be the quickest 10 day trip of my life(heavy sigh with a frowning face).  But, I tell myself, the reason it went by so quick was because we had so much fun(and it just dawned on me we didn't travel to see the Empire State Building).  Either way, she and I had a blast.  We explored the streets of Brooklyn eating at small, cozy restaurants that scream with personality...we walked the Brooklyn Bridge at night, went to Wall St, saw the old sight of the Twin Towers and saw the new buildings they've erected, Rockefeller Plaza, Time Square, Central Park, walked past a commercial being filmed in the middle of the street in Manhattan and went to a comedy club where Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rodney Dangerfield and Jerry Seinfeld(among many others) got their stand-up comedy starts.  We traveled and took in so much of the bustling streets of NYC that its hard to recall all the experiences, good thing I had a digital camera handy.  I must say that the comedy club was quite possibly the funniest hour and a half of my life, never have I continuously laughed so hard in my life.  I would recommend everyone go to one(a decent one) at least once in their life, you will not regret it.  She and I also had an amazing brunch with my downstairs neighbors, Jarett and Ari, at this quaint restaurant a few blocks away.  Speaking of restaurants, Amanda and I ate at a place last night that served fish and chips with vinegar from North Carolina!

Modeling experiences:  I went to a few casting calls this week, one of which was for a magazine editorial shoot.  The concept is that a female model and myself would be acting as if we were boyfriend and girlfriend, not in the hot, sexy, steamy way a lot of magazines do but, rather, in a flirty, fun, first date type of shoot.  The funny part of this casting that made it stand out in my mind was that, upon entering the casting room, the director mentioned..."Austin, I like your accent, what part of Europe are you from?"  I felt as if I was in the comedy club again and awaited her punch line.  I was caught a bit off guard but calmly corrected her by saying, "Well, uh, I'm from America."  The ladies face instantly blushed from embarrassment.  She replied, "I'm so sorry, it seems I don't know an American accent when I hear one, what part of the U.S. are you from?"  The casting went extremely well after she and I shared a genuine laugh together, I strongly feel(hope) I got the gig. 

Next up, pictures!

 Radio City

Canopies from work(Catering Event)

The Comedy Club Amanda and I went to.

Manhattan from the Brooklyn side of the East River

The next couple of topics are not of any considerable importance but are funny/quirky and what have you, so I thought they're worth the share.  First off, people in Brooklyn must have THE most sensative car alarms on the face of the planet.  There is not an hour that goes by in the day that someones car alarm doesn't inadvertantly go off, whether it be 5pm or 5am.  A van, in particular, that always parks close to my apartment has the most annoying alarm that must go off at least 6 times a day...for no reason.  I've watched it go off from 100ft away with no one around it, the alarm must be cued to go off if a fly lands on the van.  Now allow me to make a 180 degree turn to a completely different topic.  I was going through the front pockets of my bookbag(I carry it everywhere) when I got a laugh at myself.  If I lost my bookbag and someone went through that front pocket they'd find facial mosturizer, a piece of "Purple" from my sister Kelly, a wine-key, a hackey-sack and a ton of rocks.  Yes that's right, rocks.  It was brought to my attention as I dug through my bookbag and all I could find was rocks...yes I laughed at myself so go ahead and laugh too.  Rocks??  Well most people buy T-shirts or post cards that say, "I've been there and done that", while I collect rocks and I take them everywhere I go to remind me of everywhere I've been and seen which, in the end, partially makes me who I am today.  I have a rock from home, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Forest, the Petrified Forest(don't tell anyone I have that one, you aren't suppose to take them), a rock from the East River on the Brooklyn side, Niagra Falls, London(one from the city and another from Stone Henge), Paris, a Mayan Temple in Belize and lastly I carry a rock with me that was found by a cave in the Dominican Republic.  They all vary in size, color and shape but none are any larger than a silver dollar.  Like I said, this information isn't very important but I thought it was pretty cool once I realized how many I have.

As I have started doing over the past few weeks, I will now share my song/poem of the week.  This one is pretty self-explanatory, I hope you find some sort of useful knowledge in it!

"Once"
I once had a friend who said to me, in life you should never concede.

He said these words and I took heed, so I leave it on the line even if I have to bleed.

I once had a woman who wouldn't be true, my young heart was a feelin' blue.

She laughed and said I should've knew that heartbreak was her favorite hue.

I once had a mother that made me see that I can be whatever I want to be.

She said, Son if you truly believe then I know you will only succeed.

I once had a father who taught me to be a man while also being as kind as I can.

He said the key to life is a solid business plan and not to be afraid to dirty my hands.

Mother leaned in with her finger wagging and reminded me to always empower others, to grow taller than towers by making men into brothers.

I once had a brother who was never around but he showed me love when I was down.

He was always into the deep and profound, yeah, we were blood pound for pound.

I once had a stranger give me good advice: don't love the same woman more than twice.

Fire from his tounge he said to follow Jesus Christ, well hell, sinning is my only vice.

I once was alone and heard a wolf howl at the moon, it taught me not to count my blessings to soon.

I must admit its hard to give your garden a prune but best to cut your losses or else you may not bloom.

I once saw a man who was young at heart and old in the face, if asked he'd say kind and caring are his race.

His eyes shined and shimmered like a boy on the chase, if only he could go back and have one more taste.

Once in a while I'll remember this may only happen once.